Help with CD changer for BMW 5 series

[Jen]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a bit of help. My Dad and I are both AV enthusiasts but have never really had dealings with ICE. He's just bought a BMW 525i SE and would like a CD changer unit to connect to the head unit. The cabling is already in the boot as is the slot to fit it into. The BMW garage have quoted about £330 to fit one of their own but we thought that was pretty steep.

So, here are the questions, would a changer made by sony, kenwood, pioneer etc be better quality than the BMW one? If so, which one would you all recommend (he's happy with a 6 disk changer but would consider 10 if the price was right)? Any advice on fitting/places to buy from?

Many thanks for your help,

Jen

[TooManyHobbies]

What year is the car and is it the BMW business radio that is fitted.

Mark

[Jen]

Yes it's the business model and the car's two years old.

Jen

afaik.. bmw use alpine clones for their changers.. a dealer price of 350 is typical.
i very much doubt youll be able to buy a changer straight out and plug it into the bmw lead (i could be wrong). so you could try your local ice dealer (or halfords) and see if they do a changer package with the adapter lead, this would probably be around the £230 mark.
im not totally sure on the 5 series but the 8 series have the changers all built into a panel in the boot which restricts the size of the changer, just remember that when buying a new "non bmw" changer

[foxmeister]

Dave20 or anybody out there just a quick BMW question aswell please.
I have just bought a 3 yr old BMW 318se which has the factory fit cassette player and tuner (who listens to cassettes nowadays!!).
I have had a quick look in the boot but can see no wires which I could connect an interchanger to.
Will I have to lead wires from the cassette player to the boot myself or do you think they should already be there ?? If so where do I look !!
Thanks, Foxy ..

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.. good question.

i stopped doing car audio 2 years ago now so not 100 % on most stuff. on the newer shape 3 series such as your own, i do believe all of the models have the lead already run (again i could be wrong). if it was my car i could find the lead in 5-10 mins by taking all the boot panels out. but telling someone else where to look is really hard heh.
your best bet is to phone your local bmw dealer and ask them if the 318se's have the lead for a changer already in (i "think" all bmw's now have them for cost effective reasons) and if it does have the lead where would it be a best place to look.. generally youd need to be transfered to the workshop for that sorta question.

if you get no joy, let me know and ill contact my friends who still do car audio

[KeithO]

My BMW has a Pioneer clone 6-disc changer. You might find that a Pioneer just slots into the wiring already there.

[foxmeister]

Dave20, thanks for your response, what do you mean when you say 'lead' is that the wiring ?
I know I will end up taking it to the BMW dealer, I was just trying to save myself a trip, a friend of mine has a Sony 6 disc changer that I'm hoping to fit in the boot, hoping I don't have to mess about running wires from the dash !!
Thanks again, if you here where the wires might come out in the boot let me know ..
I've popped off a few panels but not seen wires yet !!

it would be a big black lead with a chunky plug on the end usually strapped to one of the main wiring looms, sorry i dont have any more info for you.

(the older bm's had pioneers stuff)

[rct]

Why not have a look here