Dissatisfied with stock stereo? Try this...

[Warren N.CA]

This may or may not work on yours, but on my '89 535i and '90 325is, it solved the problems completely. (The radios are different from year to year.)

Looks like BMW's marketing geniuses decided to have the tone controls set by the radio manufacturer so that in the middle (supposedly flat frequency response) there is actually a huge amount of both bass and trebble boost. This is done so that there will be an impressive amount of "boom-boom, ching-ching" to catch people's ear in the showroom. One day I decided to investigate this by tuning in male voices on the radio and listening for the bass underline caused by this boost. I found that turning the bass control all the way down resulted in much more natural sounding male voice reproduction. Similarly, turning the trebble all the way down removed the spitty "s" sounds. In the end, I set the bass all the way down and the trebble one or two notches up from the bottom. This results in very decent sound on everything from "gangsta" rap to Mahler.

I wondered if the same thing had been done to my '90 325is, so I went through the drill. Yes, similar situation, but not as extreme. To make it sound natural required turning down the bass and trebble several notches from the so-called "flat" seting. Now it sounds MUCH better on anything and everything, and as an added bonus the amp doesn't run out of power when being played loud enough to overcome the relatively high highway cabin noise in this car. Bass boost will definitely cause an amp to run out of headroom much faster.

I'm not claiming that this will satisfy someone's lust for a really trick stereo, but may offer a VAST improvement without any money thrown down a rat hole. And I now am entirely satisfied with the sound quality from the stock radios in both my old Bimmers.

[Russell]

I normally had my bass down as yet felt that the sound was still distorted at the mid point. I will experiment a bit more as well.

By the way, CDs sound much better than FM with my Alpine 5 head unit.

This may or may not work on yours, but on my '89 535i and '90 325is, it solved the problems completely. (The radios are different from year to year.)

Looks like BMW's marketing geniuses decided to have the tone controls set by the radio manufacturer so that in the middle (supposedly flat frequency response) there is actually a huge amount of both bass and trebble boost. This is done so that there will be an impressive amount of "boom-boom, ching-ching" to catch people's ear in the showroom. One day I decided to investigate this by tuning in male voices on the radio and listening for the bass underline caused by this boost. I found that turning the bass control all the way down resulted in much more natural sounding male voice reproduction. Similarly, turning the trebble all the way down removed the spitty "s" sounds. In the end, I set the bass all the way down and the trebble one or two notches up from the bottom. This results in very decent sound on everything from "gangsta" rap to Mahler.

I wondered if the same thing had been done to my '90 325is, so I went through the drill. Yes, similar situation, but not as extreme. To make it sound natural required turning down the bass and trebble several notches from the so-called "flat" seting. Now it sounds MUCH better on anything and everything, and as an added bonus the amp doesn't run out of power when being played loud enough to overcome the relatively high highway cabin noise in this car. Bass boost will definitely cause an amp to run out of headroom much faster.

I'm not claiming that this will satisfy someone's lust for a really trick stereo, but may offer a VAST improvement without any money thrown down a rat hole. And I now am entirely satisfied with the sound quality from the stock radios in both my old Bimmers.

[winfred]

a 89-90 e34 radio will drop right into the e30, does your e30 have the alpine with the finger slider for the tone controls? if so the pioneer from a 89-90 e34 stomps the hell out of that alpine turd in sound quality, plus you can add a cd changer to it and keep the non theft inducing factory looking head unit, i have one in both mom's 90 325isa and my 90 325ism, she has a pioneer cdx-m6 and i have a pioneer cdx-m30 and the common pioneer bimmer changer will work also, i think it's a m91
this is the good head unit
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...708077406&rd=1

[George M]

or if you want to pay less and are handy with a low wattage soldering gun, purchase my 1990 head unit same as shown above that Winfred talks about for $10 + shipping.
It only sits in my attic in a box. Half the display is out and needs new display lights soldered in...there is a procedure on the web someplace that shows how to do this.
George

[Warren N.CA]

My radios work fine, and I'm now happy with them, after turning down the bass and treble.

or if you want to pay less and are handy with a low wattage soldering gun, purchase my 1990 head unit same as shown above that Winfred talks about for $10 + shipping.
It only sits in my attic in a box. Half the display is out and needs new display lights soldered in...there is a procedure on the web someplace that shows how to do this.
George

[Warren N.CA]

projects going and no time for another. Yes, I've got the one with the finger slide tone controls.

a 89-90 e34 radio will drop right into the e30, does your e30 have the alpine with the finger slider for the tone controls? if so the pioneer from a 89-90 e34 stomps the hell out of that alpine turd in sound quality, plus you can add a cd changer to it and keep the non theft inducing factory looking head unit, i have one in both mom's 90 325isa and my 90 325ism, she has a pioneer cdx-m6 and i have a pioneer cdx-m30 and the common pioneer bimmer changer will work also, i think it's a m91
this is the good head unit
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...708077406&rd=1

[krisby]

I had that stereo too, but needed CD, found an Alpine unit and changer locally, had it fitted for only $75. The good thing is the Alpine unit has two options for the backight, a greeny colour, and an amber that matches the interior lights of my bimmer, so it looks like it just fits in with the amber dash etc.

The only problem is the unit is only 30W, so I have to find another head unit that is a 50w x 4, and because of the AI net changer, needs to be an "a" model, never mind no hurry for now. The speakers in the bimmer do seem to be quality though, so once I get the new unit it should be sweet as, make it my pimp mobile, hehe.

[A guest from Canada]

I have an 89 525i... is it possible to swap in an aftermarket head unit or am I going to have to rewire everything because of the common ground?

-Mark