Thinking about swapping headunit?

[anissut]

People,

Thinking about swapping the BMW headunit for something with ipod and bluetooth. I don't really want amazing sound or anything like that but I only drive the car 3k miles a year and when I do drive it, it tends to be longet than 30-45 mins and getting to a meet or a track where you can't always drive foot flat to the floor all the time. I have an iphone so it would make sense to get a decent head unit to listen to the music I have on it and also be able to take calls from the mrs. and kids.

So my questions really are: has anyone got any tips on which headunit to go for and also I'm not sure I want to bugger around with speakers etc. so will the head unit alone make a difference? I'm not interested in spending more than a couple of hundred quid really. Are there speakers that just replace what's in there at the moment and are they expensive and do they make a difference?

Anyone got any thoughts on this head unit? http://www.alpine-europe.com/home/products/headunits/cd-headunits/cde-104bti/

Thanks.

[glendog74]

Personally, i would consider the speakers first as these made the biggest difference in my car when i swapped out OEM for Rainbow units. The rears in particular are easy to do.

http://www.cslregister.com/forum/showthread.php?t=681

Regarding a head unit, as i didn't want a CD capability, i swapped to an Alpine iDA-X300 iPod unit - £135. It has a high speed control link to the iPod in the glove box and the interface through the head unit itself is reasonably easy to control. It doesn't have Bluetooth but you can buy a seperate 'module' to add-on. They also do the higher specced X200 and X100 models which have the Bluetooth built-in i believe. :smt023

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/7702/dsc02582zt7.jpg

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/7522/dsc02575oe3.jpg

For interest, I have just sold my old BMW CD head unit on ebay for £156...! :119: :whistle:

[anissut]

Your head unit looks good but my only concern is whether it will work with the iphone and charge it as it is the newer dock thingy or whatever it is? Can I ask how much the speakers cost including materials? I'm not sure I can fit it myself to be honest (mainly because I don't think I have the right tools) so might just give it to a local car audio place to do but I guess I would need all the right stuff to do it. Does look an impressive setup though. :thumbs:

[Mark CSL]

Get your self a denso ipod adaptor for the bmw head unit thats the iphone done and a parrot 3100 for the phone side

I have them in my csl you can put the iphone in the glovebox and still use the phone with the parrot kit :thumbs:

[glendog74]

my only concern is whether it will work with the iphone and charge it as it is the newer dock thingy or whatever it is? Can I ask how much the speakers cost including materials?

I'm pretty sure that it would fit if the iPhone has the same charging connector that all later gen iPods have (i use an 8gb Nano) - it has just a lead - no dock needed.

The speakers cost me £220 a pair as they only come supplied with additional tweeters.

If you really aren't bothered about improving the audio quality then maybe consider what Mark said about the Parrot Bluetooth options :smt023

[anissut]

Get your self a denso ipod adaptor for the bmw head unit thats the iphone done and a parrot 3100 for the phone side

I have them in my csl you can put the iphone in the glovebox and still use the phone with the parrot kit :thumbs:

Does it charge your iphone? So when you are listening via the Dension, if a call comes in the iphone doesn't get confused with the call coming through the Parrot while being connected to the Dension? :beer:

[karbonkid]

I have an ipod lead in the glovebox & Nokia bluetooth all linked through the OEM radio and if you want to keep your headunit but benefit quality sounds get yourself a Cleansweep giving that stealth look with potential, but may want to upgrade those paper speakers to get the most out of it. :thumbs:

[Mark CSL]

Does it charge your iphone? So when you are listening via the Dension, if a call comes in the iphone doesn't get confused with the call coming through the Parrot while being connected to the Dension? :beer:

Yes it charges the iphone
and works the phone when you have it playing mp3s :thumbs:

[anissut]

Thanks. I still think the Alpine Head Unit according to the link I posted above is the best option. It's £180 plus fitting, so say £250 all in and it is full speed ipod with bluetooth built in and no other stuff needed. The Dension is £140 (I could fit it myself) and a decent Parrot is probably £180-200 fitted. I could sell the BMW head unit and get a lot of my money back if I go down the Alpine route. Also, if I do decide to upgrade just the speakers further down the line the starting base would be better working off a head unit with a much better amplifier built in.

[anissut]

Right chaps, further update on this. Am looking at this gadget now:

http://www.ioplay.co.uk/home.html

Have rung up a load of people about it and they say it works excellently. Is basically a bluetooth handsfree kit (as good as a Parrot but no display and phonebook sync) as well as streaming your music from an iphone or ipod. You plug a bluetooth dongle thingy (which can also charge via cigarette socket) into the iphone/ipod so that it plays through your car system. This means I don't have to bugger about with changing the head unit as well. The unit also has its own amp so the sound quality should be better than the std BMW unit. Am being charged £165 including fitting at my house.

[s.mac]

I put one of these in, not the best pic

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/duds001/DSC01249.jpg

pioneer AVIC-HD1BT

in my old M3
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/duds001/DSC00594.jpg

they do newer units, I've been more than happy with it.

[karbonkid]

I put one of these in, not the best pic

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/duds001/DSC00594.jpg

they do newer units, I've been more than happy with it.

Whats the button to the right of the DSC?

[_Nathan_]

HK

[anissut]

I put one of these in, not the best pic

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/duds001/DSC01249.jpg

pioneer AVIC-HD1BT

in my old M3
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/duds001/DSC00594.jpg

they do newer units, I've been more than happy with it.

I would definitely consider something like that if my car was a daily driver but being only a weekend toy, it would probably be overkill.