Diane kindly collected the widescreen surround from BMW today for me, so the M5 widescreen installation is now complete. Here’s how it used to look:

And now!

Much better! So this just leaves the small matter of flogging off my old monitor and trying to recover some money from the needless purchase of another TV tuner – see my auctions here and here!

Once I’ve hopefully recovered some funds from that, it’ll be time to look into getting a more modern nav computer. I wonder if anyone can tell me whether this is the way to go about improving the shocking 80s appearance of the OBC menu graphics, or whether that is achieved with a more modern TV tuner, or some other way?

As mentioned, the rather ancient looking radio/monitor in the M5 was bugging me, so I’ve sourced a widescreen. It is from an X5, which means that the contrast isn’t quite right when viewed from an E39 angle, but it is completely usable and when I get time, I plan on following these crazy instructions to sort it out.

So, this is what it used to look like:

And this is what it looks like now:

I’m pleased to note that my TV tuner was able to recognise it and jump straight to a 16:9 ratio. I’m less pleased that I’ve already paid £200 for another tuner because I thought the car’s original wouldn’t be able to do this – I look forward to making a loss on that on eBay soon.

Still, I need to source a surround from BMW to tidy things up, but otherwise this job is done. The next job in this area will be to sort out MkIV DVD navigation.

Since my last post I decided that the M5′s “GALA” system left quite a bit to be desired. The Graduated Audio Level Adjustment is supposed to maintain a consistent audio experience within the car, irrespective of road noise. Sadly, while it is a good idea in theory, it makes quite obvious ham-fisted adjustments to not only overall volume but also tone balance, and as such, I decided I was better off without it. After a bit of internet research, and some valuable input from a forum user, and I managed to turn the GALA sensitivity down so much I no longer notice that it is there. Here’s how:

BMW E39 GALA Adjustment

Turn the radio on – this may work while playing a CD but I did it while listening to an FM station. Hold down the ‘TP’ button for about 8 seconds. The screen should display service mode. Use the < and > buttons to scroll to the ‘GAL’ setting. Then, using the numerical preset buttons, set the GALA sensitivity to the desired level. Once finished, switch the radio off. Done!

I’m also looking in to replacing this 4:3 unit with a 16:9 widescreen like I’ve got in the 330d. I thought I would see just how hard it is to remove the unit, and I was pleased to find it was easy. The trim panels either side can just be pulled off.

Two small screws, one at the top of either side hold the silver face plate on. Once these are out, there’s a lever on both sides that need to be raised, and the facia pops straight off.

Finally, four more screws, and another tweak of the two levers and the whole lot is out.

See – nice and easy! Ideally I’ll be able to collect a second hand unit and test it before paying, so I thought it important to be able to strip the car down quickly. I’m aware that I’ll need to upgrade the TV tuner to have a true 16:9 image, but I’m happy to crawl before I can walk.

I’ve had a good day. Got loads of chores done this morning (like arranging for an estate agent to come and look at the house), and then set about trying to improve the audio in the M5. It has a fairly standard audio setup, with components in the front doors and some additional speakers on the rear shelf, but ultimately while the system is clear, it is gutless. I’ve got some audio equipment lying around that I’ve used in a variety of cars in the past, so I thought I’d attempt to improve the sound quality at zero cost.

First step was to find some audio signal wires. I removed the CD changer and had a good rummage. Speaker wire pairs were easy enough to discover, so I spliced into those and extended my way into the boot. While I was there I also found a wire that hit 12v with the ignition in auxiliary or higher, and 0V when the ignition was off, so that would provide the amplifier’s remote power signal.

The next challenge was to get this signal into my old Goodmans amplifier. It is designed to take both speaker level and line level inputs, but sadly a custom connector is required for the speaker level input. A custom connector I don’t have.

I had a good rummage in my parts bin and found three BMW connector cables that were spares from my DVD player installation in the 330d. Remarkably these fitted the amplifier’s terminals perfectly, but of course I needed four, and could only find three. So I used a crimp connector on the fourth. No cost!

This done I could begin to put everything back together.

I then ran power from the battery, but forgot to photograph matters there. My bad! Finally, I screwed the sub enclosure to the floor and did a bit of cable tidying. It does of course require quite a bit more cable tidying, but those who know me know that’s not especially likely any time soon.

