jsabatini

The wife wants a better stereo in the 911. I say the engine makes sweet enough music, but she wants better tunes and a damn cup holder. Don't want to cut anymore holes so I will need a good head unit and new speakers for the front and rear. Will probably have to get an amp also for the boot. Also, iPod connectivity is a must.

Any advice would be appreciated.

ulrichd

John,
If you go to crutchfield.com you can search by car and features. That's where I bought my Blaupunkt. Also great customer service.

Jay H

I'll give a vote for Alpine head units. I still feel Alpine makes some of the best head units out there and they have some very nice units that will allow for total control of your iPod from the front panel of the Alpine with the additional purchase of a specific $30 cable.

scottb

If you want something without "bling" that looks like it belongs in your car, pick-up a Becker CDR-210 on eBay. They go for about ~ $200 and look and sound great -- and they say "Porsche" on them. The CDR 210 is the CD version. The CR 210 is the cassette version.

Scott

tj willy

Pioneer has one of the best decks on the market right now. Really. Especially wth skipping. Also, they make some nice models with low bling. I use a Monster RF modulator with my ipod and a Clarion deck. The monster mod is the best I have ever heard. I also really like the clairon deck I have.

My car had a full sound system installed by pros. They changed out the door speakers. They added tweets in the door which looks like a VERY easy install. There is room for a small amp under the passenger seat if you want a powerful sound. My older pioneer deck put out 50x4 and was plenty power and sound driving down the road in a topless wrangler. (My old Jeep) I picked that deck up on ebay at a VERY nice price used and installed it myself. Jeeps are easy that way....

ajmarton

Does anyone have suggesions for speakers that will fit into the original door cut outs / back deck? I want to keep the original look of my 89 911 which I just got.

strugs

I recently brought my 911 stereo up to speed and I am very happy with it. I have a friend who is in the business, and he gave me some advice on the best bang for the buck in a 911. He told me to go somewhat cheap on the head unit. He suggested that in order to compete with the engine noise, you definitely do not want to cheap out on the speakers or the amp (yes you need an amp - the power ratings for the decks are ridiculously overestimated). Anyways, my head unit is a Kenwood - forget the model, but it is middle of the road - the important thing to rememeber is that you either want an iPod interface conroller or a CD changer controller so you can plug an iPod into the back of the deck. I opted to run the iPod in through the CD changer controller by buying a $40 "aux-in" cable that tricks the deck into thinking the iPod is a cd changer. This allowed me to get a deck that was a lot cheaper than the "iPod ready" decks while still being able to run the iPod in directly without the problems of an RF or FM interface.

The speakers I went with are MB Quart Reference RUA 216 6.5" components that fit into the factory holes (witha little bit of "massaging") and they are powered by a Rockford Fosgate 2 channel amp which (barely) fit under the passenger seat. I must admit I was not impressed with the MB Quarts at first as they sounded kind of shrill and lacking in bass, but after about a month of break in, they are now pleasantly warm and have a good mid-bass response. On my previous car, I installed Infinity component speaker of about the same price range, and I never did like the way they sounded - way too much emphasis on the highs.

My rears are Pioneer 4x6's that the P.O. installed and they are powered by the deck at much lower levels than the fronts. All in all I am very happy with the system and the only thing I MAY do in the future is install a sub in the centre console to augment the bass. I have seen lots of other options for subs (rear seats, rear footwells, fromt luggage compartment, etc, but they either stand out too much ot take up too much precious interior space.

The funny thing is that I now like to drive around listening to 80's music on the iPod - seems to fit the car. Just today, I listened to Billy Joel's 52nd street on the way home......"you had to be a BIG shot!"

schnele

McIntosh unit will look great in your dash.

fastpat

I installed a Blaupunkt Bremen MP74 in my '88 Targa. While I didn't care for the silver trim, and reduced it by buying a black trim ring from a Blaupunkt repair facility, it turned out pretty well overall.

I wanted the ability to play cd's loaded with music in MP3 format, since I'd tried the iPod compatibility route and found it cumbersome in use. I can load up to 9 hours of music in ordinary resolution, or more than 4 hours in high resolution format on a single one sided cd. In our rather noisy cars, higher quality music is lost in my opinion. Cd's aer so cheap these days, if one is ruined, simply burning another is the way to go, again my opinion.

A plus on this unit, one that I didn't know about until I had it in hand, was the ability to have a custom text logo come up when you power it on.


There are several Blaupunkt units that play MP3's burned to cd, I'd recommend you consider one of them, or other brands that might blend in well with our cars.

The Blaupunkt Seattle, which is similar to the unit I installed, with fewer features, but more black trim.


Kenwood, which I believe has a Sirius receiver built in.

rgrimm

I've got an old Blaupunkt AM/FM/CD that I'll replace next summer. I've decided on an Alpine CDA-9856. Not a lot of bling, I-Pod and MP3 ready. From what I've read, of all the manufacturer's I-Pod interfaces, Alpine requires only an relatively inexpensive cable and seems to work as well or better than most, and I've always been impressed by their radio tuners.

Jay H

rgrimm: I've got that Alpine in my wife's car. You're gonna love the iPod control capability. It's a nice unit!

fastpat

Blaupunkt apparently hasn't been sleeping, they've two new models. Similar in appearance to mine, they've newer features.

The Bremen MP76.


And the Bronx MP75, which is both bluetooth and iPod capable. The display color can be adjusted to suit the owner, it's not really rainbow colored.


Both are more elegant than my MP74, in my opinion, since Blaupunkt has seen fit to return to mostly black fascia.

jsabatini

Thanks to everyone for the input, think we are going with the Alpine based on the iPod connectivity.

Dan Cobb

I was wondering if anyone has installed a head unit that has a 'flip-up' screen. and if so, how does it fit?
I was thinking this new approach would be necessary on my next stereo, but it appears that all of the screens flip towards the top and they would interfere with the dash.
Does anyone make a unit with a screen that drops down?
+++

loot87

I have an older Alpine that rotates down to give access to the CD. It's a CDA-7892. I think the newer Alpines also do this. It rotates by pulling the bottom out and bringing the top down. You still see the face but it's facing the roof.