There are some plug-and-play Bluetooth adapters out there that connect into the existing harness and leave everything looking "factory". Have a search for BlueMusic or BlueBus.

I fitted a BlueMusic one that also has a small microphone so I can do hands-free phone calls too. It's a little tight trying to get the extra length of wiring hidden away behind the in-dash CD player, but it works a treat.

 

Alright great, but I don't have the "Mode" button on my radio, instead I have a "CD" radio. Will this form any issue?

 

You can replace your head unit with a later year head unit that has built in aux or if you search "bmw e46 bluetooth" on Amazon you'll find plenty of options for about $30 that will give you BT and music streaming with or without an aux port. for example. (update: I don't think that example works in your application - this one might)

 

Hey, so I found this bluetooth kit, but it seems that I need the connection B 4,8,9 which I don't have. Do I need to buy a new radio in order to get bluetooth or are there other kits that don't need these connections?

 

The BlueMusic one I bought has a 5x2 connector that plugs into the CD Changer connector (socket A in your diagram above, the one further away from the outside edge of the radio unit), as it replaces the CD changer that my car was pre-wired for. The photo from the Amazon listing below shows the 10-pin connector on the "inboard" connector position (socket A) and you can see that there are several wires (6 I think) for the audio +ve/-ve and others (bus?). Your radio only seems to have 5 pins in that socket (for audio and ground), so I'm not sure whether this BlueMusic would be compatible The ad does state it's not suitable for the "basic radio". Might be worth trying it on "sale or return" though

 

To make it simple, could you use a bluetooth to fm converter and have radio in fm mode and your phone talks to the converter?

 

Check out this post i replied to in another thread about Business Radio and Aux

https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/business-cd-retrofit.1323108/#post-19212576

 

I used this it was very easy plug and play, assuming you are comfortable pulling your dash apart (looks like you are). I mounted the microphone in the sunglass tray so it's hidden when not in use.

https://shop.dension.com/en/gateway-lite-bt

 

Hello everyone watching this post, I've recently installed everything from the BlueMusic kit. While it was a struggle to find room for the kit it was an easy installation. I am happy to announce that every single thing works. I've had 0 trouble with it. So if you are looking to upgrade your E46 with the same radio as me I'd recommend the BlueMusic kit

 

Nice

 

Hello all,
Recently I bought an E46 320CI and I am really happy with it so far, but I missed the music. I can listen to AM and FM radio but I'd rather listed to my own taste using spotify or whatever. So I was looking into head units and different types of aux connections but I think my radio doesn't have an aux connection available. I just wanted your opinion on what I should do. Maybe buy an Eonon head unit (I really like, but it's quite expensive), or is there a way to connect to the stereo using an bluetooth connection mod?? Idk.

I will upload pictures of my connections in the post.

Thanks!

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Hello Mantje ,

I see my E46 brothers have already done a good job of filling you in on AUX. I was not aware of the "bluemusic" adapter Clive showed above but it looks interesting

Here are a couple of thoughts that might help your need:

Simplest & CHeapest:
1.) Most cheap but good USB blue tooth devices have a 3.5 mm jack that emerges from the USB. You could wire that to the Wechsler (L,R, +12, Gnd), Recepticle A appears to be the the same pin-out as Receptacle B (if you had it). You can get a RED cable on Amazon that has the BMW plug one one end, and a 3.mm on the other. from that you can easily get a female receptacle, and mount that on your ash tray cover.
You may need to bias pin 9 with a 1000 ohm resistor to make the radio think the CD player is there.


BMW AUX Adaptor Cable Mounting Kit | Car Stereo Mountable Socket 3.5mm AUX Female Connector + 3.5mm Aux Male Cable 1m for BMW X3 (2004-2010)/ BMW Mini Cooper (2002-2006) / Mini Cooper S (2005)
4.4 out of 5 stars
19
$12.99


QWestrum's solution (below) to step up a year is nice and simple, while Clive's BT receiver is large enough it may be stereo, which is good!

Other Relevant info :
I opened one of those cheap but good devices (Y-16 bluetooth on Ebay ) and +discovered they don't deliver stereo! L and R are just soldered together! I've opened others since then ... most weren't stereo. They still sound great, but its not stereo!! For QUALITY stereo sound confirm you are buying a stereo bluetooth device.

B.) There is a ground loop in E46 models. I have 3 models and all 3 of them have it. If you use the cigarette connector for power to your BT, and send audio back to the "B" connector, whine in speakers is likely. I built a simple LC filter which helped. If you don't smoke, consider getting your bluetooth power from the radio cable rather than the Cig lights and you'll have zero whine.

c) My son bought a conversion kit for 250 from Temu . It has bluetooth, a nice touchscreen display, and all needed trim & adapters if you want to go nuclear! There is a slot in there too where you can add a sim and have sort of af cell phone. If you need to know more about that lemme know and I'll get more info.

Cheers

 

BTW there are also little devices you plug into your cig lighter which are a little more sophisticated in that they act as the Bluetooth receiver. They get the signal, then rebroadcast it on an FM radio channel. The extra bonus is there's a microphone for hands free operation. I used to hate them , but my daughter just bought one and it works Much better than the older ones. I would recommend this only when you need fast, simple, and down & dirty. One downside .. is someone pulls up beside you at a stop light and tunes in your FM channel .. they get to hear what you are listening too. Run DMZ? Cheers.