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Thread: Kenwood or Alpine or ???

  1. #1
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    Kenwood or Alpine or ???

    I think I narrowed it down to Kenwood Excelon KDC-X998 or Alpine Alpine CDE-164BT for my E36 M3. I have the HK stock system right now. I am upgrading the front speakers with:

    TWEETER: Morel Maximo 5
    MIDRANGE: Peerless by Tymphany NE65W-04 2" Full Range Woofer from Parts Express
    KICKPANEL: Morel Maximo 5

    I have a never-used but "vintage" (about 15 year old) 5-channel amp and 10-inch sub that have been collecting dust that I plan on installing too, not sure what I'm going to do with the stock HK 6x9's in the rear deck. I have fold down seats, so the sub is probably just going to go in a sealed box in the trunk against the back seat.

    So which head unit do you guys like? I use an iPhone, if that matters for compatibility. I want to move into this century with hands-free phone and streaming Pandora, or possibly playing stuff off the iPhone.
    Last edited by M3 Pete; 10-04-2017 at 11:50 PM.
    97 Estoril/Black M3/4/5

    "Although we've experienced an M3 sedan with an automatic, our test car came fitted as God intended, with a 5-speed manual ..."
    Road & Track May 1997, testing the M3 Sedan

  2. #2
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    It’s been years since I’ve dittled with head units, but I’ve owned both KW and Alpine units. Both were fine, but the Alpine just seemed/felt like the better, higher quality unit. IMHO

  3. #3
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    Also debating on a non-CD head unit, like the Alpine UTE-62BT. It has been years since I played any CD's, so maybe I should save the money. Anybody have one of these?
    97 Estoril/Black M3/4/5

    "Although we've experienced an M3 sedan with an automatic, our test car came fitted as God intended, with a 5-speed manual ..."
    Road & Track May 1997, testing the M3 Sedan

  4. #4
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    I'm sure this has been debated, but I am in the same boat as you.

    I have a 97 M3/4/5, and want a headunit that works well, has the standard features of the time (bluetooth, iOS support, easy to change between phones) and I am having a hard time pulling the trigger. I want it to work and look as basic as possible....
    Current: E36 BMW M3/4/5, F31 BMW 328i xDrive M Sport
    Past: Mk6 Golf R APR Stage 2, E30 325i/4/5, E36 328iS/2/5

  5. #5
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    I have a VDO/Continental radio coming in for my E30 (LINK to them). After a touch of modification (removal of Continental logo and chrome around the knob), it'll look pretty basic and should blend in nicely.



    -James

  6. #6
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    The Continental angle is interesting... but isn't that orange pretty far off the amber of the BMW? I definitely like that the head-unit is a matte finish, but the orange in the picture would drive me a bit nutty.

    I guess I just have to decide if I want to look like a high school tuner or have mismatch colors...
    Current: E36 BMW M3/4/5, F31 BMW 328i xDrive M Sport
    Past: Mk6 Golf R APR Stage 2, E30 325i/4/5, E36 328iS/2/5

  7. #7
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    I pulled the trigger on the Alpine CDE-163BT, which is the model preceding the 164BT but it is still on sale. One reason is that the big SOURCE button has a black square on it so it's not as bright as the 164BT, which is a big complaint that I saw online. I have not installed it yet, but I have read that you can pretty much match the red/amber lighting in the E36. Somebody also told me the Kenwood was slow to respond.
    g500CDE163B-F.jpg
    Last edited by M3 Pete; 11-16-2017 at 05:51 PM.
    97 Estoril/Black M3/4/5

    "Although we've experienced an M3 sedan with an automatic, our test car came fitted as God intended, with a 5-speed manual ..."
    Road & Track May 1997, testing the M3 Sedan

  8. #8
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    Awesome! Definitely keep us posted how it goes. I will also look into the CDE-163BT.
    Current: E36 BMW M3/4/5, F31 BMW 328i xDrive M Sport
    Past: Mk6 Golf R APR Stage 2, E30 325i/4/5, E36 328iS/2/5

