Another way to upgrade the headunit

[wkndracr]

So after not being happy with the sound quality of the stock headunit, I decided to see what I could do about adding and aftermarket radio. Threre's plenty of room inside the dash, as long as you cut out the plastic thats in there (not TOO difficult with an airsaw). I cut a rectangular hole in the front, glued the radio's trimplate from behind, and bondo'd and sanded it. I spraypainted it with Plasti-dip. The color match looks better in person than the picture shows. Right now, I have the oem radio connected to the aux input on the Pioneer radio for my Sirius, HD Radio and bluetooth. Although I can still use the oem USB port, I have the Ipod adapter for the Pioneer which sounds better. The plan is to get the HD tuner and steering wheel control adapter for the pioneer and mount a separate speaker just for the oem radio for the gong, warnings, BMW Assist, and bluetooth (the Pioneer's bluetooth sucks). The best thing about this setup is you don't have to relocate the oem radio so the dealer can do updates, it stays wired in as is with the exception of the speakers.



For those interested, the rest of the system consists of Morel Dotech ovation 4" comps in the doors, Morel MW224 9" under each seat, and a JL 10w3 in the trunk powered by an old Soundstream Reference 705s.

[VP Electricity]

Well, that's another way to skin a cat.

Plasti-Dip is pretty cool, but heinous to use. Ventilated area!

There was a guy with a 6-series who did something like this with a McIntosh HU and Dynes in the kicks and Dyne subs IB in the R deck. Two totally parallel audio systems.

Does this mean you tried recoding and couldn't get it to work?

[wkndracr]

I didn't even think of recoding. I had the radio already and my impatience got the best of me. We're getting in the new JBL MS-8 soon, so ill try that and if I feel its worth it, ill just order a replacement panel.