New stereo suggestion

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
Post Reply
sixseries
Posts: 1326
Joined: Jan 25, 2008 1:17 AM
Location: Portland, OR

New stereo suggestion

Post by sixseries »

I recently installed a new sound system (did it all including wires) and I wanted to share the stereo I got. It's definitely a higher end single din, as it runs $200 new (Sony MEX-XB120BT). However, it has a Class D built in amp and is rated at 45W rms x 4 (100W peak x 4). Most head units are around 50W peak x 4 and maybe 15-20W rms x 4. I posted about this over at a car audio forum, if you 'd like to see the discussion, but it can get pretty technical.

My point is, it's a solid solution to get better sound out of your 4x6 speakers without installing an amp. However, you would probably want to run a new power wire from the battery to this stereo head unit, as it has a built in 15A fuse and I believe the stock fuse is 8A. I know several people like the stock look, but I would say since the stereo is very customizable, you can change the colors on the stereo to amber, so it matches the rest of the car interior lights. It also has a neat dimmer feature, that if you connect the illumination lead to the car illumination wire, it will dim automatically when you turn on the headlights. It also connects automatically to your iPhone's bluetooth, which is awesome so you don't have to worry about connecting your phone to the stereo every time you get in the car.

Lastly, to end this sales pitch, it even will show you battery voltage, which is pretty neat (see 2nd pic).

Image

Image
Mike W.
Posts: 26872
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: California Whine Country

Re: New stereo suggestion

Post by Mike W. »

I'm hopelessly outdated on stereo equipment, and even then it was home stuff I once knew something about, so take my comments more as questions, not argumentative.

45W RMS a corner? Wouldn't that pretty much just melt the little 4X6 factory speakers voicecoil? Even half or 2/3 that? Now I can fully believe a new stereo is better than a 35 year old one, perhaps better or even much better than the old one was new. But 45W RMS? You can power some real speakers with that. Now at the end of the day it's how it sounds to you that counts, not what an equation on paper shows or what I hear, it's your car and your ears.

And worse, I'm an anti Sony guy, while their products aren't bad, they seem dedicated to non compatibility. See Betamax, Blu Ray, digital camera memory and more.
sixseries
Posts: 1326
Joined: Jan 25, 2008 1:17 AM
Location: Portland, OR

Re: New stereo suggestion

Post by sixseries »

The speakers I bought were rated for 45W rms, so they should be able to handle that power fine. I could see maybe older speakers struggling. However, I did use my plug my old 4x6 speakers into the car and use the new stereo to compare sound differences and it sounded much better (probably would have been even more noticeable if I used my old stereo with old speakers as well). And I don't think they were about to fail.

If you read that link to the car audio forum, while I understood very little, it seemed that people were saying that the stereo isn't actually delivering 45W of power to each speaker consistently. Likely much less than that. But it does seem they came around to the stereo being more powerful than you average head unit.
BMWCCA2
Posts: 4060
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Central Virginia

Re: New stereo suggestion

Post by BMWCCA2 »

Other than your Crutchfield link showing this product as no longer available, why would it not be compatible with a full-size iPod? Just plug it into the USB and it should play, right?
sixseries
Posts: 1326
Joined: Jan 25, 2008 1:17 AM
Location: Portland, OR

Re: New stereo suggestion

Post by sixseries »

Oh wow, and it's discontinued on Amazon too. Here's it's non-CD compatible cousin (also hi powered 45W rms x 4)

Amazon
Crutchfield

I found mine on a couple other sites but it seems backordered

Like a real iPod from a decade ago? I think it depends on the generation. On page 28 of the manual it lists the compatibility. And if it's not compatible, you could also use the aux input.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: New stereo suggestion

Post by cek »

I guess that's not horrific looking. And at least it has a real knob.

Image
Post Reply