[VP Electricity]

As some of you know, we discourage head-unit replacement. Well, we had a client here in Portland who wanted a Level Two audio upgrade and also wanted navigation - so we ordered the needed parts for the new head unit and the head-unit retention as well. When the car arrived, it turned out to have factory front and rear PDC parking sensors. I didn't even KNOW that you could get front parking sensors in a 328, but I do now.

The customer wanted to keep the front and rear parking sensor alerts (we were installing a backup camera too, but there you go, no one wants to lose a feature). So here's what we did:

- We knew we wanted to retain the stock deck somewhere for software-update reasons

- The factory system was Stereo, which meant the chimes and the PDC alerts all came out of the stock speakers from the head unit

We took a BMW rear speaker takeout which a client had left behind (we always give the takeouts back, but some folks don't want them) and we installed it under the dash panel in the center channel location. We assumed we would need the grille, but it turns out that for chime and alert use, it's plenty loud just though the stock trimpiece.

We drove the speaker off of the L+ and R- wires of the front output channels of the Professional CD Player deck. This gave us PDC alerts off of either the L or R channels from the same speaker.

We then installed HiFi tweeters under the rear deck grilles, without the tweeter capacitors. These tweeters are connected to the rear speaker output channels of the Professional CD player, and play the Rear PDC alert. The stock rear speakers are connected to the new system. This works great - we keep all chimes, we keep rear directional PDC alerts, and we keep front PDC alerts (we lose the L/R directionality with the PDC though).

We also used the BMW AUX jack in the console for the Alpine AUX inputs, and used a flush-mount USB extension for the USB port on the back of the Alpine to put it in the same console pocket as the AUX.

The head unit is under the trunk floor wit the faceplate removed. It remains on the MOST and CAN networks, but is muted as far as audio goes.



The switch relocation part is done for some reason in a completely different sheen and color and texture than the dash bezel. Tom matched the color to get it to look like this.



Finally, here are some pics of the deck:





If we were doing a head unit replacement in a Premium Sound car, I don't know how we would retain PDC or chimes without recoding. I'm pretty sure this is the best approach for chime retention, so I'm going to recommend recoding for any of these that require chime retention or PDC retention in the future. If you only have Rear PDC and you do this, it's easier to add a backup camera, seriously.

[e90Nate]

clean install!

[james008]

I am very very interested in this install. I bought a car with a double din already installed, I want to try and regain my chimes and rear pdc. Could you outlay a pin diagram and wire diagram of how you did it?

[VP Electricity]

Wouldn't apply to a 09 - wouldn't have Stereo sound. You would have had 676 HiFi or 677 Top HiFi/Logic 7. Which does your car have?

And like I said, if all you have is Rear PDC, get a camera. Lots easier.

[ctuna]

How did the system sound as opposed to OEM Deck?
Did it enhance the sound of the Level 2 system to a noticeable degree?

[ctuna]

How did the system sound as opposed to OEM Deck?
Did it enhance the sound of the system to a noticeable degree?

[VP Electricity]

Great question. Until I used the parametric eq and time correction in the Alpine to tune it for the car, I heard no difference between it and a stock head unit. Customer only did it for nav, not for SQ.

[james008]

I have Hifi stereo. I am currently have an 06 headunit installed with stock hifi amp but am not getting any car sounds at all just music.
I am really torn to reinstall the kenwood dnx8120... or find a bluetooth/sirius OEM headunit off ebay and I guess code? I am not quite sure why I don't have any sounds with the current headunit. I thought silence getting in and out of the car would be good but I feel like it's broken.

Lastly car currently has a rear camera installed but... the jacka$$ removed the wire running from the headunit to the camera and I have had trouble finding a replacement wire.

Maybe the 06 headunit is just stereo? And i need to recode it to Hifi? It is a profesional headunit not business.

[ctuna]

Maybe its coded to L7, fiberoptic output.
you could test for an audio output by using a small speaker , meter or head phones.
The pro head units for the US cars up to 09 are suppose
to be programmable if it is you might be able to program it for
base or stereo ouput which would give speaker level outputs
without the need for a amp.
I wonder if the people that put your aftermarket deck in messed with the programming in the car.
Since I have never done the programming I don't know the details
there is more info on coding sub board forum.
US Head Units were either Hi Fi or L7 only before an up to 09.
(to my knowledge)

[VP Electricity]

Definitely a big question that deserves its own thread...

[james008]

New Thread started... Thanks
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=789660

[cdgatti]

VP - you relocated the HU to where my sirius module is located. Going this route can you get xm without the bmw sat tuner?