Quote:
Originally Posted by Exwoodchuck
Let this serve as a warning to all who think about the BMW Alpine kit for your tweeter-less '10-'11ish 'Stereo'/base car-- it DOES NOT work as designed, and DO NOT install it, because it will not sound right without coding, and if you do code it, it will mess with your gong/BT/Nav/PDC volume levels.
Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't I guess...  ( |
I maintain that the correct solution is one that is hardware and software based.
Software-> Hifi, flat signal
Hardware->low level input.
Unfortunately, my amp is not the alpine so I can't help further, to try and figure out the jumper combo.
My theory is thus.
- Stereo coding - > Gong matches because it is designed to be a set level based on the HU power
- HiFi, Hi level inputs --> Gong mismatch because, it is designed for low level inputs. The gong itself (as with the rest of the audio) is amplified MORE by the amp, with low level inputs. For a given volume level (dB) the volume knob will be lower (in clicks), thus they will be closer in relative volume. (Gong is not affected by volume knob position, so if you are listening to the head unit on high level inputs, you have to have it turned up high to give the amp enough voltage...So you are giving it the requisite voltage for music, but not the requisite voltage for the "gong"
- HiFi coding, Low level input ->(theory) Gong matches because you drive around normally with the volume knob lower, and both gong and music are amplified more by the alpine (or other) amp.
Edit, the PDC is another issue altogether because the amplification analysis is inapplicable to the rear speakers. No matter what, the rear speakers are getting the HiFi (max 5v) voltage when they were designed for stereo (9v). Only solution for them I can think of is the UNCODED solution, but that gives you shitty EQ
There is a final possibility that there are discrete variables that can be changed with NCS expert for these volume levels. I would push that back to the coding community to try and "search" for HiFi or Stereo references (or PDC) in their files, to see if any variables can be changed.