The E39 Euro Professional CD Radio - a Comparo Breakdown

[geargrinder]

So regarding the even vs odd FM stuff, it isn't so much that the US spec doesn't include the even numbers - it's that US broadcasts are higher bandwidth. That's also probably why the scan mode gets tripped up - it is detecting a broadcast on the even frequencies, because the station is... modulating its frequency over 200KHz window rather than 100KHz like in the rest of the world.

Exactly right. That's why we don't have even numbers. I think the 'works better tuning down' probably has something to do with the single sideband data it detecting either the RDS or the stereo pilot or something like that and being able to lock on better when scanning in that direction. As I said in the OP, my vintage 1980's Becker did exactly the same thing so I suspect any Euro radio will act that way in USAofA.

Holy guacamole, I forgot to mention the AM. I'll update the orig post. More on that later.

No I don't have Aux setup. I'm sure it works fine. The option to enable AUX is there IIRC, shouldn't be an issue.

Seems to be even rarer, but you might be interested in the CD54 for your E46. Has a much nicer display than the CD53 in the E46's case.

YEAH, I stumbled on that only recently but haven't gotten too far into it. Has crossed my mind but as you say, those seem also to be unicorn pubes.... maybe I'll start keeping eye out for those too... I'm relatively happy w/ the E46, the H-K audio is way better than the haters make it out to be, and the radio reception is WAY better than in the E39 for some reason (I'm guessing the 'verts good old fashion fender-mast-antenna is in great part to blame for that) so it's not been a huge priority for me... but it'd be fun to have that rarity mod and if the display is better...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E39-E53...2/283285334072

Yep, looks like it is! There's nothing really to "complete", the unit is standalone. Plug and play.

The only tricky dicky bit is the "Business" in the description. If he's got that wrong, and you can trust the PN in the listing and the pix, then... thats a pretty good price, I got mine for even less but I'd have considered one at that price maybe in the past. More often they are up in the 3 digit prices in dollars, pounds or Euros.

I will say the front plastic on these is fragile, mine had very very slightly cracked behind at the attachement screws, not enough to separate yet, so was perfectly ripe for some simple JBWeld preventative reinforcement. Very possibly that just happened in the sellers packaging and shipping. But I would also say, worst case even if they separated a little bit, you should be able to JB it. Getting the whole plastic front off is a PITA that requires radio disassembly AFAICT, and, the Biz uses a different screw-tatchment scheme than the Pro so you can't swap a Biz face over to the Pro radio without hacketyhacking it up, so hopefully any Pro you get is either not broken or is fixable enough.

And in Germany, and in England - but that’s a $1500+ upgrade whilst upgrading the receiver was $150.

Fair enough! Can you give some details on which part/model/source this is and what it entails? Sounds like a cool cross-over swap mod... (Feel free to start new thread on that topic...)

[RosieE39]

Can you give some details on which part/model/source this is and what it entails? Sounds like a cool cross-over swap mod... (Feel free to start new thread on that topic...)

It’s the OBM/Nav Radio from an E83, E85 or E86 with the front taken off and the CD mechanism taken out.
Other than the disassembly, it’s plug and play.
The benefits are better SQ, no dodgy BM53, much later module that has Aux in and Sirius etc.
Here’s the video that promoted me to try it:-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=536UoDGOIGk


There’s one for sale on EBay for $150 (no relationship)if anyone’s interested.
2007-2010 BMW X3 E83 RADIO RECEIVER NAVIGATION ID 65129166374 OEM 07 08 09 10 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F183589804945

[TerraPhantm]

It’s the OBM/Nav Radio from an E83, E85 or E86 with the front taken off and the CD mechanism taken out.
Other than the disassembly, it’s plug and play.
The benefits are better SQ, no dodgy BM53, much later module that has Aux in and Sirius etc.
Here’s the video that promoted me to try it:-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=536UoDGOIGk


There’s one for sale on EBay for $150 (no relationship)if anyone’s interested.
2007-2010 BMW X3 E83 RADIO RECEIVER NAVIGATION ID 65129166374 OEM 07 08 09 10 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F183589804945

Hmm, that’s interesting, I’d definitely give that a shot if I had an OEM navigation system. Especially since for late model X3s, HD Radio was an option.

[geargrinder]

It’s the OBM/Nav Radio from an E83, E85 or E86 with the front taken off and the CD mechanism taken out.
Other than the disassembly, it’s plug and play.
The benefits are better SQ, no dodgy BM53, much later module that has Aux in and Sirius etc.
Here’s the video that promoted me to try it:-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=536UoDGOIGk


There’s one for sale on EBay for $150 (no relationship)if anyone’s interested.
2007-2010 BMW X3 E83 RADIO RECEIVER NAVIGATION ID 65129166374 OEM 07 08 09 10 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F183589804945

Huh! That is VERY interesting/cool! Fascinating. Thanks for the info.

