Scott8659 Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 I finished up the install in my 2005 M3 over the weekend. The problem is I get no sound from it on any sources. I ran 3 pairs of RCA's to the trunk and used a Sven4 to interface them with the factory amp. I also hooked up the blue/white remote wire to the white wire in the amp harness (the correct wire according to all the BMW forums). Since I ran RCA's and didn't need the wires on the Z110 I just wrapped them up behind the HU. Is there some setting I missed that activates the RCA pre-outs or is this done by default if they are hooked up? I didn't see this mentioned anywhere in the manual so I'm guessing it's automatic. At this point I have no idea why I'm getting no sound. Everything else seems to work and the display indicates it's playing just without sound. Any ideas? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fe342185 Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 I installed in an X5 and mine worked right off the bat. The RCA was live and did not have to be switched on except for the subwoofer. Are you still using the factory amp? If you are then I would recommend swapping it for an aftermarket one since the OEM amp has a built in crossover. My factory speakers sounded much better after getting rid of my OEM amp. I took the next step and replaced the OEM speakers afterwards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott8659 Posted September 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 Thanks. I am currently in the 30 day window on the BSW's but I may return them and just replace the amp and possibly the speakers. I found my issue. The wire taps I used were not small enough to tap into the factory remote wire. Once I fixed that I had sound. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fe342185 Posted September 11, 2009 Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 I replaced my speakers and Amp with an aftermarket one. In my opinion the BSW speaker upgrades is way over priced. BMW makes terrible stock tweeters and replacing them usually is enough to satisfy many listeners ears. BSW are just renamed/rebadged Rainbow speakers and there are many other speakers options in the market with much better sound for less. The consumer is pretty much paying more for the plug and play and documentation. My experience is I replaced the front speakers with $90 Kicker component speakers first. I replaced one tweeter first and tested and I realized that replacing just the tweeter was enough. I replaced the woofer since I already had the door panel off but it would have been enough with just replacing with a $30 tweeters. Now I have all 4 doors replaced with Kicker components and a kicker 4 channel amp for the doors and a mono amp for the kicker sub. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott8659 Posted September 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 BSW did switch to their own speakers last year. They no longer use Rainbow. But, with that being said I'm going to return them. The stock amp has way too much frequency loss. To top it off the previous owner of my M3 took out the stock sub to save weight so I have no low end at all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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