Photo: Bavsound
Modern BMWs treat us with all the amenities you could ask for. BMW even works hard at offering app integration within the iDrive system and iPhones, iPods and even iPads can easily be connected to Bavarian cars that are leaving the production lines these days.
However, there is a vast number of cars that are still driven on public roads every day that don’t come from this high-tech era. We’re referring to older versions such as the E46, E9x, E39 or even E60 BMWs that, while offering brilliant dynamics, aren’t all that tech savvy.
Depending on how a car was configured when it left the factory, you could have things like USB or auxiliary inputs for your sound system but that’s about as far as it goes. Sure, phones are also included on some models but just looking at the size of the things makes you want to smile and reminiscent of the days when they were built.
Of course, you could go for a more modern head unit to replace the standard one BMW fitted your car with but then the whole design of the cabin would be ruined. At least that’s how I feel and if you’re anything like me, such an option is not even to be taken seriously.
I happen to own a BMW E46 3 Series Coupe and I’m completely in love with it. I like everything about it, from the way it drives, to its color and interior design as well as the exterior. It’s the car I dreamed of ever since I was a kid and I’m now lucky enough to have it exactly as I dreamed of it: manual, RWD and with a sunroof. That’s all I ever wanted.
And yet, no matter how good this car drives, it still feels like it’s from a different century, it seems limited especially when trying to use modern electronics inside it.
I’m referring to smartphones, of course, but also to the sound system. You see, back then, the best you could get was a CD player with a CD changer in the back that could mix up to 6 CDs. That was it.
And then you could also use the radio but other than that, you’re kinda out of luck if you want anything more. As I said before, adding an aftermarket head unit and replacing the stock CD player wasn’t an option for me because I wanted to keep the dash intact. Call me crazy, but I think it looks good and sticking a 1DIN or 2DIN unit in there would just ruin everything.
What’s left then, if you want to listen to MP3s or even stream music from the internet directly inside your car? Well, Bavsound has something for you, a small unit called the Soundplicity Control III that will basically bring your older BMW into the 21st century. They sent one over and asked us to offer a sincere opinion on it. Well, here it is.
The guys will even send a free toolkit for your product that will come in handy during the process. However, if you want an honest review, I’ll have to mention what happened to me during installation.
I learned that not all BMW E46 3 Series are pre-wired for a CD Changer as I presumed. It turns out ‘only’ around 99 percent of the cars will have the proper wires in the boot and guess what? Mine didn’t.
That didn’t stop me, though. The prospect of listening to songs online inside my BMW while out on road trips was too enticing to give up. Therefore, I bought the CD changer wiring myself and installed it in the car, to be able to connect the Soundplicity Control module. Once again: there’s a very small chance this will be the case with you but in case it happens, this is what you’ll need to do.
I installed the wiring but, since there was no actual need to wire it all the way from the dash throughout the car to the boot, I just hooked the cables up behind the glove box. That’s also where I installed the module since there was no need to wire everything in the boot. It fits, don't worry, I even posted a photo of how it looks like.
All you need to do is connect the 6-pin and 3-pin connectors to the head unit on your car. You’ll need a diagram for it though and I strongly recommend going to an electrician to do the connections. After that, you just connect the Soundplicity Control III Module to the wiring and you should be good to go.
The microphone is the hardest to install. That’s because unless your car had a car kit before and you already have a microphone installed from it (usually it’s located in the roof liner, next to the reading lights, directly above the gearshift lever), hidden beneath a small grille.
My car didn’t have that option. Therefore, I had to get creative. What I did then was to install the mic right behind the rearview mirror, attached to the roofliner. To do that, I had to run the wire through the right side A-pillar from under the glove box to the rearview mirror. It’s not hard to do.
The other two cables were installed under the side plastic covering the transmission tunnel and then in the rearmost storage space under the center armrest. To do so, I had to drill a hole in the plastic but since all spaces have a rubber mat in them, that wasn’t an issue as it wouldn’t be noticeable anyway. That’s how I got my auxiliary and USB cables wired. The good news is that if you want to charge your phone, you can use the USB cable but it won’t recognize it as a flash drive.
Features include connecting your phone via Bluetooth, an auxiliary port, connecting a USB stick, Sirius XM, and even an iPod/iPhone. If you want, you could also buy an optional 2point5 spec.dock that installs in the ashtray and allows you to charge your phone and send audio to the head unit. It looks splendid. However, me being an Android user, I didn’t purchase this. Don’t worry, Bluetooth connectivity is all you need.
Another feature I was really excited about was the microphone. That’s because I knew that after installing it, I’d get rid of any pesky hands-free devices for my phone.
To use the mic, you first have to connect your phone via Bluetooth. That’s easy to do and takes just about a minute. The Soundplicity Control III module is always on and discoverable. All you need to do is turn on your phone and just search for a device called Media Bridge. Connect to it and that’s about it.
Now you can stream music from your phone, the internet and take and reject calls using the dedicated buttons on your car. For example, if you want to play a song from your phone all you need to do is press the next button on your CD player. Pressing the previous or next button again goes through the songs on your phone.
