The 87 5 speed came with original speakers and a very crappy Sony head unit. The sound was terrible, so it was time for an upgrade.

I haven't shopped for head units in years, and didn't realize manufactures are starting to offer head units without CD players. I haven't played a CD in many years in the car, so this sounded ok to me since getting rid of the CD player has some benefits. I've always like the sound of the Pioneer units, even the inexpensive ones so I ended up with the Pioneer MVH-X560BT

I'ts almost half as deep as a standard CD head unit, so there's more room in our already cramped center console interior. The display can also be larger since there is no CD slot.

I love the BlueTooth audio for it's convenience even though it is slightly lower quality than USB or AUX. When you get in and out of the car, the BT connects automatically and the music starts playing without doing anything. No more navigating through smart phone screens and plugging in wires to start the music. Both the AUX and USB are on the back and Pioneer includes the extension cables for both which surprised me. So it's a clean looking install, and the cables can lay nicely on the passenger foot tray.

Of course BT is also for calls and the unit comes with the microphone which I installed on the visor and hid the wire along the driver pillar and under the dash.

You can control the colors of the buttons and the display separately and create custom colors, or you can let it constantly cycle through the colors.

Best of all, this unit makes the stock speakers sound better than I have ever heard them before. I will be replacing the speakers eventually, but for now I have a huge improvement over the Sony.

I know there are lots of good head units out there, but this one really stands out to me as a good fit for the 928, all for $129! (I'm going to be buying more of these...)

 

That does have a really nice clean design that doesn't look out of place with the 928 interior. Lots of good features also. Just need to change the color to orange.

 

Nice find Don. The larger readout comes in handy as we get older...I replaced my speakers with some from Polk audio and Infinity. Also went with a new head unit from Pioneer but kept the CD since I have so many. Love the sound and speaker arrangement in our 87's.

 

I ordered the speakers from Hans and the sound quality was superb!

 

Keith,

I only hear good thinks about Hann's speakers, but I have a set of Diamond Audio 4" components sitting on the shelf ready to install. I have these in my 86.5 and love them, and was lucky enough to find another pair stashed away in a car stereo store's storage room. (They haven't been made for years)

My wife and I took the car to Austin over the weekend for a wedding, and on the way home, my daughter sent me a text and the stereo turned down the music and a pleasant female voiced announced that I had a text from Nicole.... she could read it to me or I could ignore it. I said "read it" and she read me the text, then said, "you can reply or quit", I said reply and spoke a reply text. She then read back my text to make sure she got it right, (she did) then said I could say send, try again, add more.... What a cool feature! I was texting at 80 mph! The voice was really coming from my phone (Window's Phone 8), not the stereo. I think iPhones will do the same thing. I'm going to enjoy this stereo.

 

I like the reduced depth. It could allow for close installation of one of these:
http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/ktp-445u

They add a nice boost. Not overwhelming by any means. But a solid improvement.

 

Just put a similar Pioneer in my 84 last month and I love it ! Stayed with the CD just because it was a gift from my wife. Gotta lose the factory speakers they sound like crap even with a amp powering the rears

 

Don, yes really cool feature, mine does the same thing, gave me quite a start the first time it happened. had the stereo way up and the voice cut through the speakers, my phone was bluetooth connected.
It amazing how good the voice recognition for civilians has gotten.

 

Just noticed that this head unit is on sale this weekend at Best Buy for $99. Headed back to the store to get some money back, and buy another one!

 

I bought and recently put it in. Has a lot of features and still has the CD player which I use on occasion. It's nice that you can change the color to anything you'd like, so I've tried to match the orange glow that the other bulbs in the car give off.

 

Too bad that the price is not the same here in Canada ...

 

I've been tempted by one of these too lately. The pioneer has the specs I want, but I don't like the silver bling.

There's a few CD-less (aka "mechless") head units appearing. JVC/Kenwood have some too, which can also play FLAC (lossless audio format).

I've got an all-black Kenwood model in one of my 928's (similar to this: http://www.kenwood.com/usa/car/receiver/kmm-bt308u/), but the front USB irritates me as I'm running a hard drive to hold lots of uncompressed audio, and it needs a cable to the glovebox.

I might yet try the Pioneer one, and see if I can pull the fascia apart to paint.. or possibly have a go at modding the kenwood to have a rear usb (like this guy).

 

Hilton,
Not sure if the chrome lever above and below the main **** is part of the bling or not, but its actually a very useful way to skip songs since you can reach down and find it easily while driving.

I bought two more of these today, one for the 86.5 and one for the boat. Nice having the same stereo controls in as many vehicles as possible and hard to beat the price.