Well Hello there fellow RR fans.
Ive had my Diesel HSE for nearly 2 years now, its on 215k km.
My current problem is that when getting into it last night on the way home the stereo sounded like it was coming out f the bottom of a draiinpipe. Turns out the spekers in the doors and the dash centre are all quiet. The only sound appears to be coming from the bass speakers.
A concerted effort on the net turned up no solutions.
Im distilling that there is only one amp, but it must be multichannel. Could it be that some of the channels are down? Doesnt seem that likely, these things are all or nothing IME...
What do you you guysthink?

thanks
James
in NZ

it could be a menu setting, water in the electronics in the rear or a loose connection..

funny enough i thought mine had the same problem as yours james but found [after switching to another station] it was a new radio station i was listening to that had the sound/bass problem.

Removal of the connector atop the amplifier revealed a slight amount of moisture ingress - a bit of green in there but not on the actual spades tehmselves - nevertheless I did a bit of a clean up and reasssembled - No difference. No water in the wheel arch bottom - lots of dust though ! bit surprised about that.

I have toggled thru lots of radio stations and cds - no difference alas.

Dont think its possible on my lowly HSE to select a menu option that would blank out most of the speakers in the car - or is it?

I'm thinking its amplifier malfunction of some sort.... But not sure how the audio system is configured to start to know where to look...

you've done all the obvious things and it does now sound [no pun intended] like the amp..the green on the terminals might indicate that water 'could' have gone into the amp itself..

scarey wrote:

you've done all the obvious things and it does now sound [no pun intended] like the amp..the green on the terminals might indicate that water 'could' have gone into the amp itself..

I was afraid you might say that
I've also found on the net that these radio units have a dry joint problem and that you can buy kits to repair them. Has anybody actually done this ?

Also, bluapunkt seem to have an amplifier which is reasonably priced that replaces the RR/BMW radio altogether. Anybody done this?

I'm curious - on the one hand you mention atop the amp so it sounds like you have a factory nav, on the other hand you want to replace the radio altogether with a Blaupunkt unit which sounds more like the MID radio/cd. Which do you have?

There are several possible configurations: factory nav and low line stereo (which I've never heard of being offered in a RR, actually, only in BMW's), factory nav and high line audio, factory nav and DSP, factory nav and logic7, MID low line, and MID high line. All have different amps - the MID low has no amp in the rear. Which do you have?

The BM53/54 radio/amp units are known for causing problems. You can have them repaired or purchase a used unit if that turns out to be the prob.

You can replace the MID with any radio - theoretically. You loose all computer functions, tho. And you need to make a fascia. And it doesn't look very good, IMO.

If anything, replace with an aftermarket nav and put the MID in the glovebox. There are a couple of threads here on exactly that. 
RRC 2Dr, RRC 4Dr,
P38, and 2 L322s
(wife thinks I'm nuts - prob right, too)

Hi Steve, I have the HSE model and from what you have said, I think I probably have the MID (that would be the read-out on the dash??) and the hi-line stereo. I have no nav. The connector I was talking about is a multi connector with a hinge release mechanism. It is on top of the amp to the rear of the vehicle, Amp in the wheel arch.

The strangest thing is that having tried disconnecting it etc, when the repiar shop replaced the battery the second time, on monday, all the ICE functionality returned. All I can assume is that there is yet another dopey microprocesor in the system soemwhere that needs longer than a couple of minutes to reset itself. This was cocked up the first time the battery was changed (although it took a day for it to realise it shouldnt work!) and then was reset properly on monday.

The Blaupunkt unit is simply a multichannel amp that can be bought with an X5 wiring harness that replaces the BM54 unit, or so it seems.

Summary:
These vehicles are waaaay too complicated for their own good IMO. I'm in computers and I think I would be looking at axing all this stuff that is unsupportable if I was in charge of the next MY update. I love my rangie but Im getting a bit scared of the repair bills that are looming when all this stuff finally goes tits up! I can live without the ICE - though wouldnt want to, but I cant live without a gearbox and a suspension system

SteveMFr wrote:

I'm curious - on the one hand you mention atop the amp so it sounds like you have a factory nav, on the other hand you want to replace the radio altogether with a Blaupunkt unit which sounds more like the MID radio/cd. Which do you have?

There are several possible configurations: factory nav and low line stereo (which I've never heard of being offered in a RR, actually, only in BMW's), factory nav and high line audio, factory nav and DSP, factory nav and logic7, MID low line, and MID high line. All have different amps - the MID low has no amp in the rear. Which do you have?

The BM53/54 radio/amp units are known for causing problems. You can have them repaired or purchase a used unit if that turns out to be the prob.

You can replace the MID with any radio - theoretically. You loose all computer functions, tho. And you need to make a fascia. And it doesn't look very good, IMO.

If anything, replace with an aftermarket nav and put the MID in the glovebox. There are a couple of threads here on exactly that.