BMW E39 cable DSP amp --> Epia M10000

WaterLift · 03-27-2006, 04:20 PM

Hi guys,

Does anybody know if there is a cable that I can connect straight from my BMW 1999 E39 DSP amp to my Epia M10K mobo? I already have the car2pc adapter but it won't work with a DSP amp it seems...

Thanks

redbullah · 03-29-2006, 05:38 PM

it supposes
i purchased the same adaptor and hope it will work with my amp
i have to find out if i have a dsp amp. How do you know it?

WaterLift · 03-29-2006, 06:20 PM

If your radio has button labeled "DSP" then you have it.

You can also check if your Tape/CD has a small 10 pin block on the back below the main connectors, mine didn't have it because it used a digital coaxial cable (small white cable with an iron square connector in the back).

Greetz,

WaterLift

sama · 03-29-2006, 06:29 PM

if you have dsp

a) I hate you
b) you can plug your SPDIF out directly into it
c) I hate you

sama · 03-29-2006, 06:31 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

You can also check if your Tape/CD has a small 10 pin block on the back below the main connectors, mine didn't have it because it used a digital coaxial cable (small white cable with an iron square connector in the back).

wait a minute... so having a square white square connector means you have a DSP? I've been wondering what the input is and haven't really looked into it. One is an aerial, and the little square one is a digital in or out? where did u get ur info from?

PS fix ur signature dude, you're S/W bar has an extra bar

redbullah · 03-29-2006, 06:44 PM

I just checked at this cold night and i don't have it.
woehoee i can use my car2pc adaptor.

WaterLift · 03-29-2006, 07:21 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by sama

if you have dsp

a) I hate you
b) you can plug your SPDIF out directly into it
c) I hate you

I do

a) lol trust me it isn't all that... there's even a whole frequency range missing when using a DSP, specially bass
b) I know, don't you love that

c) I'll think of you while enjoying a nice mp3 on the road using my DSP

Quote: Originally Posted by sama

wait a minute... so having a square white square connector means you have a DSP? I've been wondering what the input is and haven't really looked into it. One is an aerial, and the little square one is a digital in or out? where did u get ur info from?

PS fix ur signature dude, you're S/W bar has an extra bar

Yup I guess so, since my CD Changer has only 2 connections =>
1 for the power + ibus
1 little square white connector for the audio
nothing else for the audio so...
I could be wrong but doubt it otherwise you can

and

me

Right now I'm making my own Carpc => DSP cable with an SMB connector (that's what the small square metal connector is called) to an RCA connector. I'm using a 50 Ohm coax cable (174 type cable) and hopefully the onboard Epia soundcard will upsample/downsample to 44.1 Khz automatically otherwise the sound will sound like *****. I got a lot of info on www.bmwtips.com under the XM link.

Gotta be rushing it in the next few days to get the pc in the car coz I gotta drive to Switzerland on Monday, I'll make some pics of the project so far and I hope the connection DSP works too. If it does then I'll feel like *insert god icon here*

PS: the software bar has been fixed (There's always a prob with the soft so an extra bar might be in order

)

redbullah · 03-29-2006, 08:06 PM

did you fabricate your bezel by yourself? you should have same dash as mine.
I am located in belgium too. i've been looking for handy fiberglass people that can be happy with less money in belgium to get my bezel made but couldn't find anything useful.
how did you manage it? post more pics iydm

btw: i hope you find a solution but in the mean time you can always use fm transmittor or a casette player in your car.

WaterLift · 04-05-2006, 12:24 PM

YEAHAAA!!!!! It works

Got myself a Sound Blaster 24bit external usb and hooked it up with the smb input connector in the DSP amp without a prob. Just make sure you select 44100hz as the frequency.

So what have I been up to lately...

First bought me a Morex case because it supports a standard 3.5" HD and works on a 12v line. Along with the case I also got an M2 ATX psu so no worries about battery draining below 11V and it has a selectable timer so it can shutdown the pc after a certain time.

As a mobo the Epia M10000 was good enough for my plans.
Added 1 gig of ram + 250 gigs of HD space to have some working space

To actually see the pc work, a screen is kinda required unless you only bought it just to enjoy the humming sound of the fans. btw it's a 7" widescreen tft with touchscreen CTF-700, that has inputs for a reverse cam and other video/audio stuff.

For GPS purposes I got a cheap usb receiver that works pretty good btw

Assembled the pc and installed every kind of frontend I could find along with some media files. For navigating I use Navigon NCK 4 since mapmonkey doesn't support multi-country maps navigation and since my country is so small, one tends to cross the border a lot.

