Help, wanting to put old school head deck in 97 528i

[B.holland 0]

Hey guys,

I'm sure this has been covered before, I had a look but couldn't find what I was looking for.

I want to put my Panasonic single din head deck + Panasonic Amp & 2x JVC subs into my new 97 528i with minimal fuss, can I get a wiring loom adapter or I do cut and then re-wire it ?

Are there any guides with photos on how to get the dash apart and do the install, I could figure it out but I don't wanna risk breaking anything,

Are there any tricky things I need to know? Besides needing a faceplate adapter to cover the extra space.

[Ahmedsinc 414]

Am I out of step with the times? Whats old school about a single DIN HU??

I'd have thought Rapid Radio would be able to help out with adapter plates & a loom adapter. Probably a good place to start anyhoo

[B.holland 0]

Its not so, much old school, its just not s full length bmw head deck, was the best way to explain lol, well at least imo.

Its Just ur average head deck you get, like in any old car like a Honda or a Toyota.. Standard head deck like a Sony xplod.

Ya with me now ?

Edited April 18, 2013 by A N R K E

[Ahmedsinc 414]

All good man, just wondered if I'd missed out on some great leap forward in car stereos

In the installs I've done I just cut & soldered my way through, no point in removing the unit when I've sold the car. Plug in looms are a hell of a lot easier but I have had a couple that created earth loops. That may have been care of crap quality looms but ever since I've just gone with solder & heatshrink. Depends on whether you want to keep the unit when you sell the car on really.

[B.holland 0]

That was my original thought. Any ideas on where I can pick up a cheap surround to finish off the install.

[Ahmedsinc 414]

Rapid Radio would be my first port of call. Could try your luck on TM, eBay would probably yield better results.

If you don't have one already wiring diagrams are fairly easily obtained. There's a couple E39 guys round here that might point you in the right direction - there's always the multimeter & tone source if you can't find any guides.

Good luck, post up some pics when you're done

[rogan 7]

eds autos in Mt Roskill are the looms and faceplate suppliers to most cat audio shops so try them. Online catalogue

http://www.edsauto.co.nz/images/PDF_Catalogue/BMW.pdf

Please don't cut and solder. Adapter looms are reasonably priced and make it an easy and tidy install.

One issue might be the factory amp. It's in the boot and has internal crossovers so you'll need to search around on how to tie an aftermarket h/u into the factory amp.

[B.holland 0]

Ok so an update for all. And more head scratching

I took the advice of above and got a loom to use instead of cut and solder. It works ! Well kinda.....

I plug it in and I get radio working perfectly straight off the bat. But my cd, iPod and aux cable don't produce and sound thru the speakers. I know all 3 are working fine as the h/u just came out of my old car 10 mins ago. This is just soooo weird. Why would one work and not the others. Thoughts ??

Also there is a spare cable that come from the stock h/u that says amp.. What should I do with this. Or what does it actually do. Is it just the remote power to turn the amp off ?

[Ahmedsinc 414]

Ok so an update for all. And more head scratching

I took the advice of above and got a loom to use instead of cut and solder. It works ! Well kinda.....

I plug it in and I get radio working perfectly straight off the bat. But my cd, iPod and aux cable don't produce and sound thru the speakers. I know all 3 are working fine as the h/u just came out of my old car 10 mins ago. This is just soooo weird. Why would one work and not the others. Thoughts ??

Also there is a spare cable that come from the stock h/u that says amp.. What should I do with this. Or what does it actually do. Is it just the remote power to turn the amp off ?

"rogan Posted Apr 18 2013, 10:01 PM

One issue might be the factory amp. It's in the boot and has internal crossovers so you'll need to search around on how to tie an aftermarket h/u into the factory amp."

Start looking around the interwebs, there's bound to be plenty of threads from other e39 owners covering the same issue

[jochen 4]

I plug it in and I get radio working perfectly straight off the bat. But my cd, iPod and aux cable don't produce and sound thru the speakers.

Are you using the radio power antenna cable to switch on the amp?

If so, it may only switch on the amp when the radio needs the antenna up: ie, when the radio is ON.

You want the amp-on cable to be connected to something that powers the amp when needed.

The lazy way is to switch the amp on all the time the ignition is on, eg: wire it to the ign switch.

the proper way is to wire it to the radio so it is on when the radio is on, buy your 2old skool DIN HU" may not support that function

But if it is REALLY old skool, then the glow from the valve filaments will illuminate the dash area nicely at nighttime.....

[rogan 7]

This comes up all the time on BMW forums. For some reason some of the aftermarket harnesses use the electric aerial wire to turn on the factory amp. You need the remote on wire to do this. Usually just a case of swapping over the blue and the blue/white wires in the harness.

[Ahmedsinc 414]

But if it is REALLY old skool, then the glow from the valve filaments will illuminate the dash area nicely at nighttime.....

:D

[B.holland 0]

This comes up all the time on BMW forums. For some reason some of the aftermarket harnesses use the electric aerial wire to turn on the factory amp. You need the remote on wire to do this. Usually just a case of swapping over the blue and the blue/white wires in the harness.

Spot on. I confirmed it with a friend who use to do installs. Using a harness I bought of trademe was the best way to go. I just had to hook up the blue from the harness to the blue/white from the h/u and boom. She's all go running off the factory amp. No other messing around. Actually a simple install. Just need to get a fascia and mount my iPod, run my sub RCA and I'm done.

Thanks for the advice.