That photo makes it look as though the sub takes up loads of space in the boot – that really isn’t the case at all. It’s not meant to be pretty by the way. The sound though, is extremely good news.

Sure, the E39′s boot does contain the sound well so plenty of beans is required to get much penetration in the cabin, but this does have the benefit that the sound isn’t shared too much with pedestrians, and I’m pleased that the car doesn’t rattle with the kick drum.

By turning down the bass on the head unit and adding some boost on the amplifier in the boot I’ve been able to shape the sound nicely. Without any low frequencies heading their way the components in the front cope nicely at high volume, and the sub neatly rounds off the experience. Nothing stupid, just a well balanced sound.

I’m really, really pleased to be able to sample my favourite tracks while in the M5. I’ve just spent the last 90 minutes pottering around scanning through the CD changer testing the overall balance, and it’s great! I only stopped because I’ve got a meal to go to – Good Friday indeed!

This is the 6th BMW this sub and amp have been in – here are the predecessors:

That’s a pretty fast sub and amp!

The remainder of the holiday was somewhat of a blur. Around lunchtime we arrived back in California, but didn’t reach our hotel in Pasadena until gone 3pm.

Once checked in there was no time to rest. We had to collect our suits, wash, rehearse the wedding a few times and then have a meal with other keys members of the wedding party and families. Phew!

The day of the wedding was, er, rather stressful. All turned out lovely in the end though!

Rather more pomp and ceremony than I’m used to over here – walking in and around on cue, all lined up in a rather questionable pyramid shape but hey, each to their own. In any case, Robin looked rather chuffed and that’s what we all came  to see.

At the reception venue the drink had started to flow. It was time for us Brits to show these cowboys how it’s done. Hmm.

The next day we had a lovely brunch and Jamie’s parents and wished Robin and Jamie farewell.

Once that was done, I just crashed. I hadn’t realised how tired I was! I just had to sleep, but the others went out to explore Hollywood, and Di took these photos:

On Sunday, our final full day in America, we went to Universal Studios.

It proved to be a great day out – an amazing mix of a theme park and a behind the scenes look at some movie work.

I got a couple of very bad shots of one of the Lions and one of the Deloreans from Back to the Future.

I got a really good photo of the crashed 747 that is used in the ‘War of the Worlds’ film featuring Tom Cruise.

So, the end of a great experience was finally with us. My only regret is that I never got to sample an American curry with Robin while I was there – we missed a great opportunity!

A new bridge is being built just downstream of the Hoover dam – pretty impressive stuff!

Yet not as impressive as the Hoover dam itself. Over 70 years old – quite something!

We took a tour of the power plant – about 2,000 Megawatts in total!

Then we had a good walk along the dam walls.

Next stop was Williams – a town not too far from the Grand Canyon. About 4 hours from the dam though, so we had plenty of driving to do along historic route 66. We stopped half way at a tiny little store for refreshments.

Night had fallen by the time we got to Williams. Having driven there pretty much at the speed limit, I failed to slow down enough on the way into town and got busted by a policeman hiding in the trees – 40 in a 25. Apparently – I reckon he was in the 25 but I wasn’t when he gunned me. A nice $138 fine I’ve no idea how to pay, or indeed what the penalties are if I don’t pay it. Really terse too – followed me around with his hand on his gun and torch in my face while I got my paperwork out of the boot. Welcome to America.

Anyhow, we met up with Dave & Jen who had arrived the previous night and had a meal to celebrate my busting.

The next day we rose early and headed to the station to catch a train to the Canyon.

Sadly ours was a diesel train, but still I was pleased not to be driving on the roads for fear of more police brutality. Williams is 6,800 ft above sea level. IT WAS COLD THERE!

We had three and a bit hours to explore the canyon. I’d love to have days there to hike around it, but the first view is amazing, and something that no camera can really capture quite as the eye really sees it. The far side in the photo below is nearly 10 miles away!

Adding a fat human still doesn’t give it any sense of scale:

So we tried a more normal human:

In the Grand Canyon store, I found a hilarious type of deep-heat:

We had lunch, took a few more photos, and waved goodbye to the Canyon. It certainly matches up to my trip to the Taj Mahal.

The next morning we were up at a painful 6:30am. The road to LA was long, but we had to get Robin married.