Furthermore, if you’re using a streaming app such as Soundcloud or anything else, you can browse through the songs in a playlist using the same buttons. What makes things even better is that the artist and song title are scrolled on the small screen of your CD player. I noticed that works even for Youtube sometimes.
When you receive a phone call, you can use the steering wheel buttons to answer or reject it while calling someone can be done using Siri, for example, or voice commands on any other kind of phone.
The volume is adjusted via the dedicated button on your CD Player and your caller will be able to hear you loud and clear, the microphone offering perfect coverage of at least the front seats. And no, you don’t need to raise your voice.
As for the sound quality when listening to music, there’s nothing I can complain about. The difference between Bluetooth connections and a hardwire one are extremely small. Yes, listening through the auxiliary cable does seem to offer a slightly better quality and higher volume but the differences are too small to justify the headaches.
In the auxiliary mode, you don’t get any kind of control over your phone using the car’s buttons. Sure, this is the only mode that allows you to adjust the sound quality via an included equalizer (it lets you set the bass, mid and treble settings as well as the volume) but the tradeoffs are not worth it.
The quality on USB drives is the same but unlike on auxiliary, you also get the song and artist names scrolled on the display if they have the correct metadata included. One problem I noticed with USB connection is that it seems like the device appears to reload the whole thing once you turn off the engine. Therefore, if you have 10 albums on it, every time you shut off the power, the module will pick it up from the beginning.
Chip in the fact that I now have the possibility of taking and making calls hands free and the fact that I can stream music inside the car straight from the Internet and this is definitely a home run for me.
The best bit of news is that the quality of the sound you get in your speakers is just as good as if you were listening to audio CDs. Yes, there’s no shortage of quality here and, in time, you’ll start considering replacing your speakers as well. Luckily, the guys also have a Stage 1 speaker upgrade in store that's compatible with the Hi-Fi and Harman Kardon pre-equipped models.
Overall, I’d give this module a 5 out of 5-star rating just because it provided everything I ever wanted. Is it expensive? At $369 you could say it is but then again, for people that want to have their cars intact and avoid using an aftermarket CD player that would ruin the look of their dash, it makes perfect sense.
Furthermore, if you were to get a different head unit that would have Bluetooth support and all the other functions Bavsound’s device offers, I don’t think you’d be saving a lot of money.
Depending on how a car was configured when it left the factory, you could have things like USB or auxiliary inputs for your sound system but that’s about as far as it goes. Sure, phones are also included on some models but just looking at the size of the things makes you want to smile and reminiscent of the days when they were built.
Of course, you could go for a more modern head unit to replace the standard one BMW fitted your car with but then the whole design of the cabin would be ruined. At least that’s how I feel and if you’re anything like me, such an option is not even to be taken seriously.
I happen to own a BMW E46 3 Series Coupe and I’m completely in love with it. I like everything about it, from the way it drives, to its color and interior design as well as the exterior. It’s the car I dreamed of ever since I was a kid and I’m now lucky enough to have it exactly as I dreamed of it: manual, RWD and with a sunroof. That’s all I ever wanted.
And yet, no matter how good this car drives, it still feels like it’s from a different century, it seems limited especially when trying to use modern electronics inside it.
I’m referring to smartphones, of course, but also to the sound system. You see, back then, the best you could get was a CD player with a CD changer in the back that could mix up to 6 CDs. That was it.
And then you could also use the radio but other than that, you’re kinda out of luck if you want anything more. As I said before, adding an aftermarket head unit and replacing the stock CD player wasn’t an option for me because I wanted to keep the dash intact. Call me crazy, but I think it looks good and sticking a 1DIN or 2DIN unit in there would just ruin everything.
What’s left then, if you want to listen to MP3s or even stream music from the internet directly inside your car? Well, Bavsound has something for you, a small unit called the Soundplicity Control III that will basically bring your older BMW into the 21st century. They sent one over and asked us to offer a sincere opinion on it. Well, here it is.
Installation
The installation process is rather straightforward, you need not worry about it. The Soundplicity Control III unit acts as a virtual CD Changer and all you need to do is connect it to the wiring for the changer that should be located on the left side of the boot, under the carpet.The guys will even send a free toolkit for your product that will come in handy during the process. However, if you want an honest review, I’ll have to mention what happened to me during installation.
I learned that not all BMW E46 3 Series are pre-wired for a CD Changer as I presumed. It turns out ‘only’ around 99 percent of the cars will have the proper wires in the boot and guess what? Mine didn’t.
That didn’t stop me, though. The prospect of listening to songs online inside my BMW while out on road trips was too enticing to give up. Therefore, I bought the CD changer wiring myself and installed it in the car, to be able to connect the Soundplicity Control module. Once again: there’s a very small chance this will be the case with you but in case it happens, this is what you’ll need to do.
I installed the wiring but, since there was no actual need to wire it all the way from the dash throughout the car to the boot, I just hooked the cables up behind the glove box. That’s also where I installed the module since there was no need to wire everything in the boot. It fits, don't worry, I even posted a photo of how it looks like.
