Car Stereo Stuff

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FRUNKenstein
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Car Stereo Stuff

Post by FRUNKenstein » Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:11 am

OK, notice that I put "car stereo" in the title, so that you tell you I'm not an expert. OK, maybe I was back when the Jensen Triax 6x9 was the hottest speaker you could get for your 8-track system. But, nowadays, well, I haven't jacked around with adding any new car audio components to one of my rides for probably 10 years. Let's use this thread to discuss car audio issues - feel free to start your own thread if you want, but also feel free to use this thread to post your own questions, etc.

I'll go first. My '02 996TT came with a high end aftermarket Double DIN and amp already installed. The guy who bought my car new was a rich guy, apparently. After doing a bit of research, it appears the system in my car was the most expensive head unit sold by Crutchfield - back in 2008. So, it's getting a bit long in the tooth. This weekend, I tried to connect via Bluetooth my new Samsung Galaxy S9+ to the head unit to stream some music. It keeps telling me I have the wrong activation code (0000). I've connected with at least 4 or 5 other phones before, and never had a problem. I suspect that the Bluetooth version of the Kenwood may simply be too old (it's probably version 2.1 whereas the S9+ is Bluetooth version 5.0). Plus, the sound is crappy, even though it appears to have a high-end amp in the frunk. It does a little better with a CD than with streaming Bluetooth, but the sound is still underwhelming. And, for the backup camera to work, I have to press a tiny button on the very bottom of the unit that's a PITA to find. So, I think it's time to consider upgrading the stereo.

About a block from the auto museum is a car audio shop. I'm thinking about stopping by to get a quote from them. Any thoughts from anyone on what's the best way to upgrade? Just buy a new head unit and replace it myself? Or is it money well spent to have a car audio specialist take a look at the overall system to get it functioning at its peak? It is hard to believe that right now there is any type of amp pushing sound through the speakers as it isn't as loud as the stock stereo in any of my other cars.
www.kansascityautomuseum.com
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red

2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver

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5chn3ll
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by 5chn3ll » Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:27 am

The single best upgrade you can make to the 996 soundstage - in my opinion - is to add a powered sub. The one I have in my car is a goddamn eyesore; I've been planning to build a parcel shelf/platform to hide the sub (and give Pee Pee Eye a better place to ride), but dialing the bass out of the stock speakers and letting the sub do the heavy lifting makes a profound difference.

If the installer who put in the previous owner's head unit was worth a damn, the factory wiring should still be intact with an adapter harness used to interface with the new headunit. Unfortunately, many install bay hacks just chop off the factory connectors and crimp on universal harnesses (or just wire directly up to the new headunit), so you need to take a look behind the scenes to see what you're working with.

If the OEM plugs are still there, you can buy harness adapters for whatever head unit you decide on. Crutchfield included a wiring harness when I purchased the stereo I installed in my 996. I went the uber-cheap route - I've been down the "dump money into a Porsche" road with my Boxster, and I realized it was a losing battle. Instead, I went with the cheapest HU that did everything I wanted, a refurbished JVC KD-X330BTS for which I paid the princely sum of $79.99. I chose a model with no optical drive; the benefit is that it requires much less mounting depth, so there is room behind the stereo for the wiring harness, antenna adapters, and other crap you'd normally have to hide in center stack. Since I have the GT3 console delete in my 996, the extra space afforded by the CD/DVDless head unit is very helpful.

My only gripe about this radio is that the color scheme doesn't match the 996 - but I've been too lazy to take it apart and swap out the LEDs with orange ones.

Image

The sub I'm using - an Infinity Basslink - is currently residing in the driver-side rear passenger seat well (I deleted the rear seats). It's ugly, but it makes SOLID bass, much better than the pizza-box compact subs. Since sound quality isn't really a huge issue in the 996, I tapped the rear speakers and wired them up to the high-power inputs on the Infinity unit. The sub has input-sensing switching, so I didn't have to bother with running switched power to the sub.
Basslink_001_dvHAMaster.jpg
Basslink_001_dvHAMaster.jpg (19.25 KiB) Viewed 3323 times

Understeer: You will hit the wall with the front end.
Oversteer: You will hit the wall with the rear end.
Horsepower: How hard you will hit the wall.
Torque: How far you will move the wall.

Gone hunting with Alec Baldwin and Dick Cheney. Back soon.

