[ERDFX]

Hello to all!

I am looking for some advice on the following issue. I have recently bought a used BMW F33 with base stereo. I have previously owned a car with base stereo and I know how crappy they sound.

After some thought and consideration, I've decided to retrofit an official Alpine Kit with a couple of Focal underseaters (v.2). I don't want some mind-blowing aftermarket solution, I want everything as OEM as possible without the need to dissect the car completely.

I've called my local dealer and they told me that it is impossible to install Alpine on my car because I have an ASD module. I started to browse the internet and read the post where one guy manages to fit the Alpine kit to his F20 with ASD without a need to deactivate or uninstall it. I've tried to reach out to him however he is long gone from the internets.

I am wondering if anybody here faced the same issue and resolved it somehow. I am looking forward to your suggestions!

[Xsapper]

Yes but I have the F30 with base system & ASD

This is what I did:

1. Fit the Focal IFBMW-S (Replacement front mids and new tweeters. £195

2. Two door trims with tweeter housing £48

3. Purchase Fiio X3II DAC player £150 (Its like an IPOD but much better)

Load your music from cd onto the Fiio as flac files.

Best sound -Play through the Aux port using the Fiio line out. This uses the players amp and DAC but (No album art)

Great sound - Play using USB which gives full functionality.

You will not believe the sound quality from this setup. I had HK in my previous car and I think this is better.

[ERDFX]

Originally Posted by Xsapper

Yes but I have the F30 with base system & ASD

This is what I did:

1. Fit the Focal IFBMW-S (Replacement front mids and new tweeters. £195

2. Two door trims with tweeter housing £48

3. Purchase Fiio X3II DAC player £150 (Its like an IPOD but much better)

Load your music from cd onto the Fiio as flac files.

Best sound -Play through the Aux port using the Fiio line out. This uses the players amp and DAC but (No album art)

Great sound - Play using USB which gives full functionality.

You will not believe the sound quality from this setup. I had HK in my previous car and I think this is better.

The setup is quite impressive, but you don't have an amp in your car, do you?

The reason why I want alpine kit is that of a PnP amp, so I am looking for somebody who has done it on F33 with ASD. I've taken a look at the Alpine harness and it's quite simple - just goes between HU and existing wiring connecting the amp and tweeters. However, without the car (it only comes to me on Friday by the boat) I cannot know if it will work.

[Xsapper]

Correct, the base system has no amp.

I use the Fiio player as a digital amp

[ERDFX]

Originally Posted by Xsapper

Correct, the base system has no amp.

I use the Fiio player as a digital amp

As understand you feed the signal from the player to the HU through your AUX. Headunit's internal amp can be a serious bottleneck for the loudness of the music. Obviously, I need to listen to your setup before making any assumptions, it might be very good as you say

And for me, I like to use streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, so having a separate player is not an option. I need to have my phone connected. Furthermore, it's an iPhone 7 without 3.5mm jack.

So I am coming back to my main issue if someone had fitted Alpine Kit to Base car with ASD and what could be obstacles on my way... I already got the kit and two Focal underseaters

[ERDFX]

Well, I did it, I finally installed the alpine kit to my RHD F33 along with a pair of Focal underseaters. My local BMW dealer did the job and it was pretty straightforward like on any recommended car. They had no issue with harnesses or the ASD or the coding, everything was PnP. And it works, with a small "but".

First, good news, it is a big step up from the "Base stereo", now I can hear my Highs, Mids and Lows at the same time, the sound is crystal clear and focals made some improvement to the base. It became considerably louder, not a mind-blowingly louder but anyway better. Obviously, the tiny amp that is included in this kit won't give you an experience of some other aftermarket solutions, but if you are like me who don't want to dissect their car it is definitely a must-have solution.

Now a small "but", I have one problem when upon starting my car the sound from speakers (except woofer) will disappear. This problem happens to me at least once a day and all I have to do is press down volume button to force reboot the iDrive and it all comes back to life. Dealer doesn't know what is causing the problem but they wrote to Germany to see if there is a permanent solution. However, I can live with rebooting iDrive for now.

