re: [E34] CD Changer

[Knute Ream <knute@xxxxxxxxx>]

You wrote:
>Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 15:19:04 -0500 
>From: "Sanders, Ron" <rls5@domain.elided>
>Subject: (E34) CD Changer
>
>I have a '92 525i with a Pioneer stereo.  I would like to add a
>trunk-mounted CD changer, but the dealers want $4-500 for early-90s
>technology.  Can anyone suggest an alternative, either a cheaper source for
>the plug-in changer or another model that is compatible with the Pioneer?  
>
>Ron Sanders
>Phone: 404-639-4678
>Fax:      404-639-2980
>Email: RLS5@domain.elided		

You are a member of the BMWCCA, aren't you?

Membership has two key advantages (well, more than two, but here's two to
start with):

1)  10-15% discount from most dealers on BMW parts
2)  a subscription to the Roundel, which among other things has ads for
cheap parts

In the latest issue of the Roundel, I noticed two different (reputable)
parts places that have the CD changer you're looking for for less than
$400.  If you figure in what your time is worth, saving a couple of bucks
with an aftermarket player and then spending hours debugging the wiring
harness doesn't seem like a good deal to me.  I dropped an Alpine (BMW)
changer into my '92 525i in about 15 minutes, including opening the sealed
boxes in which the parts came.  Don't forget to make sure you order the
correct bracket when you buy the player; the same player fits both the E36
and the E34, but I believe the brackets are different.  Also, make sure you
use an Alpine changer with an Alpine head and a Pioneer changer with a
Pioneer head.

While it _is_ apparently possible to use another changer with the stock BMW
head unit, you need a special bus adapter that is both expensive and a
little difficult to come by.  The name P.I.E. comes to mind for the company
that makes the adaptor, but it's been a year or two since I last tracked it
down.

Good luck...

- -Knute

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