Anybody remove the overhead console?
 

I need to get in there to swap out the microphone which I'm upgrading. The instructions illustration on bimmernav.com looks a little different from what's in my vehicle (see poor quality cellphone pic below). :confused: Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

There's an article here in the bluetooth section that gives you good directions to replace your mic, it's from Ucrew of El Jeffe I believe.

Yeah I saw the article on the main page but the pic is not visible.
http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/i...icrophone.html

PM Jeff, I'm sure he'll help!

Will do. Thanks for the suggestion.

Anytime:thumbup:

Why are you changing the mic? When I talk to people using my BT they say I sound 'far away'. I haven't been able to correct this yet and was thinking that maybe you are doing this for the same reason. If so, I'd love to know the results.

Yeah I'm getting the same thing so I'm hoping the upgraded mic will resolve this issue. I'll keep you posted.

I have been told by Benton that upgrading the mic will not help much.
Have you checked if you have the correct connection to your Bluetooth antenna?

From BimmerNav.com website:
have heard from some customers that they had TWO Cream colored antenna wires. Make sure that you choose the Cream/Purple as shown in the below image.

Here ->>>>Attachment 11247

Thanks BruinMan. The dealer installed mine, so I hope they did it right. But I'll check.

No my installation is fine and the phone pairs up flawlessly. The phone book download is lightning fast. Martin from bimmernav was a tremendous help. What I get from some people I talk to via the X's BT is that they hear background noise and/or I sound far away. However, when I speak in the direction of the Mic, they hear me perfectly. So I'm hoping the upgraded mic will improve things.

Use a small screwdriver to pop down the lighting section. Once that flips down you can access the screws hidden behind it. There should also be some screws behind the sunglasses holder area.

Excellent. That sounds straight forward enough. Thanks for the help! :thumbup:

Installed!
 

OK it's done. It took 20 minutes if that. There's a small 1/4" slot on the lighting section. See pic below although you probably can't make it out. Just insert a small flat screwdriver there and very easily, you can pop out the lighting section. You can then unplug the power cable from it and set it aside so it's out of your way. As El Jeffe indicated, you should see 2 silver Torx (size T10) type screws. There are 2 more in the sunglasses holder area. Once you undo all of them (4 in total), the whole console drops down and dangles by the cables. You now have easy access to the microphone which you can just pull out and then unplug the cable from it. Plug it into the new upgraded microphone whichs snaps into the same spot where the old one was located. Make certain the arrow on the mic is pointing towards the windshield. Reverse the steps to put everything back. Tested the new microphone and called a few friends. Big improvement they told me. I also called my voicemail, left myself a message and then played it back. Yup, it definitely sounds mo bettah now.:D

Towards the windshield?

Sounds like a great mod - pun intended. :) I am happy it worked out. Do you have pictures of the old mic and the new mic?

Do tell more. Specifics on the upgraded mic, please? BMW p/n? Cost?

I've been needing to hardwire my V1, so I've been watching this thread. Thanks for the instrux on dropping the console. Very similar process to my E39 M5...

-Dave

LOL Yes, the arrow has to point towards the front of the vehicle. See pic below straight from bimmernav's website, comparing the 2 microphones. Martin, hope you don't mind. ;)


I ordered the upgraded mic from www.bimmernav.com which is where I got my BT kit. See mic part number in the pic below. They sell it for $55.