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1995 M3 Stereo System

i own a 2nd 1995 M3....first one was lost to the pros (car thieves) in Philly.

my first one (Alpine White) had the stock "250 watt" system with BMW
(Alpine) 6-disc CD changer. sound was very good. i spent 18 months with the car.

my second M3 (Boston Green) supposedly has the same system. however, this
system lacks the power and clarity (as well as poorer sound staging) that
the first had. i'm NOT happy. i've had a factory rep look at it. [per july
issue of Roundel, Willard Jones had a 97 328i system installed in his M3 by
mistake...so i thought some similar switch happened to me.] the system is
what it is....he says. it was the only system available for the 95 M3 [i
know 96 M3 has option for "320 watt" Harmon-Kardon system]. BMWNA tells me
that the 250 watt designation is a misnomer...it really puts out peak power
of 200 watts at 10% THD.

at this stage i'm ready to replace the head unit with Sony ES CDX-C810DSP CD
receiver so i can tie-in the Sony 10-disc CD changer [CDX-91] in the trunk.
I'm very impressed with the Sony ES products. What's my choice, since the
Alpine head unit won't allow non-BMW approved tie-ins....Sony was about to
release a compatible changer but BMW has stopped them (court-issued
injunction) claiming violation of proprietary information, etc.

Any thoughts, comments, recommendations, similar experiences.......would be
appreciated.