::.. e34 Radio / Amp Wiring Diagrams

[Qube]

After spending almost two hours hooking up the Basslink, I do have something to show for it. The time was spent running back and forth, trying to get accurate wiring diagrams... with conflicting information everywhere. Finally came across a definitive site and finished up quickly.

http://www.rayd.co.uk/blogs/rayblog.nsf/d6plinks/BMWRadio

ENJOY!

[genphreak]

After spending almost two hours hooking up the Basslink, I do have something to show for it. The time was spent running back and forth, trying to get accurate wiring diagrams... with conflicting information everywhere. Finally came across a definitive site and finished up quickly. http://www.rayd.co.uk/blogs/rayblog.nsf/d6plinks/BMWRadioNiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice work Qube, thanks a heeeeap. I'll be using this when I install my new USB head unit...

BTW; How does that B&W feline insulation go down the back, does it supress the rattles? :D Nick

[Qube]

No rattles, even at high gain. Can barely hear the bass if the trunk is closed and outside, but inside, it can be ear splitting :) I will test firing against the ski hatch tomorrow... and then finally bolt it down.

[genphreak]

Spent this weekend attaching my mp3 player to the stereo. It works but in doing so I found out that it is a lot harder on us than I realised - as I was able to have a good think about the wiring that BMW did on the stereo in the first place.

People, does anyone know how the setup really works? I can't see where I have missed this:

It appears to me that the stereo wiring in an e34 is (after all this time) still a bit of a mystery. A completetly different animal to a normal car's stereo wiring- and this includes the special antenna module which only works properly with BMW radios, let alone the;

Speaker wiring:
For sometime now I have been unsure as to what the inputs to the amp are high or low level and how the fader worked in the dash- (ie whether it was connected post or pre-amplifier).

I have a blue and a yellow input signal wire (as well as two brown ground wires) that are attached to my head units output, and then a myriad of yellow and blue wire combinations leading to and from the amplifier from the fader control in the dash, plus the individual wires for all 10 speakers going away from the amp itself.

However the two input wires, those blue and yellow ones connected to the outputs on the radio (and unlike all the other blue and yellow wires I can find they have no traces, ie they are just solid yellow and blue) seem to dissappear into the loom and don't come out anywhere...

For those that don't know this is the case when you have the premium 10 speaker surround system (in-dash mid/door-mounted tweeter/foot-weel bass at front and 2-way splits at rear)

Boot-mounted amplifier wiring
On my car, an August 1988 build 535i euro exec, the amp has two 12-pin connectors, one has blue wires and one has yellow (and all these wires have different trace colours).

Beware though, the wriing of the the boot-mounted amplifier might be different on other e32s and e34s- many have a different equalizer module to suit the interior of the car and the kind (and quantity) of speakers it is supplied with.

The system in my car is an updated Blaupunkt Florida RD168. It is a normal car radio in terms of its wiring, unlike the oem supplied and branded BMW stock radios that come with the car.

The head-unit's positive and negative high-level rear outputs are connected to the yellow and blue wires which somehow drives the boot-mounted amp (and also uses the in-dash fader control). I have added a subwoofer as many have, by tapping the rear woofer output wires on the amp's 12 pin speaker connectors. However in the write-ups one can see that people connect low-level outputs directly to the outputs driving the woofers on the stock amp. With mine I used a step-down high to low-level converter and this works well.

However I am surprised to see the wiring work in a booster like fashion- this does not seem optimal and given all the work BMW did, is this not a bit ridiculous? I know it was a long time ago, but the units should surely be running line-level connections to the amp.

Am I right? Is the stock amp a booster amplifier or is it running on low-level inputs in a way I cannot see (not having a stock setup to check this is hard...)

Am I right to assume the stock BMW radios use speaker-level connections to drive the amp?

Modifying the stock amp to accept low-level inputs:
I am seriosuly considering scrapping it, however before I do, perhaps the amp can be run on low-level inputs? I'd like to keep it, even if only to drive the mids and the tweeters.

For the ultimate sound quality with aftermarket gear:
If it is possible to modify the input section of the amp to run on low-level inputs, a pair of 3-way $20 passive crossover/equalizers could be used to easily tweak the stock speaker setup into sounding really good with the subwoofer.

This would be really cool as it would nicely integrate the after-market sub amp with the stock 10-speaker setup in the best possible way.

If you think I am wrong regarding any of the above, please educate me. I am sure I am not alone in wanting to get this right. Many thanks in advance! :) Nick

[Rustam]

After spending almost two hours hooking up the Basslink, I do have something to show for it. The time was spent running back and forth, trying to get accurate wiring diagrams... with conflicting information everywhere. Finally came across a definitive site and finished up quickly.

http://www.rayd.co.uk/blogs/rayblog.nsf/d6plinks/BMWRadio

ENJOY!

so eh, that cylinder with a spark figure on it and digital display - a bomb eh?