I have spent about $800 on a stereo upgrade for my mini HK system. The installer was not aware that his work would affect the car in a way that would cause errors when it is in for service.

As Kevin from Integral Audio points out, it would be best to reinstall the HK amp to undo this, but unfortunately this will cost me an additional fee that could top $300, if they even can do it. I would then be out a minimum of $600 and possibly even much more to go back to the way things were.

Since the Integral Audio kit does not cause this issue, I cannot imagine there is not a way to adapt my amplifier to work with the system.

Does anyone know of a way to make this happen?

 

It may be possible to code your car for the standard hifi system instead. Then maybe the car would stop looking for the amp

 

Dealer cannot do that, says to bring the car in and he'll see what's what, he'll run a diagnostic on it. I'm having a minor issue anyway so the diagnostic process may help determine how the removal of the HK amp affects the car.

 

Yeah if you used NCS expert you could code the amp out...but then it will change your DSP settings (for the worse, like with the rear 100Hz cutoff..etc.).

The dealer *could* probably do it, but usually they have to have BMW in Germany generate a new VO to push to the car. But I think it takes an aggressive dealer to get things like this done.

 

It's only the standard 6 speaker setup that has the cutoff on the rears, you can just remove the filter setting

 

What is NCS? Where are the DSP settings, are they not in the amp? The dealer does not like what I've done, as I knew he wouldn't, and the tech said it's definitely an issue for diagnostic purposes.

He is able to to run diagnostics, but says there are communication issues between modules, but he didn't go into more specifics than that.

I really want to find out how to resolve this issue and keep the upgrade. The sound system rocks, it's unbelievably better even with stock speakers. I can have windows and sunroof open at 80mph and it doesn't affect the stereo sound, there is so much headroom now, so much power.

The 6x9 subs in the rear are awesome. At the time I received the car the amp wasn't tuned properly.

I may have lost the fuller staging with the loss of full range in the rear, but it sounds so good as-is I don't care much. The stereo will play much louder than I can stand it, I can take it to less than half and you can hear the car from a block a way, with the windows closed.

strobeyprobey, is finding someone familiar with NCS feasible, someone who could fix the computer issue?

 

Do you still have the HK amp? If so the easiest solution is to just put it back in and make sure it is hooked back up to the car. You don't need to reconnect any inputs or speakers to it, but the car needs to be able to talk to it.

 

Thanks, Bob, but the audio place found no wires coming off the harness other than speaker wires, so they said.

I'll call them today and talk to them about it.