John
11-08-2012, 03:10 PM
My daily driver is a 2005 e53 X5 3.0. A couple of months ago, the left front speaker started crackling a bit, and eventually cut out all together. It was gone for a few days, then came back. At first I thought it was the speaker itself, but I was able to gather from the Internets that it is more likely a problem with the Becker BM53 radio:
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=409489
My symptoms seem pretty well identical to some of the problems listed in that post with the Becker BM54 (Europe) and Becker BM53 (US) radio units. The first symptom listed is actually exactly what mine is doing now:
1 or more speaker failing, might also crackle. Sometimes it comes on when you start the car, but after a bit, it will cut out. This is down to the bad placemen/quality of the amps used inside the unit.
The OP on the linked thread, XKaLiBar, apparently repairs the units. He actually comes up a lot on other BMW forums when searching for info on this problem, and seems to have some satisfied customers. I'd consider having him repair mine, except that he's in Merry Olde England, which is a bit of a hike from Centreville.
Used units seem to go on ebay for $300 to $400. If I'm going to spend that much, I'd likely look into what my aftermarket options are, and possibly spend more to get a nicer system. I'm not wild about the idea of buying a used unit which may have, or at least be susceptible to, the same problem.
I believe the BM54/BM53 was used in quite a few BMW models since 2001, and possibly in some Land Rovers as well.
Has anyone here experienced similar issues with the radio in their BMW? Have you had it fixed or fixed it yourself?
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=409489
My symptoms seem pretty well identical to some of the problems listed in that post with the Becker BM54 (Europe) and Becker BM53 (US) radio units. The first symptom listed is actually exactly what mine is doing now:
1 or more speaker failing, might also crackle. Sometimes it comes on when you start the car, but after a bit, it will cut out. This is down to the bad placemen/quality of the amps used inside the unit.
The OP on the linked thread, XKaLiBar, apparently repairs the units. He actually comes up a lot on other BMW forums when searching for info on this problem, and seems to have some satisfied customers. I'd consider having him repair mine, except that he's in Merry Olde England, which is a bit of a hike from Centreville.
Used units seem to go on ebay for $300 to $400. If I'm going to spend that much, I'd likely look into what my aftermarket options are, and possibly spend more to get a nicer system. I'm not wild about the idea of buying a used unit which may have, or at least be susceptible to, the same problem.
I believe the BM54/BM53 was used in quite a few BMW models since 2001, and possibly in some Land Rovers as well.
Has anyone here experienced similar issues with the radio in their BMW? Have you had it fixed or fixed it yourself?