[parapaul]

Trying to get my facts straight ahead of upgrading the audio in my pre-LCI E91.

I think I'm going to stay away from the Alpine upgrade - it was a superb value for money poackage to begin with, but BMW have priced it out of the market IMO, so I'm tentatively planning to go with the Vibe Litebox and Lite Air comps.

I know the Litebox accepts speaker level inputs. That's fine. What I'm interested in is:

1. Can this HU recoding definitely be done? What do I need to ask for, and can it be done at an indy rather than a stealer?

If it can:

2. Once it is, the high level speaker outputs become line level 5V RCA outputs?
3. Speakers will no longer work when fed with a line level input?
4. The EQ of the HU will be flat?

And most importantly:

5. Will the sound be any better when providing the amp with a line level as opposed to speaker level input signal?

Hoping GizzE and Tony stumble across this, but anyone who can help, it's much appreciated

[taibanl]

recommend to post in the audio forum

[Jon D]

At the risk of showing my age, what's HU recording?

[parapaul]

Not recording - recoding.

Picked it up in (I think) one of E92fan's posts. The basic professional HU has a heavily distorted EQ to compensate for the cheap speakers and lack of tweeters. The HiFi HU apparently has a neutral EQ which is a much better start for building a decent audio system - amplified rubbish is still rubbish

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by parapaul

Not recording - recoding.

Told you I was showing my age, I can't even read properly, nonetheless, I still don't know what HU is.

[gIzzE]

Head Unit.

Radiogram or 'the wireless' for you Jon.


You could just get BMW to code the car for the Alpine upgrade mate.
They charged me 30 mins coding.

This will give you around 8v output, fine for a vibe and it will flatten the EQ on the front channels.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Head Unit.

Radiogram or 'the wireless' for you Jon.


You could just get BMW to code the car for the Alpine upgrade mate.
They charged me 30 mins coding.

This will give you around 8v output, fine for a vibe and it will flatten the EQ on the front channels.

GIZZE, what MONTH AND YEAR production is your car? Do you have SA663 Radio Professional?

[gIzzE]

Yeah, I have and it is March 2010, but probably Feb build.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Yeah, I have and it is March 2010, but probably Feb build.

I believe its listed on your driver's door jam, if you have a chance to take a glance.

[gIzzE]

It will be a Feb build.

It is definitely the later Prof radio as there are no most connectors.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

It will be a Feb build.

It is definitely the later Prof radio as there are no most connectors.

Thanks for the reply.

So you have the alpine kit? which one the -268 kit?

Can you confirm that the recoding flattened (normalized) the head unit output? (Did it get rid of the boosted mid bass and treble?)

[gIzzE]

Mine is an X1.

But yeah it is the later kit with no crossovers in the tweeters to reduce them by 6db, hence why it needed coding.

Yeah completely flattened the EQ and I would guess reduced the output by around 25% too.

[taibanl]

Cool!

Did you ever fit the BMW Station for Apple iPhone?

[gIzzE]

No, keep thinking about it, but need to decide whether I am keeping the X1 or not.

Like it, but then think I would prefer a 23d auto over my 18d manual. haha
Then think that I could be in a 640d for not much more as well.

But the X1 was a second car, cheap company car tax, I don't pay for fuel, I don't pay for servicing or tyres or insurance, and it does what it is meant to do, so I may well stick with it. If I do I will order the iPhone station I guess, or put an Alpine S-370 monitor in there.

[gIzzE]

[parapaul]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Head Unit.

Radiogram or 'the wireless' for you Jon.


You could just get BMW to code the car for the Alpine upgrade mate.
They charged me 30 mins coding.

This will give you around 8v output, fine for a vibe and it will flatten the EQ on the front channels.

Nice one, thanks. Is this something an indy could do, or will it have to be at BMW?

[gIzzE]

Probably easier at BMW.

It is a very simple code.

[parapaul]

[jagdeepj123]

Hey parapaul - Have you had this done? Does it work?

I'm thinking of doing the same for my 'base' stereo on my Dec 06 e92 i.e. recoding to hi-fi and running low-level inputs to an aftermarket amp.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Head Unit.

Radiogram or 'the wireless' for you Jon...

What on Earth are those? Sounds like they're just passing fads - this is what you need:

[parapaul]

Originally Posted by jagdeepj123

Hey parapaul - Have you had this done? Does it work?

I'm thinking of doing the same for my 'base' stereo on my Dec 06 e92 i.e. recoding to hi-fi and running low-level inputs to an aftermarket amp.

No, I haven't - as and when I get round to upgrading the rest of the audio kit, this will be the last thing I do before setting it all up properly.

[taibanl]

coding today, will update.