1997 bmw 3 series radio

i am about to work on a BMW 3 series i am changing the factory radio. the car come with harmon kardon sound package. is there a harness that i can use to intergrate into the factory amp or do i need to bypass it all together.


justin

You shouldn't need anything special, just  an antenna adaptor and a wiring harness.  40VW10 for the antenna, 708590 for the harness...if you like Metra.  There are other manufacturers available of course.

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Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while; you could miss it.

i was told i had to use one that had rcas on it.. is that true?

That depends on the radio you're putting in there.  If it's a high end pioneer or a brand such as Eclipse with 4V preouts or higher then yes, you should use the one with RCA connectors.  70-8591, sticking with metra numbers.

If it's a lower end head unit or one with lower voltage on the preouts(it should be listed in the specs of the radio) then I'd recommend using a 4ch LOC from somewhere like soundgate or PAC and the regular 708590 harness.  This would allow you to get your output matched as close to the factory radio as possible.  Since there's no gain adjustment on the factory amp, you'll have to do your adjustment at the head unit end.

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Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while; you could miss it.

can i just use the regular speaker out put from the radio to the standard harness?