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B3DAWG
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by B3DAWG » Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:28 am

KC - this is always a hard question to answer because "great sound" is very subjective. You may think it's weak sounding, but your wife may think it's overwhelming... too LOUD she says!!! hahaha Seriously, your current system is only as good as the weakest link. That is, did the previous owner replace all the speakers in addition to the HU and amp or did they just install the HU and amp alone? That's a good question to answer. I'm assuming since your car is an '02, it had the non-MOST system which is actually a good thing when moving to an aftermarket system. But before we start saying "buy this or buy that", you need to examine what was removed and what remained. Did the PO remove all the OEM wiring and use wire harnesses? Or, did they go the easier route and cut all the wires and solder directly into the HU and run separate cables to the amp, etc. I agree with you on the Bluetooth... if Streaming via the newest iPhone is important, than you need to upgrade at least the HU with a newer system. One of the best looking and sounding double DIN units out currently out there IMHO, is the Sony XAV-AX100.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158XAV100 ... 5684&avf=Y

One of the guy on the "other site" installed it, and it really looked great with the 996's interior. Of course, the sound quality from Sony is going to be good IMHO, but that's for you to determine. You may want to simply plan to replace the HU and amp to start and then consider replacing the door and dash speakers. Does you car have a sub woofer unit? These cars were based on a 6-channel frunk amp setup, but modern 6 channel amps are much more expensive since most use the HU to power the 4 channels and the amps for the subs. But it can be configured to whatever your pocketbook will allow. It's only money!!! :D

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FRUNKenstein
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by FRUNKenstein » Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:48 pm

Thanks fellas. I am shocked at how reasonably priced head units are now. $80 for yours, Schnelly, and then the double DIN unit B3 linked to was a whopping $350. I think, in 2008 dollars, that DNX8120 was around $1,500. I remember looking it up previously and thinking "crap, for that kind of money, I'll just live with it." Well, if it's $350 plus some of my time or a couple of hundred bucks for an installer, then it's a no-brainer. I was just playing around on Crutchfield, and even if I have to replace the amp and all of the speakers and a subwoofer, $1,500 would get you a pretty nice system. I don't need audiophile perfection. I just want good sound, Bluetooth that works, and a backup camera that's easy to use.

I need to look at it tonight, but I think the amp is a Focal, which looks like a higher end brand (based on Crutchfield pricing). I'm assuming that if the original owner spent $1,500 on a head unit and maybe around that on an amp, then he would have replaced the stock speakers also. So, why the sub-par sound? I'm the 3rd owner, so maybe the original owner pulled the speakers? But, why wouldn't he have pulled the head unit and Focal amp, also? And I don't think a rich guy who spent $142k on the car new, then spent another $40k on mods to the car would waste his time removing speakers before he sold it. Do speakers get old and just wear out? How about amplifiers?
www.kansascityautomuseum.com
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red

2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver

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5chn3ll
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by 5chn3ll » Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:16 am

This was exactly the situation I was in. All I need is solid bluetooth connectivity; 90% of what I listen to is Pandora; if I listen to the news, it's via I Heart Radio (alternator whine in my car makes AM pretty much unusable). The JVC also has a wired mic for handsfree calling; I routed it up the driver-side A-pillar and over to the sunroof control console to get it relatively close to and in front of my head. I'd consider a remote mic for phone calls essential.
kcattorney wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:48 pmI don't need audiophile perfection. I just want good sound, Bluetooth that works, and a backup camera that's easy to use.
It seems unlikely that the PO would have pulled out aftermarket speakers but left the amp and other hardware. Some folks just leave the speakers alone - the factory wiring can be hard to understand, and getting upgraded drivers into some of the speaker locations (like the dash speakers) can get ugly.

More than a couple of people have failed to realize that the Porsche speakers are low impedance and choose the wrong amp for the job. What model is the Focal amp? Knowing the wattage and whether it's stable at low impedance can give some hints about what speakers might be installed.
kcattorney wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:48 pmDo speakers get old and just wear out? How about amplifiers?
Speakers can degrade over time. Cones can rip from excessive distortion; paper cones can dry out or get sun-rotted if they're exposed to lots of sunlight. Modern amps shouldn't degrade over time, but they can be damaged if the installer gets his math wrong. There are lots of ways to make the audio sound terrible (not enough wattage, too much wattage, cheaping out and not using crossovers to provide the correct range to the various drivers, ignoring speaker polarity, you get the idea. It's REALLY easy to install a shitty car stereo, and even the best car stereo can sound shitty if the installer doesn't think things through.

For grins, I got a quote from a local high-end audio shop that advertises in Panorama for my Boxster, including double-din, all new drivers, new amps, crossovers, Dynamat...the initial estimate was just under $10K.

Understeer: You will hit the wall with the front end.
Oversteer: You will hit the wall with the rear end.
Horsepower: How hard you will hit the wall.
Torque: How far you will move the wall.

Gone hunting with Alec Baldwin and Dick Cheney. Back soon.

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B3DAWG
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by B3DAWG » Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:39 am

ElSchnell wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:16 am For grins, I got a quote from a local high-end audio shop that advertises in Panorama for my Boxster, including double-din, all new drivers, new amps, crossovers, Dynamat...the initial estimate was just under $10K.
It wouldn't surprise me if there are many Porsche owners that paid this amount for custom sound in their cars. Prolly the same guys that don't have a problem paying Porsche dealership $500 for an oil change (e.g. best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland). Heck, when I was at Porsche having them program a new key, they noticed that one of my tag light enclosures was missing. They offered to replace it for $170.00. :o yikes! I can order the part from Porsche for less than $30. I replaced one is less than 2 minutes. But no telling how many people would just say... "Sure, why thank you Mr. Porsche, please install it." :?

