Bm54 upgrade ?

[blofeld]

So a few weeks into owning my 4.8 and I am loving it.

As is the usual I am already thinking of a few thinks to do.....especially as someone ran onto the back of me last week and I am without it.........

[blofeld]

Weird. Tapatalk deleted the rest of the post-maybe cos I waffled on!


Short version: I have hifi and DSP

XkaliBaR does an amp upgrade for the BM54 that supposedly causes dramatic improvement for cheap money and retains OEM appearance.

My rear mid drops out intermittently so I wondered if it might be a bm54 problem anyway.

Any thoughts?

Grateful, as ever, for any input

Alex

[Raj]

Could well be the BM54 or even the amp/connection issue.

[blofeld]

Udate:

so i got my BM54 back from Baris. A good job, nice connections, high quality work, rapid turnaround. Would happily recommend him. The amp upgrade has made a definite difference to the depth of sound.

Plus he installed a BT receiver for me- an iWAVE. This enables BT streaming from my iphone 5. What is very nice is the phone can be paired to this and the OEM BT handsfree simultaneously. When i play music it streams via the iwave but calls automatically go to the Handsfree. All seamless-seems the iphone is not as stupid as i thought!

This is potentially a cheaper (£60 ish incl postage) way of getting modern audio to interface with the oem units than Intravee etc, although obviously requires the phone in a cradle up front so you can choose tracks and doesnt have the added benefits of Intravee. Also works quite nicely to stream movie audio from an ipad if the kids are in the back........

overall I am very happy.

Bad news is I still have no sound from my rear mid though

It is not the BM54 so i thought maybe the quadlock is faulty? or possibly the speaker itself- are they prone to fail? When i get a mo i will get inside the door and have a look- am hoping it is not the DSP

Alex

[X5LeMans]

Hi. Do you have DSP or Hifi 10 speaker

The DSP has a little sub in the right side boot cubby. Both have mids in the back doors
As well as woofers.

Both dsp and 10 speaker hifi have another amp hidden away. Not sure where the dsp amp is but the hifi amp is hidden behind the factory Bluetooth. If it was intermittent it might just be a loose connection. Or it could be that amp is playing up. 

I wonder is baris has ever tried upgrading that amp . Would be nice with a bit more power .

[blofeld]

I have DSP.

The DSP amp is a Harmon Kardon one located in the same place as on HiFi option behind the BT module.

Looking into it a bit the output connections from DSP are only 2 speaker wise (rather than 10 individual outputs) so hence it seems unlikely that it is a connection prob as more speakers would have gone?

Replacement DSP is an option but they are pricey and need to be set up using a scanner to make sure all the cross overs etc are correct for the car I think.

Baris does have some repair solution for DSP I think but at present it is embryonic and not really available.

I am hoping the speaker is just dead but I haven't had time to get it out yet!

[X5LeMans]

DSP should have a digital output from the bm54 and a full 12 Channel output set for the speakers. Perhaps the speaker cable connector is out of sight?  The dsp amp has active crossovers and drives all the speakers.

It should have three fairly high density connectors at least 15-26 pins on each connector!!

And it does drive all the speakers.

[blofeld]

Thanks.

Any ideas on a pinout diagram for the DSP so i can test the individual output?

Took the speaker out last night and its working so we are down to connections or the DSP itself

[PhilUK]

I have lost two channels so was considering a BM54 repair/upgrade.

Does XkaliBaR operate through ebay or does he have a website?

[X5LeMans]

I believe this one is from the E38 DPS amp, but the X5's DSP amp should be the same wiring harness regardless. BMW like to reuse parts , and even when they change a part they often just wire it the same but code the electronics differently.

Just silly differences, like the SUB is in the right hand cubby, rather than "rear deck" etc. I'll see if I can spot an X5 specific pin out, as BMW tend to change the cross over frequencies, so have to work out which outputs are actually directed at the rear mids...  My guess though would be the ones labelled as left/right rear mid range speaker/tweeter (11-24, and 16-19 on the 26 pin connector is where I would be looking for the mid range unit)

By the way.. THIS is the DSP amp, I believe there were several different manufacturers, and the crossovers are different on each model of car.. But it should at least guide you in the right direction.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Lear-DSP-AM ... 6348517%26

Actually if you have a back door panel off, you should be able to identify the correct colour wires! and then find them in the DSP harness?

DSP AMP

15 pin connector,

1. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Left +
2. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Left Center +
3. Left Rear Door Woofer -
4. Radio on/antenna trigger signal (12v)
5. Right Rear Door Woofer +
6. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Right -
7. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Right Center -
8. 12 V Power Source
9. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Left -
10. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Left Center -
11. Left Rear Door Woofer +
12. Right Rear Door Woofer -
13. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Right +
14. Subwoofer Rear Deck, Right Center +
15. Ground

18-pin connector:

1. Not used
2. Low freq. negative (-) signal - Transceiver/charging electronics
3. Not used
4. Not used
5. I-bus Signal Line - Splice X18344
6. Not used
7. Not used
8. Right Preamp Output –
9. Left Preamp Output –
10. Not used
11. Low freq. voltage (+) signal - Transceiver/charging electronics (DSP)
12. Not used
13. Telephone mute signal - Transceiver/charging electronics
14. Not used
15. Telephone ON signal - Transceiver/charging electronics
16. Not used
17. Right Preamp Out +
18. Left Preamp Out +

26 pin connector:

1. Left Front Woofer +
2. Left Front Woofer -
3. Not used
4. Right Front Mid-range -
5. Left Front Mid-range +
6. Not used
7. Not used
8. Not used
9. Right Front Mid-range +
10. Left Front Mid-range -
11. Right Rear Mid-range +
12. Right Front Tweeter +
13. Right Front Woofer +
14. Left Front Tweeter +
15. Left Front Tweeter -
16. Left Rear Mid-range -
17. Not used
18. Not used
19. Left rear mid-range speaker/tweeter +
20. Not used
21. Not used
22. Not used
23. Not used
24. Right rear mid-range speaker/tweeter -
25. Right Front Tweeter -
26. Right Front Woofer -

[X5LeMans]

Phil, Im sure Baris has ways to advertise, but Blofeld obviously has his current email/contact details im sure he can send them to you

[blofeld]

@X5LeMans

Thanks very much for this - just what i was looking for.

As I am an impatient idiot I went out and took the panel off the other night at 10pm in the dark so could barely see the colours- serves me right :dead:

Weirdly, having ignored the problem for a while have now become obsessed with fixing it and noticed that often when i start from cold first thing the speaker will work for up to 5 minutes then shut off. This doesnt happen if I switch off and start again- odd.

How difficult is it to fix loose pins in these multi pin connectors? can you remove individual pins and just re-terminate?

I suspect this may take me a while to get to the bottom of.......

will keep you posted

thanks again

Alex

[blofeld]

[quote="PhilUK"]
I have lost two channels so was considering a BM54 repair/upgrade.

Does XkaliBaR operate through ebay or does he have a website?
[/quote]

you have PM

[PhilUK]

[quote="blofeld"]
[quote="PhilUK"]
I have lost two channels so was considering a BM54 repair/upgrade.

Does XkaliBaR operate through ebay or does he have a website?
[/quote]

you have PM
[/quote]

Cheers Bud 

[X5LeMans]

One of the amp modules inside the dsp overheating perhaps?  Or a dry joint so it only works when cold? 

Wonder if Baris can do the amps in the dsp.