All you need to do is connect the 6-pin and 3-pin connectors to the head unit on your car. You’ll need a diagram for it though and I strongly recommend going to an electrician to do the connections. After that, you just connect the Soundplicity Control III Module to the wiring and you should be good to go.
Installing the microphone
After installing the module under the glove box, you need to find the right places for all your connectors. That includes the microphone, USB and Auxiliary cables.The microphone is the hardest to install. That’s because unless your car had a car kit before and you already have a microphone installed from it (usually it’s located in the roof liner, next to the reading lights, directly above the gearshift lever), hidden beneath a small grille.
My car didn’t have that option. Therefore, I had to get creative. What I did then was to install the mic right behind the rearview mirror, attached to the roofliner. To do that, I had to run the wire through the right side A-pillar from under the glove box to the rearview mirror. It’s not hard to do.
The other two cables were installed under the side plastic covering the transmission tunnel and then in the rearmost storage space under the center armrest. To do so, I had to drill a hole in the plastic but since all spaces have a rubber mat in them, that wasn’t an issue as it wouldn’t be noticeable anyway. That’s how I got my auxiliary and USB cables wired. The good news is that if you want to charge your phone, you can use the USB cable but it won’t recognize it as a flash drive.
Operation
The module basically turns your old car’s ‘infotainment system’ into an adapted version of iDrive. Basically, you can do almost everything the modern cars do sans the Navigation feature.Features include connecting your phone via Bluetooth, an auxiliary port, connecting a USB stick, Sirius XM, and even an iPod/iPhone. If you want, you could also buy an optional 2point5 spec.dock that installs in the ashtray and allows you to charge your phone and send audio to the head unit. It looks splendid. However, me being an Android user, I didn’t purchase this. Don’t worry, Bluetooth connectivity is all you need.
Another feature I was really excited about was the microphone. That’s because I knew that after installing it, I’d get rid of any pesky hands-free devices for my phone.
To use the mic, you first have to connect your phone via Bluetooth. That’s easy to do and takes just about a minute. The Soundplicity Control III module is always on and discoverable. All you need to do is turn on your phone and just search for a device called Media Bridge. Connect to it and that’s about it.
Now you can stream music from your phone, the internet and take and reject calls using the dedicated buttons on your car. For example, if you want to play a song from your phone all you need to do is press the next button on your CD player. Pressing the previous or next button again goes through the songs on your phone.
Furthermore, if you’re using a streaming app such as Soundcloud or anything else, you can browse through the songs in a playlist using the same buttons. What makes things even better is that the artist and song title are scrolled on the small screen of your CD player. I noticed that works even for Youtube sometimes.
When you receive a phone call, you can use the steering wheel buttons to answer or reject it while calling someone can be done using Siri, for example, or voice commands on any other kind of phone.
The volume is adjusted via the dedicated button on your CD Player and your caller will be able to hear you loud and clear, the microphone offering perfect coverage of at least the front seats. And no, you don’t need to raise your voice.
As for the sound quality when listening to music, there’s nothing I can complain about. The difference between Bluetooth connections and a hardwire one are extremely small. Yes, listening through the auxiliary cable does seem to offer a slightly better quality and higher volume but the differences are too small to justify the headaches.
In the auxiliary mode, you don’t get any kind of control over your phone using the car’s buttons. Sure, this is the only mode that allows you to adjust the sound quality via an included equalizer (it lets you set the bass, mid and treble settings as well as the volume) but the tradeoffs are not worth it.
The quality on USB drives is the same but unlike on auxiliary, you also get the song and artist names scrolled on the display if they have the correct metadata included. One problem I noticed with USB connection is that it seems like the device appears to reload the whole thing once you turn off the engine. Therefore, if you have 10 albums on it, every time you shut off the power, the module will pick it up from the beginning.
Conclusion
In the end, the Soundplicity Control III does everything I ever wanted it to. If I had one complaint about my car, it was the ridiculous amount of CDs I have to take with me every time I went for a longer trip. That’s no longer the case.Chip in the fact that I now have the possibility of taking and making calls hands free and the fact that I can stream music inside the car straight from the Internet and this is definitely a home run for me.
The best bit of news is that the quality of the sound you get in your speakers is just as good as if you were listening to audio CDs. Yes, there’s no shortage of quality here and, in time, you’ll start considering replacing your speakers as well. Luckily, the guys also have a Stage 1 speaker upgrade in store that's compatible with the Hi-Fi and Harman Kardon pre-equipped models.
Overall, I’d give this module a 5 out of 5-star rating just because it provided everything I ever wanted. Is it expensive? At $369 you could say it is but then again, for people that want to have their cars intact and avoid using an aftermarket CD player that would ruin the look of their dash, it makes perfect sense.
Furthermore, if you were to get a different head unit that would have Bluetooth support and all the other functions Bavsound’s device offers, I don’t think you’d be saving a lot of money.
Google News