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jllphan
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by jllphan » Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:25 pm

I used to sell/install consumer audio back in the days right after the jenen triax was THE 6x9 to buy. So while my knowledge base of current brands/models is not up to snuff, my knowledge base on signal flow is.

If you hate the head unit that's in there, fine get a new one. But virtually any aftermarket stereo is gonna sound better than the stock unit, so it's likely not the culprit of your less than stellar sounding system. The bluetooth issue sounds like something you can resolve given you said you've successfully paired w/ other phones -- it's likely a matter of too many phones in the HU's base or something just needs to be reset.

But if your dead set on replacing the head unit, I'd lean towards goin w/ the same brand currently in there. I know you said it's 10 years old, but manufacturers aren't quick to change wiring harnesses, so there's a good change a brand new HU by the same make (or new old stock on Ebay/Amazon) will have all the same wiring -- pop the old one out, plug the new one in, bam, done.

As other said, a sub is gonna be the single biggest upgrade -- you just have to decide if it's worth the cost/time/money and WEIGHT it'll add to your sports car. A sub will make even the shittiest oem speakers sound better as you can take all the low frequencies that would normally go to them and send that to the sub thereby allowing much louder volumes w/ no distortion.

Adding aftermarket speakers will help too, but really only if you plan on installing multiple external amplifiers (one for sub / one for speakers) as even the best aftermarket HU's rarely have the juice to truly make the beefier surrounds and larger magnets of aftermarket drivers perform to their potential.

I will say these cars have the potential to sound amazing inside. I too bought a 911 that had an owner that was very rich and spent at least that $10k you were quoted. If you care to have look, a few crappy pix of my "system" are here: https://imgur.com/a/DGLKF. Do note, when i got the car, it sounded like crap. The guy that had the car before me, only listened to talk radio -- so a few days of programming and man, this stereo sounds AMAZING.

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B3DAWG
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by B3DAWG » Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:38 pm

jllphan wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:25 pm
But if your dead set on replacing the head unit, I'd lean towards goin w/ the same brand currently in there. I know you said it's 10 years old, but manufacturers aren't quick to change wiring harnesses, so there's a good change a brand new HU by the same make (or new old stock on Ebay/Amazon) will have all the same wiring -- pop the old one out, plug the new one in, bam, done.
In general, not bad advice. I've easily upgraded many of my HUs in the past by just plug and play, but I don't think KC will get into a new Excelon that easy especially if he uses some of the newer features. (see attached image) With the exception of the main plug, it looks like there will be a considerable amount of modification.
oldnewken.jpg
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Roubik
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by Roubik » Thu Apr 05, 2018 10:52 pm

Hello all,
A newbi here, as soon as I bought the car (2004c4s on 9/17),I removed the Porsche/Bose head unit, amp and the CD changer, installed a double din Alpine unit and wired up all the Bose speakers to a JVC amp plus installed the Bluetooth mic in the factory location, system sounds great with the Bose speakers and the the best part is that I now have Bluetooth and don’t have to worry about getting pulled over by the local LEO for talking on my handheld phone.
If you have a need for that Porsche head unit, changer or the amp, let me know and I’ll send it your way, I also have the same equipment out of wife’s 07 Boxster S, but a newer version of course.






Current:
2004 yellow C4SC, 2007 Boxster S, 1984M491
Don’t want to mention the previous ones specially the pristine less than 100k miles 77 930 I sold for 26k ten years ago.
Present:
2004 yellow C4SCA, 1984 white real m491, wife’s 2007 Boxster S
Don’t want to mention the previous ones specially the pristine less than 100k miles 77 930 I sold for 26k ten years ago. :o

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B3DAWG
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Re: Car Stereo Stuff

Post by B3DAWG » Fri Apr 06, 2018 7:37 am

Roubik wrote: Thu Apr 05, 2018 10:52 pm Hello all,
A newbi here, as soon as I bought the car (2004c4s on 9/17),I removed the Porsche/Bose head unit, amp and the CD changer, installed a double din Alpine unit and wired up all the Bose speakers to a JVC amp plus installed the Bluetooth mic in the factory location, system sounds great with the Bose speakers and the the best part is that I now have Bluetooth and don’t have to worry about getting pulled over by the local LEO for talking on my handheld phone.
If you have a need for that Porsche head unit, changer or the amp, let me know and I’ll send it your way, I also have the same equipment out of wife’s 07 Boxster S, but a newer version of course.
Welcome to the Outpost man! Sounds like you made a great upgrade. Would love to see some pictures of the new system. Post'm here as an attachment. Regarding the old stuff... is a the MOST based Porsche head unit like the CDR-23 or PCM Navigation unit?

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