Hi Rewmer - just seen your only down the road in Essex

Carsystems is in - backup camera with lines(which suck and can be disabled) work as does the speed limit info.
PDc displays fine - only issue is the screen flashes unless I have the brightness at 50% I have sent carsystems a message they are looking into it but believe it's because it links to the light sensor at full which we don't have - at 50 it's the same brightness as the br setup anyway. Will post back when I get the official answer

The only thing it doesn't fix is the dsp issue so if you have a vogue you can either go down the e39 non nav route - I tried this it sounds ok and they aren't that expensive but that's it it sounds ok as the crossovers are wrong.
Option two is a speaker system upgrade anyway which would be a great part of the project.
Final option is the one I'm trying to do now which is to retrofit the hse amp in place of dsp as the crossovers seem a lot closer than the e39s - will let you know how I get on.

If Your interested in the retrofit and a kit let me know if you want to take a look.

Cheers

Interesting stuff. I do indeed have DSP. This is defiantly on my list of upgrades after sorting the other little niggles. If your reasonably local to me it may be a nice idea at the time to meet up and have a look at your instal and talk business on a kit, what sort of money are we looking at ?
So is the audio output from the Nbt line level that needs amplifying? No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

I'll need to price it out give me a couple of days I'm away ATM - regards to the kit there is a really easy option I didn't mention which the guys doing the android upgrades on here do which is to solder the tweeter/mid/bass wires together for each channel and then wire them directly to the nbt output as the output off the stock nbt is only a few watts less than stock dsp. My concern was the crossovers no one claims to have had a problem but I'm not convinced though.

The nbt can coded to low line level out I think 2v slightly higher 4v out or use the internal amp which I think is 45w per channel so whatever you want to do there's a way to code it to happen !

Right all - good news

over the past few days when I've had an hour here and there I've attempted the HiFi amp retrofit (don't think this has been done before!)

I got the amp from eBay - faulty but thought I'd try fixing it. The plug - much more for a PITA to get - looked everywhere and Bmw wanted about £50 with all the wires etc which I wasn't paying.

Then had a google and noticed the e46 harman kardon amp has the same plugs so emailed a load of breakers and got a plug for £12 delivered... RESULT!

So go the amp and took it part - it had clearly been interfered with already as screw were missing but I got the cover off and noticed a load of coursing behind the live post. I got my multimeter and worked out no live was getting to the main board so I jumped the coroded bit with a monster of a wire put it all back together crossed m fingers and toes and... voila! it actually worked!.

then set about the laborious task of the wiring... so I got rave ut and worked out what went where. it was bout 20 cuts, strips , solders and heat shrinks but we got there in the end.

There is a wire for everything except the subs. This didn't bother me as I have an aftermarket sub, however you could use a small aftermarket amp for oem sub.

Ok moment of truth... wow - being honest it souped about 90-95% as good as the dsp when it was working for those 30 seconds before cutting out however this works 24/7 and you can use the fader which you can't with dsp. Also the bass is very high as there is no subs - and the speakers can actually take it. I adjusted the audio on the nbt -3 bass +3 treble and now the difference is negligible. I haven't connect my sub back up yet and with all this extra low bass I am considering not as it sounds good.

It all sounds leaps and bounds better than dsp running on the original bm54.

I am going to try the 2v and 4v outputs on the nbt to see if it makes much difference but in all I am finally happy and everything now seems to be working and it is now a retrofit I can endorse.

Of course keeping the dsp would be easier if you can find someone to code however this is simpler even though more leg work and it will add an extra hour or two to the diy - it shouldn't cost much more, you may make money back as the dsps go for good money on eBay!

Cheers

Just thought I would wake this thread up. NBTs are getting cheaper now so I am getting curious about fitting one again. Question is, how are getting on with yours Dan ? It’s. Even a while now , how is it working day to day? Did you ever get round the dsp issue ? No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

Hi Rewmer

Getting on fine with it - had a few initial issues with random power offs on long drives (2+ hours) but carsystems sent me a firmware update which seemed to cure. If you don’t get nbt evo it’s can be done somewhat cheaper now - evo needs another more expensive interface.

The Ssp needed recoding but nobody I rang could seem to do it with the ff. I ended up getting the Lear non dsp amp which used the same speakers except the four bass speakers which I changed for other 2 ohm speakers. It took me an afternoon or so to wire up but is fine. You could go down the aftermarket sound route of course. The tv ants for dab are fine but I was doing a lot of country driving so added an external dab antenna. Overall though still a great mod  Current stable:
2006 BMW M6
2007 4.2 V8 S/C FF
Gone:
2002 4.4 V8 FF

That's good to hear Dan, I think the only thing stopping me at this moment is the DSP issue- I really like this system so want to try and keep it - Is it just a coding issue ? I have seen some little boxes flying about that the guys use when fitting ANdroid or other Chinese units to DSP cars. These keep the DSP system powered ??? - I may have to look deeper at these. No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

Where can I get pricing on the Carsystems adaptor ? there is nothging on their site, do they have dealers ? No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

they normally have dealers but the guy I used doesn't do it anymore - id email them and ask for a price or for local dealers.

Don't be put off where they are my initial emulator died after a week so went through there warranty and they sent a replacement no questions asked.

Cheers Current stable:
2006 BMW M6
2007 4.2 V8 S/C FF
Gone:
2002 4.4 V8 FF

So I have been looking at this DSP issue. What was the problem with coding the amp ? was it connecting to the car with BMW software or other ?

Ive had no word from Carsystems about buying an adaptor, closest dealer lister is Romania ! No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

I emailed: support@carsystems.com.ua

I got a reply in 24hrs

The problem was that it can be done in the Bmw with Bmw software but nobody how to do it in the ff as it wasn’t an option to have dsp without nav whereas in the x5 / e39 it was.

I had an idea to swap it into e38/39/53 and then code in that butt these are getting old now and I couldn’t find anyone willing to be a guinea pig. This would have been fairly
Easy to do is have done myself as it’s done wit ncsexpert (as per instructions from carsystems) Current stable:
2006 BMW M6
2007 4.2 V8 S/C FF
Gone:
2002 4.4 V8 FF

I see the issue. I will look into the amp alternative No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

Just a thought -- have you guys looked at Navcoder? Current: 2011 FFRR Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8
Previous: -
2004 FFRR Vogue 4.4 V8 with LPG
1997 P38 4.0 SE with LPG
1997 P38 4.6 Vogue with LPG

Just thought I would add a snippit of info for anyone going down this route. The DSP coding issue can be sorted with the iBus app and resler interface. Runs on android systems so anyone looking to code their DSP you will need an android tablet, wire in the resler then run the app.

Coding of DSP with the coding function of the I-BUS app:
(Drag left edge to the center tap or the three dashes above left) opening the encoding function
DSP select the scroll down and read coding tap
Insert the following parameters
Polling Timeout: inaktiv
Controller: mid_basis No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

Man I wish I knew that before hacking my whole sounds system apart! Luckily it still sounds good only positive I can see from this is my fader works not that I use it 😂 have you done the retrofit yet? There is someone on eBay selling 3 emulators for £999 or best offer if you wanted to pull together with people.

Also you seem fairly technical I have a carsystems emulator that randomly switches off works apart from that I got a warranty replacement but if you want it for £50 it’s yours if you think you can fix it or just for testing.

Cheers Current stable:
2006 BMW M6
2007 4.2 V8 S/C FF
Gone:
2002 4.4 V8 FF