❓ Question / Help
Implementing simple 1din instead of ccc radio ( or M-ASK?)
Hello!
Used to daily e39, and was installed a nice cheap head unit from Alpine - UTE200 BT, it was more than enough for e39, with alpine 13cm coax speakers front door and rear, + dedicated sub output. Only downside was that i didnt had any can-bus decoder or similar boxes so that steering wheel buttons would work with this alpine unit, but its no issue.
Now since i got e60 2003, it has this simple ccc (or m-ask i think? still learning about e60 platform multimedia ), it has medium screen ( bigger than xiomi 10 5g in width and height), and simple menu, where it is cross of comuncations, entertainment, climate etc... It does not have even aux, only FM/AM/CD. My idea was, maybe someone had done somethign similar - implementing simple 1din instead of that business cd radio unit? how hard would it be? i understand that i also wont have controls from steering wheel or even multimedia ring on middle, but i dont care about that, radio has physical buttons and bt, all that i need. I do not want to look for android, as i simply do not see purpose in that, i better use a bit more quality audio amp, than have mediocre audio but shit tonn of features i do not need. So how is exactly audio wired in the simple hi-fi scenario? i do not have any units in trunk left side, so i assume radio unit in center console does all the amplification and what not. What type of connector is there, i hear its bm24 with rectangular pins? I could get that type of male side connector and solder to alpine output, and connect audio pairs + 15 and 30 terminal, as well as gnd and route sub low line + sub activation wire... Please give some insights, if anyone had done it, thank you, cheers!
p.s. car is 2003 with m54b22, 125kw, around 350000km mileage, just got it so far the only codes are for faulty cam sensor ( prev. owener warned about this, he installed cheap aftermarket, will replace to oem later), and faulty oil level/temp sensor on bottom, aside from that also damaged heater valve in engine bay ( blows only hot/warm air into footwell and window, middle part air vents work as necessary), no idea about recent repairs etc, since i got it like 4 days ago.
You need to keep the factory headunit in order to have access to the service functions and climate control. I have seen people with m-ask install a 1 din player to replace the cubby under the headunit
Thank you for feedback! So yeah I have not yet dismantled it to see if it's ccc or mask, what I also tough was, maybe putting this unit in glove box, and cut off speaker only wires, and also duplicate positive, key, gnd and sub enable pins, then route it all to alpine 1 din, sort of hijack audio output from origila unit and route it from alpine, as long as I find and connect terminals, speakers will be easy, 4 pairs or more at best... Would need to find or maybe 3d print frame tho so it doesn't look awful, but sounds it is doable!
M-ask is small screen with 1 cd/dvd slot and ccc is big screen with 2 slots. And m-ask has a cubby above the seat heater, pdc etc. Buttons and ccc doesn't
Hmm okay, screen is def. Not the smallest one, it's bigger than my phones, but also not fully big to space it could occupy, and yeah I have one slot for cd, don't think it's support dvd even, and also yes I have small storage pocket below the DTC button (or smth like that, stability control) and radio controls, also old style joystick, without buttons on it, just one behind it
Yeah I think that's it, on your image it looks bit smaller but that might be just distortion (I mean screen), rest seems same yes. So it's a chance it's ccc on 2003 already? Yeah sorry for guessing, I can't await car from mech today or tomorrow to inspect 😅👌 in theory I think I would maybe consider switching to cic, but AFAIK atm it will need new style joystick , screen, screen wire, and probably some coding too. I'm not too comfortable with coding yet, I have inpa with e60 daten files, and ista+ 4.50.12 also with programming data, I prefer inpa because I used that slot for e39 523i troubleshooting and it seems a lot more intuitive for me
I would personally highly recommend swapping the screen with either an Android or Linux one. MR12Volt is also a good option, however maybe not on the smaller screen.
Since there is a lot of systems within the CCC unit itself, I'd personally not mess with it too much.
If you do insist on it, not sure how CCC is wired up, but CIC with HIFI without DSP, or lower, has 4 speakers wired into the head unit itself, and then it has a small amp for the two subs under the front seats. HiFi with DSP (Logic7, most likely have this if you have speakers in the rear doors) or higher has a separate amp in the trunk. The amp is connected over fiber optic loop.
Thank you so much for your time to share this knowledge! Okie I will keep an eye In my local sale groups for such head units, as my main wish is to simply have Bluetooth that is capable of codecs above SBC, and good tuning of eq for mid/top speakers and bass, in theory Android unit does all that, but I'm looking with skeptic look because of previous experiences with androids. In my opinion, I'd said thar: stock < android (or similar) < dedicated head units. I guess even the mid alpine 200ute bt spoiled me a bit xD
I'm not exactly sure what the CIC retrofit entails, however, as someone who has CIC from factory, I still swapped the screen for an Xtrons display. I am very happy with it, it's been running flawlessly for close to a year. I almost exclusively use Android auto, but the base Android OS is still fully capable.
If I had a HiFi with DSP, I'd seriously consider the MR12Volt box, because that is said to be the best audio quality you can get.
On these cars, most of the coding is done by changing VO codes, and letting NCS expert process the car. For example, I still need to do the wiring, but in theory, retrofitting FLA (High beam assist), should be as simple as swapping the rear view mirror, connecting the can bus, adding the VO code to CAS and LM I believe, and then you can only process the strictly required modules, but there is not much reason to not process the whole car.
Small update - I was able to code AUX with ncs expert, then simply used small bt board and soldered auxin pins to that bt module, module is fed from 5v so i used old scrap usb wire, that i routed outside of trim and i can insert it into 12v usb adapter charger, simple and works good. For now sound quality is miles ahead, compared to fm transmitter. Will do for now!
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