Radio Choices

[motorman54]

I have a 2003 R1150RT that is wired for a radio. What brand of radio can I install other than the one available from BMW? Does Crutchfield or some other audio products company make one that will fit....I am not the most informed about audio products...so would appreciate any suggestions....Thanks...

[lithoman]

Both Clarian, and Sony make a nice radio that will fit into the radio box. Sony also makes a waterproof model for added protection and they both have remote capability from the bars.

 

If you do a Google search on those to makes you will find there is quite a selection. make sure you get the BMW din adapter to plug right in to the existing wiring harness.

have you considered maby XM radio? I think it's the most cost effective way to go. You just cant listen to Cd's tho and have a monthy fee.

 

hope this helps

[Toml]

After doing ton's of searches and reading in this forum, here's what I installed did last june... And I'm really happy with it.

 

Sony CDX-F50M - Radio

Sony RM-XM10B - remote

CarDomain Connector Kit - this is a generic late model BMW car wire harness.

Autocom part #67 - the switched stereo lead for bike with car type radio & on-board speakers

 

Others in this forum pointed out that you might want to pick the remote manufacturer first, and then

a radio to mount to it. That's what I did.

 

The remote is awsome. The large buttons are easy to hit with gloves. It's easy to operate without looking. It is only water resistant. Not water proof. Others in forums have reported temporary failures when it got really wet. I think someone posted a description of how they sealed their's up with a phenoseal type calking. I have had no problems but it has only seen lite rain. I thought it was XM compatible too but I can't find that fact on any shopping sites now.

 

The radio was relatively cheap, water resistent, and handles MP3 CDs. On the downside, like most car CD players, it does not have a CD spindle which would hold the CD in place. A spindle would allow the CD player to work even when installed in the veritical position. Mine can play CDs when the bike is at rest. But as soon as I hit the tiniest bump in the road, it skips. There is an older Sony (CDX-MP70) that has a spindle. You might be able to find it on Ebay. I did a lot of searching for other CD players that had spindle but didn't find any. I am satisfied with this one.

 

 

The wiring harness was thrown in for free from cardomain. You will definitely want this as you can literally do all your wiring at the kitchen table then "simply" plug it in at install time. Someone pointed out the any late model BMW wire harness will work. I think the example given was a 2002 Z03 or later but you should search the forum.

 

 

Here's a list of the factory radio connections (their colors and numeric location on the wiring harness).

 

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post516541

 

I'll attempt to attach a pic of this that I found in my own search.

 

Installation: You can't simply remove the top of the radio box and slide the unit it. You have to take the side faring off the bike and split the radio box, etc.. But you'll want to do this anyway to make your wiring easier and neater. I followed these very nice instructions on installing the radio.

 

http://www.snafu.org/pics/r1150rt/radio/

 

Here's another...

 

http://home.comcast.net/~signa/bmw/

 

 

I mounted my remote on the left handle bar, along with my autocom toggle switch which allows me to change whether the sound goes to my helmet versus my bike speakers. I highly recommend this location if you like the futz with your radio a lot. I'm one of those people that changes the volume and station all the time. I can do this with my thumb and forefinger, without removing my hand from the handle bar. I also think looks much cleaner than a RAM mount type of configuration. I'll post a pic of this in my next response.

[Toml]

Attached is a pic of the installation of my Sony RM-XM10B remote.

[Toml]

 

I'll try again... Attached is a pic of the installation of my Sony RM-XM10B remote.

[MattS]

Sony RM-XM10B - remote

 

The remote is awsome. The large buttons are easy to hit with gloves. It's easy to operate without looking. It is only water resistant. Not water proof. Others in forums have reported temporary failures when it got really wet. I think someone posted a description of how they sealed their's up with a phenoseal type calking. I have had no problems but it has only seen lite rain. I thought it was XM compatible too but I can't find that fact on any shopping sites now.

Couple of notes ... this remote is XM compatible, but the head unit has to be as well. I (with a little help from my friends) experimented with an XT-XM1 tuner installed in a sidecase, but it was A LOT of wiring. If there is a head unit available from Sony with an XM tuner built in, that would be the best solution.

 

The RM-XM10 is also NOT WATERPROOF ... it is water-resistant intended for use by wet fingers on boats but not for a driving rain or the kind of water that will find its way into an RT cockpit during hours riding in the rain. You will want to seal around the buttons to prevent the remote from failing. If it gets bad enough, you will in fact have to unplug it from the radio as it will prevent/disable some functions -- depending on your install, that can take quite a bit of time (and won't be something you'll want to do while riding in the rain).

[motorman54]

Thank you all for the information and the links.....I will look into this after I pay off those holiday bills....LOL

Happy New Year to you all............