[Encanto]

The problem with the Alpine OEM kit and models with the ASD is that the ASD is an amplifier as well as the engine sound synthesizer. The Alpine kit is designed for models without an OEM amplifier. By installing an Alpine kit in a model with ASD, the kit becomes an input to the ASD -it is installed between the iDrive unit outputs and the ASD inputs.

Your system will sound louder just because the ASD inputs levels are higher, but the ASD outputs are still 15W per channel (front and rear) or so. The OEM woofers have no problem as the Alpine kit unplugs the woofers from the mids and the Alpine amp powers the woofers directly, no ASD is involved. The real problem is that the Alpine kit is about 50W or so per channel and I do not think that the ASD inputs are designed for more than 20W.

This may explain why sometimes there is no audio from the mids except woofers: the ASD inputs are saturated with a much higher power than what is designed for and the unit shuts down temporarily for auto-protection.

The ASD must be bypassed.

[ERDFX]

Originally Posted by Encanto

The problem with the Alpine OEM kit and models with the ASD is that the ASD is an amplifier as well as the engine sound synthesizer. The Alpine kit is designed for models without an OEM amplifier. By installing an Alpine kit in a model with ASD, the kit becomes an input to the ASD -it is installed between the iDrive unit outputs and the ASD inputs.

Your system will sound louder just because the ASD inputs levels are higher, but the ASD outputs are still 15W per channel (front and rear) or so. The OEM woofers have no problem as the Alpine kit unplugs the woofers from the mids and the Alpine amp powers the woofers directly, no ASD is involved. The real problem is that the Alpine kit is about 50W or so per channel and I do not think that the ASD inputs are designed for more than 20W.

This may explain why sometimes there is no audio from the mids except woofers: the ASD inputs are saturated with a much higher power than what is designed for and the unit shuts down temporarily for auto-protection.

The ASD must be bypassed.

Thank you for an insight!

To be honest I haven't encountered the issue since I've written my last post. However, I do not want to potentially damage an amp or an asd module. Do you think TechnicPNP bypass harness will work for me?

[ERDFX]

Few updates on my issues. The problem still reappears from time to time. So I went ahead and ordered a TechnicPNP's ASD bypass. Should be delivered to me on Monday. I had to use Shipito to mail it from the US and it costed me around 120 to 130 euros with shipping combined.

My only hope is that harness is compatible with Base stereo (even though it was upgraded by me)

Meanwhile I added coaxial Eton speakers to the rear, and they sound fantastic. Lastly, I will soundeaden the car and will therefore complete my build.

[Francky8567]

To ERDFX

Do you have any update regarding the alpine cutting off???

Did it solve the issue after fitting the deactivation wiring harness?

I got a F30 328 and planning to install the same I believe it might work oiut

[francky67]

Hi everyone,

I fitted the alpine retrofit kit on my F30 328 2015 using the ASD bypass cable.
Without the ASD bypass the sound would cut time to time.
The difference before and after installing the kit is amazing, clear and much louder sound on all speaker (twitter-middle and subwoofer).
I can only highly recommend the alpine retrofit for any body which is just not happy with base sound system.

[ekucet]

Originally Posted by Encanto

The problem with the Alpine OEM kit and models with the ASD is that the ASD is an amplifier as well as the engine sound synthesizer. The Alpine kit is designed for models without an OEM amplifier. By installing an Alpine kit in a model with ASD, the kit becomes an input to the ASD -it is installed between the iDrive unit outputs and the ASD inputs.

Your system will sound louder just because the ASD inputs levels are higher, but the ASD outputs are still 15W per channel (front and rear) or so. The OEM woofers have no problem as the Alpine kit unplugs the woofers from the mids and the Alpine amp powers the woofers directly, no ASD is involved. The real problem is that the Alpine kit is about 50W or so per channel and I do not think that the ASD inputs are designed for more than 20W.

This may explain why sometimes there is no audio from the mids except woofers: the ASD inputs are saturated with a much higher power than what is designed for and the unit shuts down temporarily for auto-protection.

The ASD must be bypassed.

Hi dear friend. can I use ASD Module with standard stereo sound system? because I want to buy ASD module and connect to may car for fake engine noises. is it possible with standard sound system? if I can use, may you tell me how can do connection ASD module to my standard sound system? Thank you for your response.