Recommend Me an Android Head Unit for an E46! (Please)

jpaul · 11 Sep 2020 at 09:04

so you figured it out ...

there are some pretty good guides on line https://www.m5board.com/threads/xtrons-pb7639bp-android-head-unit-installation.586378/

in retrospect I wouldn't have bothered running cable under the carpet from front to back, getting the seats and carpet out is a major pita.

Frenzy · 11 Sep 2020 at 10:37

Nice link.

Yeah I had an aux cable going from stock to the front of the car before and it just felt messy all the time. This time I was determined to make it all look neat so I'm going to hide it along the route of the stock audio cable.
To be honest the worst part so far is removing the seat bolster. Looked online and read numerous experiences but after all that I still snapped the plastic clip on the back of the bolster. Wish I had just pushed the clip from the boot side. Ah well.

Meaker · 11 Sep 2020 at 14:52

Wiring these kinds of units can be a fun job, this is what mine looked like.

jpaul · 11 Sep 2020 at 15:14

Frenzy said:
Yeah I had an aux cable going from stock to the front of the car before and it just felt messy all the time. This time I was determined to make it all look neat so I'm going to hide it along the route of the stock audio cable.
To be honest the worst part so far is removing the seat bolster. Looked online and read numerous experiences but after all that I still snapped the plastic clip on the back of the bolster. Wish I had just pushed the clip from the boot side. Ah well.

I couldn't find any way to pass the cable through the existing floor cable channel without having to get the carpet out, since the path has some chassis members it has to go up and over, and with the connector too, it wouldn't pass , even with a more rigid guide wire - maybe I missed a trick - could have cut plug and resoldered I guess.
The pyrotechnic seat belt tensioner was what I was concerned with setting off, if I'd gripped the seat in the wrong place , felt like 40+kg for seat(with bolster)

sounds like bmw now have car play + Android Auto included , but the equalizer functionality still look inferior to the parametric/band ones you get on xtrons.

Nasher · 11 Sep 2020 at 19:49

Most BMW owners won't notice the lack of mid range because they just have the bass on their dubstep tracks turned up to max

Frenzy · 12 Sep 2020 at 00:31

Meaker said:
Wiring these kinds of units can be a fun job, this is what mine looked like.

Most of my spare wires out the back are camera connections, the main connector is all that's really needed for the 6m harness. GPS and wifi are directly on the unit too.

Just reminded me I have to lower the hk audio by 15 as apparently the connector will get hot other wise :S

Also bass is gooood

Meaker · 12 Sep 2020 at 15:15

Mine is just a digital out as my car has a built in dedicated amp from the factory. Had to solder that in on top of the above (the two brown wires)