ice help

[troy.wyse]

i need to know my options, im guessing from a search my amp has gone because rear speakers have gone and front two work for short time then drivers side cuts out. amps on ebay are not cheap and to be honest for such an expensive car the sound system is dreadful. can i use a aftermarket amp instead and upgrade all speakers cheaply or am i best to just buy new amp off ebay?

[X5Sport]

A lot of the original buyers only had the standard sound system which was indeed poor on such a 'luxury' car.

Amp wiring is all in the boot so just check you haven't got water in there (particularly below/behind the battery area), before writing off the amp completely. There are after-market options available but if you have Nav they may not play nicely. ebay may be your option, but you can get also get it fixed.

A few on the Board have had a play around with non-OE fits and also had repairs done.

[troy.wyse]

where is the amp? i will wait and see what people say. im thinking get new amp or one fixed then just change speakers as they distort so early and just sound rubbish

[X5Sport]

Here you go....and depending upon the age of your car you may have a BM34 or BM54 type. I don't know the switchover point or differences - sorry - but there are people on here who do.

Xdrivers Amp location thread

Some wiring is around the module holder to the rear of the battery - to get at it you need the spare out and lift the air compressor module (2 bolts & 2 nuts) and remove the three screws holding the cover of module box guard in place.

This might help too..Getting at the modules by the battery....don't be thrown because it says tow-bar. That module is also in the same wiring box/module location.

[dgm]

I've just upgraded the basic system by installing a Blaupunkt pnp amp and a pair of tweeters in the front door pillars. I can't speak for the problems you're having with your system but if you want hugely improved sound at less than £200 I would defininitely recommend the route I've gone down. Massive improvement in clarity and a decent amount of bass without going down the sub route.

[troy.wyse]

which model amp did you get? does this just replace the standard one?

[dgm]

[quote=""troy.wyse""]which model amp did you get? does this just replace the standard one?[/quote]

Blaupunkt THA 275 pnp amp, about 85 euros from Caraudio24 in Germany. The leads for the amp were £65 from Blaupunkt direct in Britain. It doesn't replace the standard amp, it hooks into the radio module via a quadlock and doesn't involve any cutting of wires. The Blaupunkt amp drives the front door speakers and tweeters if you fit them.

[Denis O]

I had an audio upgrade on my E61 which involved a 5 channel Blaupunkt amp, new earthquake subs under the seats and BMW logic 7 tweeters all hooked up with 1 of those PNP wiring looms. The biggest improvement was definitely the tweeters.

dgm, do you have the part number for the wiring loom and what tweeters did you use. Any pics of your install, especially the points where the pnp wiring loom hooks up.

Cheers.

[troy.wyse]

ideal any pics of where wiring goes would be cool. do i need another one to power rears? they have cut out aswell

[storminmike]

Crikes...85 euros how does that workout

UK listers have them at £164.99

[dgm]

[quote=""storminmike""]Crikes...85 euros how does that workout

UK listers have them at £164.99[/quote]

Exactly, I was a bit sceptical when I saw the price as well but I gave it a go and it's worked out perfectly. They also list on eBay but it's cheaper to go directly through their website. The amp was delivered within a week.

[dgm]

I didn't take any pics of my install unfortunately as I was pushed for time. It's quite straightforward though, the most time consuming part is taking out the spare wheel and suspension compressor to access the radio module. After that it's just a bit of mucking about finding a position for the extra quadlock you have with the PnP cables. I then routed the cables alongside existing wiring to the right side of the boot, positioning the amp in the right hand side cubby hole.

The tweeters are the OEM DSP or hifi speaker system ones, they have the same part number.

Loudspeaker hifi left 65138379369
Loudspeaker hifi right 65138379370

I bought mine used from an eBay seller in the States. The reason I went OEM was to keep the car looking totally original, others might prefer to go aftermarket.

I don't have access to the part numbers for the Blaupunkt pnp cables at the moment but I'll post them up later along with a link I have for identifying and accessing the radio module. If you do buy them from Blaupunkt Direct then order them separately as its £5 cheaper than ordering them as a pair strangely.

[dgm]

[quote=""troy.wyse""]ideal any pics of where wiring goes would be cool. do i need another one to power rears? they have cut out aswell[/quote]

There are 4 and 5 channel amps in the same range from Blaupunkt but acting on the research I've done I just went with the 2 channel for the fronts. Combined with the tweeters there's a very good improvement over standard.

To be honest I don't think the amps are going to solve your faulty speaker issue, from what I've read on here it's more likely your radio module that's faulty.

[Denis O]

The amp is here

http://www.caraudio24.de/Verstaerker/Bl ... 15050.html

[dgm]

[quote=""Denis O""]The amp is here

http://www.caraudio24.de/Verstaerker/Bl ... 15050.html[/quote]

That's the one, the price is surprising when you think that Blaupunkt Direct are asking for £170 for the same amp. £150 was the cheapest I could find it in the UK. The 2 cables are a problem and I could only find them available from Blaupunkt Direct. The cables cost nearly as much as the amp which is bizarre.