  9. #9
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    This video scrolls through all the color choices for screens and buttons

    http://www.ivanyolo.com/reviews/alpi...nge-cde-163bt/

    - - - Updated - - -

    One more thing, if you have any FLAC files for your music, the 163BT will decode them, the 164BT will not. That's not an issue for me, but it might be for some.
    97 Estoril/Black M3/4/5

    "Although we've experienced an M3 sedan with an automatic, our test car came fitted as God intended, with a 5-speed manual ..."
    Road & Track May 1997, testing the M3 Sedan

  10. #10
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    I have a Kenwood in my m3 and I hate it. every time I barely touch it the screen goes blank then resets. I had an alpine in my old e36 and I loved it. great head unit can tell is a good quality item. Nice choice

  11. #11
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    Yeah, I replaced the factory head unit in my E30 with a Kenwood. It was ok. I replaced that with an Alpine. Quality difference was significant.

  12. #12
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    Many people on this board know me as an obsessive E36 owner. But I also make my living in embedded systems, and have long wanted to produce audio gear to replace the ever-aging factory headunits in these cars, as well as provide something as a counterpoint to all the gaudy Chinese junk produced by Alpine, Kenwood and the like these days. So much so that I have completed the preliminary design work on a head unit designed specifically to look at home in the E36 as well as Porsches of this era.

    The problem is every time I look at the project, which has become something I dabble with in what little spare time I have, I can't see the end-user price being lower than around $2K for the base system given the production numbers I think will sell. And then I question whether there is really any market for high end audio in cars anymore and whether I want to invest any of my money producing it. I've discussed the idea with some angels I know and they are willing to seed a prototype, but as usual, they all want a big piece of the resulting business...which ultimately drives up the cost and decreases the potential market for the product...which is already tiny given that it's over the $0.50 most people seem to want to spend on a headunit these days. So I'm perpetually in a state of purgatory with this project. Proceed or not? That is the question.

    Clearly, the state of 12V sucks, the market is shrinking with every crash of one of these older cars, and I'm not sure I should be investing money in a niche market product like this when I can make more money elsewhere. But then I look at and listen to my failing factory headunit, which spurs me to spend a couple more hours designing some aspect of the system, pulling datasheets, and, occasionally, getting distressingly high quotes to cut glass (i.e. have a custom automotive grade LCD designed) or bend metal.

    I'm curious -- if you could have a new single DIN headunit that leveraged modern tech and yet looked like it belonged in the E36, what would be your threshold of pain? How much would you spend?

  13. #13
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    I would go to $700. I’m not a big audio guy, I just want something that sounds decent, looks the part, and has modern features. You can get two of the three from Alpine, etc...

    The “look the part” piece is missing.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Current: E36 BMW M3/4/5, F31 BMW 328i xDrive M Sport
    Past: Mk6 Golf R APR Stage 2, E30 325i/4/5, E36 328iS/2/5

  14. #14
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    For what it's worth, I put a Kenwood in my last Z3 and the control it gave over everything was amazing, but the access to all of these functions was a royal pain. Why is having a simple bass and treble knob so difficult? This thing had multiple equalization curves and you could manually design your own. It allowed you to pick the size of your car, select the size of every speaker and the location of the fronts! You could adjust the digital delay from front to back, crossover frequencies and the distance of your subwoofer from your ears! Fiddle with it enough and the sound was very good, however...
    Change the source and the sound might need to be tweaked again, meaning another 3 minutes. It took about four menu selections to get to where the controls you were looking for were. PITA!
    If I change head units in the newer Z3, I will go with Alpine for ease of use.
    After explaining this to a good stereo shop, I ended up with a really basic Panasonic in my motor home with premium separates, along with a good sub and sub amp. Sounded great and was super easy to operate. Looks were not an issue in that instance like they appear to be for some on this thread.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Your original question about building a head unit: I would not want a unicorn in my car and the price would be prohibitively high. Keep looking for something that will please your esthetic sense. Blaupunkt might look right in a German car.

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