There is way to use navigon while seeing a frontend (rr in my case with bm2 skin) but you will have to adjust the ini file for navigon, it will not mute the music for the gps voice but you can still pause, stop, ff, rw, etc or switch to another function like video or whatever...

more 2 come later...

ps: I didn't make the bezel but a friend of mine who runs a dental lab (that's why my current bezel looks denture pink lol)

sama · 05-09-2006, 03:34 AM

any updates on the dental bezel?

WaterLift · 05-13-2006, 03:11 PM

Hi Sama,

No unfortunately I've been flooded at work so no time yet. Got some pics of the bezel in place but without the screen. Will post them a bit later ;-)

Greetz,

WaterLift

WaterLift · 05-19-2006, 09:04 AM

Hi guys,

Sorry that it took so long but here they are, the quality kinda sucks because it was taken with my cell phone cam.

Here are some pics of the bezel:

bezel in place:

Bezel with closed flap:

A UTP cable from the trunk to the center console, used for the power & reset button, power & HD leds:

Buttons & leds are located in the small compartment behind the ashtray (also includes a power switch for the TFT:

Used some crimping tube to keep the wiring nicely together because it otherwise obstructs the opening & closing of the compartment flap.

sama · 05-19-2006, 09:58 AM

very good progress dude, glad to see it going well.

I've noticed 2 things:

you've kept the frame in to hold up the flap. will your screen fit with that in there?

you've put the buttons in the small compartment. will the buttons be at the top or bottom? I assume at the bottom so that you can see the LED's. this does mean however that the space in there is wasted. not a big problem I guess. I would suggest that you have the reset button at the top, so you dont' accidentally press it.

I also noticed you have the nokia mic next to the lights switch. why not have it in the center where the sunroof controller sits? there's plenty of room there and you'll get much better sound coverage from the whole car.

Finally, how are you planning to finish the bezel? spray it? I've just had a go at wrapping mine with vynil and it looked completely factory! shame the vynil wouldn't strech and therfore couldn't wrap around corners. Anywya, I'm lokoing for some conformable matt black vynil at the moment. I would highly recommed you do that too.

glad to see you're moving on. keep it up

WaterLift · 05-19-2006, 03:16 PM

Thanks m8,

The screen will fit nicely behind the bezel, made to fit the screen visual area exactly too ;-). The only problem is the harnass behind it because the screen is a bit deeper, I should take it out but time is not on my side lately

.

They are on the topside as not to hit the buttons by accident while still retaining some space for little stuff. The LED's are more a kind of visual control in case of startup problems. In the dark they are quite visible.

I am indeed having probs with the nokia mic, I really have to shout to get people to hear me. Unfortunately I don't have a sunroof panel and I don't know where else to place it without screwing up the OEM look.

I have some black bumper spray that I can try on the bezel but I'm trying to figure out something else first:
How to keep the stock radio while having my bezel in place, coz every other radio solution kinda sucks compared to the original, been thinking about opening up the MID and relocating the components to another location (ASC button region maybe) but I'm still thinking that over.
The vinyl idea doesn't sound bad, have you tried heating the vinyl to see if it becomes more flexible? Maybe then you can get the corners done.

I also tried a DVB/DAB USB stick from pinnacle but they don't work at all where I live, so I returned it and got a folding bluetooth PDA keyboard http://www.hcw.be/hcwcs/p.asp?p=B9584 instead along with a presentation mouse which work pretty nicely in combination.

While using the CAR2PC adapter I experienced some issues in case you're considering to buy one:
- Random doesn't work in winamp if using the car buttons to go forward/back
- If you want random then you have to use the car button that says "random" to activate it, this isn't a big issue but damn annoying that you have to push it each time you want to listen to your pc without hearing the same 100 songs over and over again.
- When playing tracks regularly (not random), you will only hear the first 100 songs, anything above 100 is basically impossible AFAIK without randomizing.
- The usb plug was busted after a while and had to resolder a new plug on it (could be my fault that the plug was busted, but even then the quality of the original did suck IMHO)
- Even though this all works via iBus, you can't send or receive any data from it thru another program.
- The great thing about this gizmo is that it automatically pauses/stops winamp as soon as you turn of the car or switch to FM or Traffic information. and resumes when switching back.

