E39 stereo - it's rubbish, where do I start with upgrade?

[bramley]

2003 530i sport touring, with the basic stereo and OBC. It sounds awful, very hollow with no bass and it hates any sort of volume.

I sat in a friends 2003 touring (with factory satnav/tv) and the sound quality was a lot better, richer sound and it coped with a bit of volume.

What I'm keen to know is which part of my stereo system is the really st bit? Would a speaker upgrade help or keep speakers and change stereo, or replace both.

I have an Alpine head unit with iPod function but I don't really want to fit a non-BMW stereo as it'll look pants, so I'm kinda ruling that out.

I'd be happy losing the tape player, and having the single cd player in the dash (have a changer in the boot).

Ideally I don't want to spend too much, so an idea of costs would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

ETA: This is the stereo - thanks to Mr Fox for the pic

Edited by bramley on Tuesday 2nd September 15:03

[bramley]

Thank you, that's very helpful.

If I went for the MID unit, does that mean I get the high OBC features or is it not that simple? Perhaps that requires even more wiring?

I'll have a look for the Sony amp you mention.

Thanks again

[bramley]

Fox - where did you locate your amp? I think I'll go for the Sony one that I've seen mentioned on BMWLand, seems very cheap.

I'm guessing it's glovebox area or did you put it by the cd changer?

Hoping it's easy to wire in - it's been ages since I fiddled with amps and things.

[bramley]

Excellent, thanks.

Yes it's the 423.

[bramley]

Any idea of model number or a link mate?

Ta