I have a 2009 E93... long story short: Had a water leak that damaged the AMP. Fixed the leak and now have to replace the AMP. Should I go OEM replacement or aftermarket replacement? Have the Pro head unit and the E93 is setup for bluetooth phone integration, etc. but not so equipped from the factory. Would like better iPhone integration both phone and music streaming. What to do? Replace the OEM AMP as is? Replace with a OEM AMP that supports the iPhone integration objectives (is that possible)? Replace the AMP with a aftermarket AMP that meet the iPhone objectives (again is that possible)? Replace head unit and AMP with aftermarket products to meet objectives? Thanks for any advice.
Personally I would just replace the OEM amp. Mainly because the way the amp is set up in the vehicle is not easy to bypass. The amp is ran off of a fiber optic network called a MOST bus. In order for a aftermarket amp to be installed you would have to loop the old amp connection for the MOST bus to keep the other modules on that bus working properly. The bluetooth/ Ipod interface is not done by the amp on your vehicle it is actually done by different modules bluetooth/ phone operations are done by TCU (telematics control unit). And the Ipod depending on option on the car is controlled by a interface module called the ULFSBX. As far as I know in the aftermarket world upgrading your amp will not give you any more bluetooth/ Ipod features (but maybe some one does make on and I missed it) Your only option would be to replace amp and head unit in the vehicle but again you will have to do some changes to the wiring in the vehicle to make this work.
Thanks for the reply... I did find an aftermarket direct replacement for my AMP -> http://www.bavariansoundwerks.com/category/390/0/BMW-Amplifier-Upgrades/ but I get your point about the iPhone integration and media streaming. I was a little thrown off by the fact that the OEM AMP has the Bluetooth bug on it for some reason -> http://flickr.com/gp/ajrfour/Q814r2 Anyway I guess it is just not as simple as installing the TCU (2), Bluetooth antenna (5), etc. More research required I guess. Thanks again.
