M3 CSL Radio & Ipod

[ibroker]

Has anyone fitted an ipod to their M3. BMW quote an adaptor kit at £105.

Has anyone relaced the unit completely bearing in mind its a strange shape/fit?

[m12_nathan]

Dension do a cable for the standard headunit that is better than the BMW one as it shows the tracknames on the display and lets you browse the whole ipod rather than just 5 playlists.

[anissut]

I have just put in an Alpine Head Unit in my CSL. There is a blanking plate on the right side that covers the bit where the last bit of the std head unit would be. The Alpine head unit (2006 model) has full speed Ipod so the Ipod sits in the sunglasses holder and I can navigate the ipod via the head unit. It's a great solution. I have also upgraded the speakers and put a sub in and the sound is many leagues better than what it was.

In my previous CSL I had the Dension Icelink that Nathan mentions. It's reasonably straight forward to install yourself and shows track names, artists, songs etc. on the head unit. You also use the CD 1-5 buttons for your playlists. CD6 button gets you into the Ipod control screen. It's a good solution but the sound is awful with the std head unit. If you want quality sound then you would need to replace the head unit.

[Zod]

anissut said:

I have just put in an Alpine Head Unit in my CSL. There is a blanking plate on the right side that covers the bit where the last bit of the std head unit would be. The Alpine head unit (2006 model) has full speed Ipod so the Ipod sits in the sunglasses holder and I can navigate the ipod via the head unit. It's a great solution. I have also upgraded the speakers and put a sub in and the sound is many leagues better than what it was.

In my previous CSL I had the Dension Icelink that Nathan mentions. It's reasonably straight forward to install yourself and shows track names, artists, songs etc. on the head unit. You also use the CD 1-5 buttons for your playlists. CD6 button gets you into the Ipod control screen. It's a good solution but the sound is awful with the std head unit. If you want quality sound then you would need to replace the head unit.

Is that the updated version of the Alpine IVA-D300 I had in my CSL, Anis?

[anissut]

No Charlie, I went for a single din head unit, Alpine CDA9850ri I believe. Couldn't be bothered with forking out a whole load for Sat Nav considering I use it only 5-6 times a year. I will probably go for a small speed detetctor/nav unit that can go in the A pillar to the right of the steering wheel. Also, I went for the Morels, front and rear, really very impressive speakers. Coupled with the sub it makes the HK system in the SLK seem very poor. I might put a genesis amp in a few months down the line if I still crave more but at the moment it's nice having such good sound.

[ibroker]

So pulling the head unit out leaves a standard head unit hole in the dash then?

If thats the case I will just replace the whole unit.

Edited by ibroker on Friday 14th July 08:04

[The Dude]

I put one of these in mine;

www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4679

Connecting cable goes through to my glove-box and the iPod sits in there, out of sight. iPod also charges while it's connected so the battery never goes flat.

[Zod]

anissut said:

No Charlie, I went for a single din head unit, Alpine CDA9850ri I believe. Couldn't be bothered with forking out a whole load for Sat Nav considering I use it only 5-6 times a year. I will probably go for a small speed detetctor/nav unit that can go in the A pillar to the right of the steering wheel. Also, I went for the Morels, front and rear, really very impressive speakers. Coupled with the sub it makes the HK system in the SLK seem very poor. I might put a genesis amp in a few months down the line if I still crave more but at the moment it's nice having such good sound.

true, but you can't hear it over 4000 rpm.

[anissut]

The Dude said:

I put one of these in mine;

www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4679

Connecting cable goes through to my glove-box and the iPod sits in there, out of sight. iPod also charges while it's connected so the battery never goes flat.

Yep, exactly the same head unit that I have Dude. Nice bit of kit isn't it?

[The Dude]

anissut said:

The Dude said:

I put one of these in mine;

www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4679

Connecting cable goes through to my glove-box and the iPod sits in there, out of sight. iPod also charges while it's connected so the battery never goes flat.

Yep, exactly the same head unit that I have Dude. Nice bit of kit isn't it?

Indeed. I had an earlier model in the S3 but (a) it had that horrible slide-touch-control which made it utterly frustrating to scroll through your music and (b) it was nowhere near as fast at accessing the iPod as the new one.

It's not the greatest sounding unit when matched with the CSLs existing setup, but I'd rather spend money on go-faster and stop-faster bits

I would like to look at improving the sound generally - sounds to me like the (front) speakers suffer because of the construction of the door (or are they just crap speakers?). I don't really want to get into installing amps etc. but the low frequency response is terrible.

[anissut]

To be honest I didn't want to go over the top with amps etc. either so I changed the 4 speakers and put a small sub in (fits in the left hand bottom corner of the boot). I think it's more than adequate now but with all of these things once you get a taste of something you always want more. The speakers with sub incl. labour came to £1100 which isn't cheap but it is a huge difference. That price is without the head unit.

[The Dude]

Ahhh, I've just worked out who you are (on BM3W).

[anissut]

Indeed

[Zod]

The Dude said:

anissut said:

The Dude said:

I put one of these in mine;

www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4679

Connecting cable goes through to my glove-box and the iPod sits in there, out of sight. iPod also charges while it's connected so the battery never goes flat.

Yep, exactly the same head unit that I have Dude. Nice bit of kit isn't it?

Indeed. I had an earlier model in the S3 but (a) it had that horrible slide-touch-control which made it utterly frustrating to scroll through your music and (b) it was nowhere near as fast at accessing the iPod as the new one.

It's not the greatest sounding unit when matched with the CSLs existing setup, but I'd rather spend money on go-faster and stop-faster bits

I would like to look at improving the sound generally - sounds to me like the (front) speakers suffer because of the construction of the door (or are they just crap speakers?). I don't really want to get into installing amps etc. but the low frequency response is terrible.

It sounds good with good speakers, Dude. If they are even slightly loose though, the entire door panel vibrates. Whatever you do though, you won't hear much other than treble when going quickly.

[anissut]

You can Dynamat the front doors (thats what I have done), it weighs very little, costs circa £100 and reduces all the vibration.

[The Dude]

anissut said:

You can Dynamat the front doors (thats what I have done), it weighs very little, costs circa £100 and reduces all the vibration.

Hmmmm, I have a box of Dynamat Extreme in the garage....

Anis, did you Dynamat the whole of the inside of the door skin or something?

[anissut]

Dude, I didn't actually do it, Auto Audio did it when they did the rest of my install. They said they were going to Dynamat the front doors so the exact detail I'm afraid I don't know. You could give them a call if you want, I dealt with a guy called Greg Morris.

[Zod]

anissut said:

Dude, I didn't actually do it, Auto Audio did it when they did the rest of my install. They said they were going to Dynamat the front doors so the exact detail I'm afraid I don't know. You could give them a call if you want, I dealt with a guy called Greg Morris.

Given Auto Audio did mine, they may already have done your doors, Dude.

[DJFish]

This thread may be of interest: www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=72&t=271609

[The Dude]

Zod said:

anissut said:

Dude, I didn't actually do it, Auto Audio did it when they did the rest of my install. They said they were going to Dynamat the front doors so the exact detail I'm afraid I don't know. You could give them a call if you want, I dealt with a guy called Greg Morris.

Given Auto Audio did mine, they may already have done your doors, Dude.

Interesting....

I do get some rattle/vibration from (mainly) the drivers door though, and not at particularly loud levels. Well, loud enough.