E46 bluetooth/aux streaming help
Discussion
twokcc said:
Tried another cable very similar to yours with the black block in the middle of the cable, even the amazon review said if you have tried other cables that didn't work this one will, well it didn't. Didn't get the aux option at all, with the phone plugged in or not. At least I got aux from the previous cable which should mean it is aux capable.Anyone any ideas why I lose aux as soon as the phone is connected?
Sorry cant help with why Aux doesn't work. Think mine head unit is a 2005 (Single CD replaced 2003 cassette business unit).
May be worth looking on the bay and gumtree to see if can get a 2005 unit.. Think I put a link up earlier which gave serial no's etc for each head unit. Also explains about ones that were unreliable -first one I got was one of these, seller very reluctant to accept that it was at fault but eventually got money back.
Looks as if start at about £25, I got lucky second one I bought seller had no idea that it was a rare ish model- cant remember what I paid for it, date on it or manufacturer.
May be cheaper than trying to get someone to look at repairing existing HU even if that is possible. If want can sent o a photo of front of mine
Could look for cars that are being broken/sold for spares may get a more recent model that way
May be worth looking on the bay and gumtree to see if can get a 2005 unit.. Think I put a link up earlier which gave serial no's etc for each head unit. Also explains about ones that were unreliable -first one I got was one of these, seller very reluctant to accept that it was at fault but eventually got money back.
Looks as if start at about £25, I got lucky second one I bought seller had no idea that it was a rare ish model- cant remember what I paid for it, date on it or manufacturer.
May be cheaper than trying to get someone to look at repairing existing HU even if that is possible. If want can sent o a photo of front of mine
Could look for cars that are being broken/sold for spares may get a more recent model that way
Edited by twokcc on Friday 13th December 13:58
Remember now originally wanted CD player that would play mp3's wasn't until later that got into streaming from phone. cant find original article but following has a lot of info may help
http://www.e46zone.com/forum/topic/12191-finding-a...
http://www.e46zone.com/forum/topic/12191-finding-a...
Best bet for finding a cheap alpine unit is from the american ebay, plenty of them knocking about in the states but few here in europe.
Sourced mine from ebay US all fees included around 50 quid whereas i was looking at 100+ over here.
You can also change the setting in the radio from america to europe so fm radio works etc.
Sourced mine from ebay US all fees included around 50 quid whereas i was looking at 100+ over here.
You can also change the setting in the radio from america to europe so fm radio works etc.
Another cable incoming, 3rd time lucky? If this one doesn't work I will probably go back to the original cable that gave me aux option until something was plugged into it and fix resistors/capacitors to it and see if that works. Anyone any ideas how to connect resistors without a soldering iron? 
Got it working but the volume on aux setting is quite low even with the phone volume turned up, I can't see a menu on the radio to set the aux volume separately (just the normal volume knob) so when I turn the volume up when it reverts to radio it's excessively loud. There did appear to be some info online about there being a specific aux volume control in a menu but I couldn't find it. Do those apps to increase phone volume work or are there any good ones?
Mr-B said:
Got it working but the volume on aux setting is quite low even with the phone volume turned up, I can't see a menu on the radio to set the aux volume separately (just the normal volume knob) so when I turn the volume up when it reverts to radio it's excessively loud. There did appear to be some info online about there being a specific aux volume control in a menu but I couldn't find it. Do those apps to increase phone volume work or are there any good ones?
Not sure if it will change the actual input volume but with Aux set as input press and hold music key, this allows altering speed etc volume.twokcc said:
Not sure if it will change the actual input volume but with Aux set as input press and hold music key, this allows altering speed etc volume.
Tried that but it had no effect on the aux volume, it seemed to only bring up the speed volume. I did find a music app which has a bass boost and an amplifier which was a bit of an improvement but when I use the amp to turn up the volume it changes the equalizer settings. I will have to have another look to see if i can fix that issue and then it will be ideal.Mr-B said:
Got it working but the volume on aux setting is quite low even with the phone volume turned up, I can't see a menu on the radio to set the aux volume separately (just the normal volume knob) so when I turn the volume up when it reverts to radio it's excessively loud. There did appear to be some info online about there being a specific aux volume control in a menu but I couldn't find it. Do those apps to increase phone volume work or are there any good ones?
Am I correct to assume you got it working by using a cable with the inline capacitor and resistor pack - if so the capacitors are effectively a high pass filter, removing any bass, hence flat (lower volume) sound. But if you remove the pack to be able to get a proper HiFi-ish sound you get the aux disappearing issue...maybe the head unit is checking something and if it does' like the impedance it takes off the aux in. Strange it is - as on my E66 it works well with the capacitor pack removed. Maybe a different head unit would work? naturalaspiration said:
Am I correct to assume you got it working by using a cable with the inline capacitor and resistor pack - if so the capacitors are effectively a high pass filter, removing any bass, hence flat (lower volume) sound. But if you remove the pack to be able to get a proper HiFi-ish sound you get the aux disappearing issue...maybe the head unit is checking something and if it does' like the impedance it takes off the aux in. Strange it is - as on my E66 it works well with the capacitor pack removed. Maybe a different head unit would work?
Yeah I think mine has the capacitor/resistor in line but without it the aux option would disappear when I connected anything to the cable so I needed the capacitor/resistor thing to get it work. Also it's not just a lack off bass there really is a significant difference in actual volume. A more recent head unit might be better but at the outset I was looking for a cheap/plug and play option so sourcing cheap HU's that may or may not work wasn't really something I wanted to do.Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff