Aftermarket headunit No Sound - Help!
 

Hey guys,

I am pretty new to the forums. I've searched through the forums as well as google and I have followed a few instructions on getting this to work but it has not worked. What I am running into is this. My display on my radio quit working but you could use the buttons to change the stations and use the business cd but couldnt see anything. So I decided to go with a aftermarket head unit. I went and I purchased a headunit, dash kit, and a metra antenna adapter and wiring harness from metra.

However, I got everything hooked up and the radio comes on, but no sound comes out of my speakers. I've pulled the fuses for 72 and 73 for 5-10 minutes, I've unhooked the amp that is on the left side of the boot and hooked it back up but still not any sound. Does anyone have any suggestions? Its like the amp is not getting powered on or something to produce the power for the speakers. Am I missing a power wire for the built in amp? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Do you have DSP?

I have no clue? How would I tell?

It doesnt say DSP on the headunit but says Business CD Player on the cd player portion of the stock head unit

After taking another look at my headunit, it does say DSP on the right side on a button.

No aftermarket HU will work with DSP. It needs "to be kept alive" in order to get any sound. You will have to either bypass it or switch back to OEM HU.

Like I said the OEM HU is shot. It doesnt work.

Then I guess you will just have to bypass it.

You mean run my own speaker wire and everything from the radio or can I use the existing speakers, and just replace the amp and spice into the wires in the back of the vehicle running to the factory amp?

Yes, you will have to wire the HU straight to the speakers. You will also need an aftermarket amp. You can use the OEM speakers if you wish so, but I would change those too if I go through all this trouble.

I can just splice the speaker wires already coming from the car, and run them into an amp that I already have. I don't have that kind of money and wasnt informed by the stupid car place I purchased the radio from and the wiring harness and the antenna adapter that it wouldnt work in my bmw, and they have a no return policy that they did not tell me about.

I only saw total replacements, including speakers. The result was obviously much better then the DSP, which is not impressive to my ears. I guess keeping the OEM speakers will offer you a decent sound and you can upgrade them later on.

Will something like this work?

PAC Line-Out Converters | Car Amplifier Installation & Accessories | Car Audio/Video Installation & Accessories | Car Audio, Video & GPS at Sonic Electronix

You mean for keeping the DSP alive? No, it has to send ibus telegrams, so it has to be specifically designed to do this task.

You just have to leave the OEM HU in the car. You can hide it under the passenger side dash. You will have to set the volume there. The HU needs to turn the amp on by CAN-BUS communication. Set your aftermarket radio to sorta mid level then you can only adjust volume from the steering wheel. Use PAC line outs.

I have this done on my DSP system with a Pioneer DVD head unit. Sound is ok, it is better than OEM though.

Heuer21 I am going to PM you to get some additional details about how you did the PAC line outs etc because the wiring harness does not the rear speaker outputs are missing on the factory side.

I tried sending you a PM but for some reason it did not go through. So here it goes can you give me some details on exactly what you did with the line outs, and where you tapped wires, and so forth? It would help me out greatly!

Without having a premier subscription Im not sure I can send PMs. I've tried it numerous times.

Sending PMs should be available to regular members too, I don't have any subscription and I am able to PM other users. Probably the receiver has his Inbox full.

For what it's worth I have an aftermarket head unit hooked up and I have DSP also.
Basically I just hooked up the RCA output of the head unit to the aux input (had to buy a kit for that) of that stock radio. That may or may not work for you though since your stock radio is broken.

Hey blackhat, I have had this happen before when replacing the OEM business CD Player head unit with my Pioneer AVH5900. IMO, check the aftermarket wiring harness connection for being loose and/or wiring for correct splicing to OEM wires. There is plenty of information about this kind of problem on the site, search and sift. Also, you may need to plug your oem HU back in, turn the volume to a comfortable level, swap it back out for the new HU and see if it makes a difference.

I have done lots of searching and sifting but all I ever find especially related to the DSP head units is that it can not be done not to even try it. Now this one person gives me a little hope and I can't get them to reply back to PMs or here lol on how they actually used the line outs and where.

well if your head unit is older than the car you drive, you might need to get a newer head unit. Preferably with line outs built in. If your head unit doesnt work with the IBUS, than the only way around it is by adding an amplifier and wiring all your speakers (probably 10 of em) and head unit to the capable amp.

I think I was misunderstanding. The headunit I have is brand new and has 3 lineouts built in. However I was wondering what he used between the line outs and where he is connecting to. Is he splicing into the regular wires, using a wiring harness for aftermarket and using PAC line outs going from the aftermarket headunit line outs to the factory speaker wires. That is what I am trying to figure out what the guy did with leaving the control unit in the car and just using the line outs on his new headunit.

How defective is you radio? As everyone here said you need the handshaking on the iBus for the DSP to stay on. If your radio is good enough for that you can do a similar install as I did for the Hualingan in this thread: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...9-e53-diy.html

It actually works witht he business cd player installed and the control unit. Its just a little broken. I can only power the unit on using the volume dial and control the volume through the unit. I have to actually use the steering controls to change stations, tracks etc.

Fmugur, the Piece that you put in the back was that the tuner from under neath the spare tire or was that the control unit below the cd player up front?

The radio/CD goes in the trunk and the MID (you call it control unit) in the glovebox. What tuner underneath the spare? Did you have oem nav?

No I don't have an oem nav. Someone told me there is a tuner under spare tire. I may be wrong. I have not looked. So let me get this right the whole radio up front including the business cdplayer and the headunit piece on the bottom must be placed in the back, or just one of them. I'm trying to get all of this information for friend, he puts in radios but never has done one on a BMW. All of your help is appreciated. If you want to exchange phone numbers i'm cool with that too.

I know I'm probably a little dumb when it comes to this or maybe a little confused. Also i don't have the round pin connectors I have the new style.

What exactly are you doing with the DB25 connector in the back. Directions are not entirely clear.

I misread your last post about the cd goes in trunk and MID in the glovebox. I think I can do this now. Thanks for the help I will keep you posted.

How did you get the connection for the headunit thats in the dash to use in the back to hook up the cdplayer/radio? Did you have to cut the one off up front and wire the wires manually to the radio or what did you do?

@OP, your aftermarket head unit can only power 4 speakers, if you have DSP most likely you have 8 speakers + the 2 6.5" subs on the rear passenger compartment. I kept the factory speakers in, used an Alpine 4x100W amp to power all 8 speakers. I did NOT run speaker wires to each speaker, instead the DSP AMP in the back has speaker wires all there, you can splice into there and run to your amp literally with less than 3 ft of speaker wire to tap into your aftermarket Amp which can be mounted directly in place of the DSP AMP or above it if you find a small enough amp like me. You only then need to run a set of RCA's up to the aftermarket HU or 2 sets if you wish to fade. I ran one and used a splitter at the AMP. I bypassed my DSP amp alltogether since it died due to water intrusion.

Anywhere that actually has the right colors as far as speaker wiring goes? Like which one is right rear negative, and so forth.