# Tried fixing C33 radio in my E36, but its DOA...now what? Any ideas?



## 300HURST (Dec 6, 2007)

Radio display was extremely dark so I noticed a fix it thread on bimmerforums.com. I followed the instructions but I must have messed something up because all the lights stayed on all the time. I checked my soldering and now the display lights goes on and off when its supposed to but display is blank now. Just a glow with a bunch of small orange boxes. I screwed with it all night but no change. Anyhow, since I need a new head unit, I researched the C33 (which is in most 92-96 BMW's) and found this unit suffers from bad soldering points, low output voltage and BMW installed a FM frequency limiter in the C33's.(due to engine whine) When used with the HK system, (which I have), the low voltage doesn't drive the external amp at all and combined with the FM limiter, you get muffled sound throughout. BMW remedy for this was the C43 and even better the CD43. The CD43 has much more voltage and higher FM frequency and cleans up the sound with the HK amp. In tests, the CD43 compares to many high end aftermarket units. Does this make sense? The only negatives for me is the CD43 doesn't have RCA audio outputs and the price of at least $300. I got this info from 
http://www.geocities.com/christyler5/BMWSoundUpgradeE34E36E46.html

I really, really want to keep the stock look and I'm only interested in clean sound. (don't care about gimmicks) So questions:

1) Will the red flashing alarm light still work when changing from a C33 to a CD43?
2) Can I still add a sub with seperate amp and leave the HK system intact? (I may upgrade the speakers since they are 12 years old but it depends on how clean the CD43 sounds)

Any help would be appreciated. If anyone has a CD43, let me know if you like it.


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## tom @ eas (May 5, 2004)

300HURST said:


> Radio display was extremely dark so I noticed a fix it thread on bimmerforums.com. I followed the instructions but I must have messed something up because all the lights stayed on all the time. I checked my soldering and now the display lights goes on and off when its supposed to but display is blank now. Just a glow with a bunch of small orange boxes. I screwed with it all night but no change. Anyhow, since I need a new head unit, I researched the C33 (which is in most 92-96 BMW's) and found this unit suffers from bad soldering points, low output voltage and BMW installed a FM frequency limiter in the C33's.(due to engine whine) When used with the HK system, (which I have), the low voltage doesn't drive the external amp at all and combined with the FM limiter, you get muffled sound throughout. BMW remedy for this was the C43 and even better the CD43. The CD43 has much more voltage and higher FM frequency and cleans up the sound with the HK amp. In tests, the CD43 compares to many high end aftermarket units. Does this make sense? The only negatives for me is the CD43 doesn't have RCA audio outputs and the price of at least $300. I got this info from
> http://www.geocities.com/christyler5/BMWSoundUpgradeE34E36E46.html
> 
> I really, really want to keep the stock look and I'm only interested in clean sound. (don't care about gimmicks) So questions:
> ...


1. Yes. 
2. You can modify the audio system in the same fashion as if you equipped with the C33 radio, there is no difference. The CD43 is reported to have better audio quality than the previous versions.

Let me know if you have any further questions.


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