[e90bmw328i]

Hi, I received the connects2 harness today from caraudiodirect. But the stereo connector is not specific to my pioneer unit. Should I have received another harness with it?

[bmw325i]

Those are ISO connectors. You might be able to find an ISO harness for your headunit. For me the simplest/cheapest way was to cut the ISO connector off, remove any unused wires, and solder in the harness that came with my headunit. I covered each wire individually with heatshrink, then I used a big piece of heat shrink.

[e90bmw328i]

So its been 3 days since I did the pioneer install with the connect2 harness. I have tried quiet a few settings on the head unit to get it to reproduce the audio better but it performs well below the BMW professional head unit. I am using the RCA low level outputs.

Any idea how I can improve the sound quality? I have tried playing with the time alignment. Unless I turn the volume high up, there isnt much bass at all. This is true for both HDRadio mode or USB mode.

I am using the stock Hi-fi AMP BTW.

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by Metblack328i

So its been 3 days since I did the pioneer install with the connect2 harness. I have tried quiet a few settings on the head unit to get it to reproduce the audio better but it performs well below the BMW professional head unit. I am using the RCA low level outputs.

Any idea how I can improve the sound quality? I have tried playing with the time alignment. Unless I turn the volume high up, there isnt much bass at all. This is true for both HDRadio mode or USB mode.

I am using the stock Hi-fi AMP BTW.

You could replace the stock amp with a 4 or 6 channel amp. My headunit has an option for media expander, and I'm not sure how it works but it does sound better with it turned on. Not sure what else you can try.

[e90bmw328i]

Originally Posted by bmw325i

You could replace the stock amp with a 4 or 6 channel amp. My headunit has an option for media expander, and I'm not sure how it works but it does sound better with it turned on. Not sure what else you can try.

The Stock hifi system is 4 channel too, right? coz there are only FL,FR,RL and RR wires going from the head unit to the AMP. Then amp then converts the signals over to 6 channel by using the Rear signals and drives the low level frequency to the underseat subs.

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by Metblack328i

The Stock hifi system is 4 channel too, right? coz there are only FL,FR,RL and RR wires going from the head unit to the AMP. Then amp then converts the signals over to 6 channel by using the Rear signals and drives the low level frequency to the underseat subs.

It is a 6 channel amp. The signal to the stock amp is full range so you shouldn't setup any filters on the headunit.

[cdgatti]

What is the pre-out voltage on the aftermarket head unit. The stock hi-fi will put out 5V at max volume. Some aftermarket head units are only 2V. You may not be giving the stock amp enough input. Also, you may need to program the head unit to put out the lower frequencies into the front and rear outputs, and not the sub pre-outs, which would not be used.

[e90bmw328i]

Originally Posted by cdgatti

What is the pre-out voltage on the aftermarket head unit. The stock hi-fi will put out 5V at max volume. Some aftermarket head units are only 2V. You may not be giving the stock amp enough input. Also, you may need to program the head unit to put out the lower frequencies into the front and rear outputs, and not the sub pre-outs, which would not be used.

The pioneer head unit I have puts out 4V (not sure at what volume level though). I have disabled the Sub preouts as I am not connecting to them. I have also disabled all filtering so that Amp can get the full frequency.

[ctuna]

A system is only good as its worse components.
and the Hi Fi speakers and amp aren't all that great.
That is where the sore point is in the Hi Fi system not
the head unit.
For sound quality that stuff has to go.

[e90bmw328i]

Originally Posted by ctuna

A system is only good as its worse components.
and the Hi Fi speakers and amp aren't all that great.
That is where the sore point is in the Hi Fi system not
the head unit.
For sound quality that stuff has to go.

After some more fiddling around with other options, I found a speaker level control for front and rear. I turned up the rears to +2bd and the fronts down to -2db. That did help the bass in the underseat subs. Even when I try to tune up the rears to +10db, it did not quiet make that big of a difference but currently the system sounds much better.

Aftermarket amp and speakers sounds like the right way to go but cannot afford that at this time.