PCCM - Audio Integration - E36 Plug and Play Harness

[bmwstephen]

I have not had any issues. they can hear me just fine. no matter where I put the mic, people know I am driving the M3 cause they can either hear the car winding up in the background

[OmairK]

I put the PCCM+ supplied mic that comes with the kit next to the steering wheel. I had a long conference call into my drive into Manhattan and I'm running a full Supersprint Header/Straight mid-section/Race Exhaust and no one can tell I was in a loud car or even driving for that matter! People could hear me and were taking notes! Lol! Mic placement is important but so is the software behind the noise cancellation that is integrated already into the headunit. Awesome upgrade so far.

[OmairK]

bmwstephen, I was wondering if it would be worth to modernize the factory HK Amp to have it rebuilt and have some better tech. You think this is worth exploring? Would love a plug and play option that mounts exactly where the factory amp goes.

[bmwstephen]

bmwstephen, I was wondering if it would be worth to modernize the factory HK Amp to have it rebuilt and have some better tech. You think this is worth exploring? Would love a plug and play option that mounts exactly where the factory amp goes.

That is a great question as I actually looked into that for the last 5 years.,,

In a nutshell not worth the time. You are better off running new wires and something aftermarket which is more bang for buck.

Long story: the Integrated Chips for the HK amp have been NLA for some time. But that being said (and I may get crucified for this opinion), I seriously think the HK setup on the e36 was overrated. It could be because I am not an audiophile but if you didn't have the spatial button for the HK amp, the lyrics would be muddier to me compared to the HiFi setup. In addition, I can't conceptualize why going from a 10 channel Hi-Fi to 8 channel crossover HK setup was beneficial?

Most frustrating was that people back then (and even now), paid a premium for HK setup but if you look at the amp, it was a poor design/build quality compared to the Alpine Hi-Fi amp. If you look at why the IC chips eventually fail in the HK amp, the heat sink and thinly amount of thermal paste used was poorly thought out that resulted in eventual overheating:

BMW E36 Harmon Kardon Amp Teardown - YouTube

The Hi-Fi amp's heat sink had 4x the surface area and was thoroughly coated in thermal paste (I even opened mine recently and that was still the case). 1 out 4 HK amps I purchased refurbish and sold were DOA because the IC chips died.

[jayjaya29]

Bavsound came out with an updated factory amp a couple years back. I think it was a limited production run.

[OmairK]

Bavsound came out with an updated factory amp a couple years back. I think it was a limited production run.

Never seen it. I tried looking for it but can't find anything.

[MParallel]

They long discontinued the E36 upgrade.