Otherwise I blew a few rear speakers because Navigon 4 NCK decided to use a high pitched voice recording that has a volume level that's thru the roof compared to regular audio volumes. There is no seperate volume settings to control Navigon because it uses the master or the wave volume of windows.

Also my touchscreen doesn't function properly (the panel itself not the screen) anymore, no matter how many calibrations or driver reinstalls the damn thing keeps pointing to the SW corner of the screen. I even removed the casing to check for a false pressure point of the case against the panel.

I mounted the screen above the center dash vents for the moment (where the old gps was mounted)

That's it for now, keep it up too m8

sama · 05-20-2006, 09:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

The screen will fit nicely behind the bezel, made to fit the screen visual area exactly too ;-). The only problem is the harnass behind it because the screen is a bit deeper, I should take it out but time is not on my side lately

.

you mean the din frame at the back? if u take that out, the flap will go too! u may have to cut it.

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

They are on the topside as not to hit the buttons by accident while still retaining some space for little stuff. The LED's are more a kind of visual control in case of startup problems. In the dark they are quite visible.

I will be using the ashtry for that! I saw 2fastmr2's setup and was amazed at how nice it looked.

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

I am indeed having probs with the nokia mic, I really have to shout to get people to hear me. Unfortunately I don't have a sunroof panel and I don't know where else to place it without screwing up the OEM look.

run it along the roof trim, then let it just peep out and fold over. that way it will sit at the center of the roof, without any wires showing. Alternatively, you can mount it on the rear view mirror. Also turn on mic boost in the volume control if you havne't already, that'll help.

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

I have some black bumper spray that I can try on the bezel but I'm trying to figure out something else first:
How to keep the stock radio while having my bezel in place, coz every other radio solution kinda sucks compared to the original, been thinking about opening up the MID and relocating the components to another location (ASC button region maybe) but I'm still thinking that over.
The vinyl idea doesn't sound bad, have you tried heating the vinyl to see if it becomes more flexible? Maybe then you can get the corners done.

I thought of opening the mid too, but it's no breeze! I Would sugest to move the mid to the driver side pocket. that's where I'll be fitting mine.

I did heat the vynil, but it's not the conformable type. it has almost 0 elasticity and therfore snapped at every attempt to shape it. shame! i'm finding it very difficult to find matt black conformable vynil. I used some to dechrome my car, but it's only about an inch wide, so no go there.

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

I also tried a DVB/DAB USB stick from pinnacle but they don't work at all where I live, so I returned it and got a folding bluetooth PDA keyboard http://www.hcw.be/hcwcs/p.asp?p=B9584 instead along with a presentation mouse which work pretty nicely in combination.

I have that keyboard. I dont' even use it!

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

While using the CAR2PC adapter I experienced some issues in case you're considering to buy one:
- Random doesn't work in winamp if using the car buttons to go forward/back
- If you want random then you have to use the car button that says "random" to activate it, this isn't a big issue but damn annoying that you have to push it each time you want to listen to your pc without hearing the same 100 songs over and over again.
- When playing tracks regularly (not random), you will only hear the first 100 songs, anything above 100 is basically impossible AFAIK without randomizing.
- The usb plug was busted after a while and had to resolder a new plug on it (could be my fault that the plug was busted, but even then the quality of the original did suck IMHO)
- Even though this all works via iBus, you can't send or receive any data from it thru another program.
- The great thing about this gizmo is that it automatically pauses/stops winamp as soon as you turn of the car or switch to FM or Traffic information. and resumes when switching back.

I'm very happy with the ibus controller. soon you'll get one too! I've got RR displaying song names in the instrument cluster! as for auto switching, that would require a bit of coding. thanks for the idea, I'll stick it in the first verison of the ibus program I'm coding

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

Otherwise I blew a few rear speakers because Navigon 4 NCK decided to use a high pitched voice recording that has a volume level that's thru the roof compared to regular audio volumes. There is no seperate volume settings to control Navigon because it uses the master or the wave volume of windows.

hmm... I'm sure there's a way to control that. I'm not sure how feasible this is, but perhaps navigon can output to a virtual device? something to research

or jsut use some other software!

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

Also my touchscreen doesn't function properly (the panel itself not the screen) anymore, no matter how many calibrations or driver reinstalls the damn thing keeps pointing to the SW corner of the screen. I even removed the casing to check for a false pressure point of the case against the panel.

bummer

Quote: Originally Posted by WaterLift

I mounted the screen above the center dash vents for the moment (where the old gps was mounted)

That's it for now, keep it up too m8

as long as it works! that's all the counts