Poll: People With Aftermarket Head Units

[Fetch]

I will be installing the headunit & subwoofer from my previous car which somebody rear ended, and then the body shop did such an awful job with repairs (car was unsafe to drive after they 'fixed' it, etc), it was totaled (That's a story for another day).

I have installed a headunit & subwoofer in my friend's E36, and we decided to take the pre-amp outs of the headunit and dump those into the BMW amp. This resulted in great sounding audio, but the volume really has to be turned up a lot to get volume, which results in more noise(which isn't noticeable with music playing).

I have read some people take the amplified speaker outputs on their headunits and dump those into the BMW amp.

How is volume adjustment, and more importantly how is the audio quality in this situation, especially with higher volumes?

I'm only interested in people's experiences with HU Preout --> BMW amp, and people with HU Speaker out --> BMW amp


Thanks!

[gmannino]

Most of the time, I run the high level outputs into factory bmw amps. This will yield more output from the speakers. Sometimes, it will overdrive the amps and you will get high volume from the speakers by only turning the new deck up less than halfway, and of course distortion. In that case, I will wire the preouts to the amp.

[Fetch]

Most of the time, I run the high level outputs into factory bmw amps. This will yield more output from the speakers. Sometimes, it will overdrive the amps and you will get high volume from the speakers by only turning the new deck up less than halfway, and of course distortion. In that case, I will wire the preouts to the amp.

So you would recommend to try it both ways before permanently wiring it up?
I guess this would be the smart thing to do, wouldn't take long at all

[acidfire52]

I have not looked close at mine yet, car came with an Alpine already in it,
But, I have to turn my deack up pretty loud to get high levels out of my deck.

It seems to me, that the stock amp is not acutally amplifying the signal. Will bec testing it all out this weekend.

Oh yeah.. Mine Pioneer is hooked up to the high outputs.

[zman-95-540i]

I'll show my ignorance. I just put a new hu in this past weekend. I basically soldered the wires from the hu into the appropriate wires on the wiring harness supplied by the vendor and then plugged that in. So, I'm not sure which option to select... :~

[kev535i]

i have no BMW amp so the choice was easy for me

[tnt525i]

head unit------> crossover----->rockford fosgate amp----->boston acoustics speakers.
i got rid of the bmw head unit, amp and speakers they sound like crap to me

[Fetch]

I'll show my ignorance. I just put a new hu in this past weekend. I basically soldered the wires from the hu into the appropriate wires on the wiring harness supplied by the vendor and then plugged that in. So, I'm not sure which option to select... :~

Means you're going speaker outs into the BMW amp, how's she sound?

[Fetch]

head unit------> crossover----->rockford fosgate amp----->boston acoustics speakers.
i got rid of the bmw head unit, amp and speakers they sound like crap to me

I'd love to completely rework the system, but as of now this mostly free upgrade will have to do

[zman-95-540i]

Sound is much better than the stock HU. I also replaced the front speakers with some Polk 5 1/4". I definitely need something for the low end but this will work for now.

I ended up with a Blaupunkt Bahamas HU which looks pretty good (color adjustable display that you can get to color match almost perfectly.)