The most interesting part of that is that the module is obviously happy to operate without the faceplate switches, and just take all its commands (and broadcast out the resulting data) on the iBus. Wonder if you could get one of those to work in a MID car with a similar face-ectomy?

[TerraPhantm]

Huh! That is VERY interesting/cool! Fascinating. Thanks for the info.

The most interesting part of that is that the module is obviously happy to operate without the faceplate switches, and just take all its commands (and broadcast out the resulting data) on the iBus. Wonder if you could get one of those to work in a MID car with a similar face-ectomy?

Yeah that’s definitely surprising. Makes me wonder if the ones with a built in display would also be happy to work via ibus commands

[osc911]

I think it would work. I have installed a Bluetooth module from the e53 (used in e83, late e39) into my e38. The e38 never had Bluetooth, but it had a wired phone with a control module. I replaced this with the Bluetooth module (after wiring and connector mods). The steering controls and MID controls + display all work fine. I never got pairing working properly, but I just do this via PASoft, when I rarely need to pair a new phone. The main point here is that you can cross over i-bus items even in cars that never had it.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[RosieE39]

Yeah that’s definitely surprising. Makes me wonder if the ones with a built in display would also be happy to work via ibus commands

It’s very interesting isn’t it.

We all know that the ibus is modular and things just start working once plugged in, the ignition cycled and it recognises the configuration.
(e.g. NAV, TV, ULF, CDC) and same goes for when modules are removed.

It does make sense that the faceplate is just using ibus commands (same as IRIS and MID in an E39 that are interchangeable) as that would then make all the different configurations of faceplates easy to fit on the front of the same hardware.

Also all the aftermarket iPod interfaces (Grom, Dice, Dension, Intravee etc.) all have the same module for all ibus cars that all have slightly different display layouts.

Only one way to find out though......

[TerraPhantm]

Only one way to find out though......

So I happen to have an E83 non-nav head unit on hand (unfortunately not the HD Radio version unlike what was advertised when I bought it). Opened it up and its internals look identical to the nav version in that youtube video. I'm sure there's a software difference, but perhaps that wouldn't matter? I'm sure the non-nav versions are more plentiful. I don't have ready access to an E39 anymore (whether nav or MID), so I can't say what will happen if plugged into one.

Off-topic (sorry geargrinder!), but I think I might try to adapt this unit to an E46. I have an Avin in my M3, but my "beater" 330i is still stock. I plugged it in there using one of those round pin to flat pin adapters, and it definitely seems to sound better compared to the CD53 I have (which is a late model version too with the solid caps instead of electrolytic, etc). There are a couple challengers to overcome to mount it permanently though


1) The ribbon cable for the display/buttons is different - but it should be adaptable since the display and buttons are the same. Whether that means I transplant the E83 face guts into the E46 face or adapt the old ribbon style to the new one, it should be doable.

2) The CD player is centered in the E83 unit and offset to the right on the Alpine CD53s. However unlike the alpine, the E83 CD drive attaches via a cable, so it should be easy to drill some new mounting points over to the right and get it to line up with the E46 faceplate.

If successful, I might hunt down the HD Radio version

[RosieE39]

Off-topic (sorry Geargrinder)

Yeah, my apologies too, Geargrinder.

If successful, I might hunt down the HD Radio version

I think this is very valuable to you all in the USA.

it definitely seems to sound better compared to the CD53 I have

Good to know that my thoughts are confirmed.

The other question is, will an E83 non OBM radio work a E39 with OBM or MID or E46 with OBM?

[geargrinder]

Lol no worries at all about the TJ.

How do you ID the HD Radio version? I spent a couple minutes searching around without much luck but didn't really kill myself.

[RosieE39]

Lol no worries at all about the TJ.

How do you ID the HD Radio version? I spent a couple minutes searching around without much luck but didn't really kill myself.

I had a bit of free time to do some googlising and I found that in Real OEM the HD radio has IBOC written in the supplement column.



IBOC is:-

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-band_on-channel

AKA HD Radio.

A little more googlising and I found this on EBay:-

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-BMW-X3...8AAOSwo7Zbtktt

There’s nothing on the radio that I can see that identifies it as IBOC or HD, but when you put it’s P/N into Realoem it comes up with this:-



It’s the only radio that I found that came up in Realoem as IBOC so I have to guess that it is a HD radio.

Only issue is, we know it will work in an E46 without a OBM, but will it work in an E39 with an MID or OBM?

If we had HD radio in ‘Straya I’d buy it just to see, but we don’t so even it works there’s no benefit over a std E83 radio.