greenr

The speakers in my car are just about shot. The audio quality is just about horrible. Add to this that the CD player in my CD-1 has gone on a hunger strike (won't load CD's) and bonus season approaching, I figure it is time to get some audio work done. Anyone have any suggestions?

I don't know that I am interested in subwoofers (the rear passenger footwell setups are pretty slick) right now but would like to have the ability to go that route in the future if I so desire. I also would like to avoid as much drilling/alteration to the interior as possible. iPod connectivity would be great.

ADRNLN

Although the sound of the music coming from the tailpipes is pretty sweet, I wanted to up the ante beyond what was in the stock dashboard. I haven't done my '92 yet, but on my '87, I put in a bunch of work - including the rear floor-mounted custom subwoofer install you mentioned. It was made from hand-laid fiberglass and covered in matching black carpet. Turned out amazing, and very unobtrusive. And honestly, even the best door and rear shelf speakers wouldn't have put out the kind of bass I was looking for.

The subs (dual 8") are JL Audio, and so is the 4-way amp (stuffed under passenger seat) that also powers MB Quart front 6" speakers (GREAT sound.) The rears are just 4x6 2-way plates, which are only really good as filler. I also Dynamatted the doors and behind the rear seat and deck area. Just tightens up the whole sound (lowers some of the road noise, too.)

Head unit is a Pioneer that also has an iPod connection - although I rarely use it. No time to fumble with that when I'm having fun DRIVING!

--Steve

wsybert

Do a search. You will find a lot of info on this subject.

FWIW... I replaced my head unit and put in larger rear speakers for more bass. I regret spending any money on the stereo, b/c I wish I would have spend it on other modifications...
Just after I put in the new stereo, I did a custom exhaust. Now all I want to listen too it the engine and exhaust notes! I hardly ever listen to the stereo unless I am on a long trip (which is not very often).

dcbailey

I put in 5.25" JL Audio ZR speakers, 2 way JL Audio amp, and an Alpine head unit in my convertible. Made a huge difference in the sound. Don't even think about 4" speakers, replaced those last, and the sound even with the other improvements was very poor. May do some subwoofers someday, thinking about building some custom fiberglass inserts in the back.

Tom W

I put an Alpine iDA-X001 and some new speakers into my 993 recently and am very happy with it. I don't even listen to FM anymore and just use the iPod (or bluetooth phone).

ADRNLN

Here's a shot of the custom sub enclosure in my '87; it'd be similar to ones for any 911. This one happened to be hand-laid fiberglass by a custom shop. It's small, tight, and sounds amazing. I *highly* recommend this setup, as long as you don't mind losing the precious 5" or so of rear floor space for all that luggage we normally can fit back there!

MisterRisky

ADRNLN, what size are your subs?

greenr

A rennlister has some speakers and an amp he is trying to sell (Focal components and MTX Amp), that I think I am going to buy. Now if I bring the speakers and amp to a shop will they install for me? Should I buy the head unit on ebay or at the shop?

Does anyone recomend a shop in the LA area?

ADRNLN

Subs are JL Audio 8"; they are driven by a 4-way JL Audio amp: 2 channels in mono to drive the subs, and the other two in stereo for the 6" MB Quart door speakers. The rear plates (nice sound, but just as filler) are driven off the head unit power only. In these small cars, the system cranks, and bass response from the fairly small, sealed enclosure is amazing.

There is a guy out there making these things as aftermarket units (I'd seen the ads in Excellence) - and they look pretty good - but for a few extra bucks, I went the custom route.

--Steve

ADRNLN

As for installers, most guys want you to buy the stuff from them, and understandably so; it's like buying your own oil and filter, and wanting to pay the local QuickLube to just do the labor.

On the other hand, when I bought my system, since they were doing the whole job, they cut me a good deal on the package - and they tuned the whole thing pretty nicely.

When I did my 944 many years ago, it was funny; they all couldn't wait to get their hands on the car to do the work! I got the head installer on the job, and he cut his fees down - just at the chance to have fun.

andrew911

It's a little tougher in noiser smaller sports cars to get the great sound without a lot of drilling/modifications- I went with stock speaker sizes in front (MB Quarts in front and left the MB quart logo off to keep them stock looking) and small boston acoustics in the rear (I have a cab, so these are really small). Went with an alpine CD head (not sure what they look like now, but this one didn't look cheezy like so many other radios, and as a bonus lights up green with some orange buttons that matches the other green/orange of that area of the dash at night)

I had an amp attached to a small piece of plywood, and had that strapped to the gas tank- no drilling, and the trunk carpet fits over it (the amp doesn't get that hot). The sound is better than stock (not the best bass, but I can at least hear the music on the highway with the top down, although not really loud), and the best thing is I kept it as stock as possible. Another hint if you are going to go through the effort to keep it stock looking is to keep the original radio- someday you or the next owner may want to get the radio fixed and return the car to full stock (think of the 1960-70's 911s that have the original radio- very cool)

As you can tell, my vote is to keep it simple and stock- you'll save money and heck, half the time I drive I have the radio off to listen to the 3.6 (with recently installed g-pipe) I don't commute in the car everyday, but even if I did I'd still keep the same simple setup I have now.

MisterRisky

I have been meaning to write up a post about some of the improvements I made to my stereo. I had not gotten around to it, but no time like the present.

Head unit selection is a lot about taste and features. If you want an external amp, make sure you get a head unit with low level RCA out. If you want to use it with your iPod be sure and price how much the iPod add on costs.

The part I found tricky was the speaker install. As with most things worth doing, I did mine twice. I messed around a lot with car audio in the late 80's and early 90's when I had a stereo worth more than the car that was wrapped around it. One of the things I was reminded of is how much of an audible difference a good speaker install can make. The first time I did the speaker doors I used a lot of the stock mounting hardware and I made no improvements to the doors. I wanted to go ahead and "get er done." The result was that the sound was muddy and not the least bit crisp. The bass was less than the cheaper speakers I have in the doors of my Explorer... I knew something was wrong. Time to take the time and do it right.

I knew the doors could use some improvements to make them better for mounting speakers. I first removed the door panels and stripped off the plastic barrier.



On the inside of the outer body panels of the doors I placed an approx 14" X 6" section of thin dampening material from Parts Express http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=268-015

Just under the opening of the speaker I put in a layer of "egg crate" foam on top of the thin dampening material. Since the foam is on top of the dampening material even if a little water gets inside the door it won't be trapped in the foam against metal, it will be trapped against plastic. You can see the foam in the speaker cut out and the black dampening material where the wires are coming out in the pic below:



In addition I wanted a layer of sound dampening over the whole door I shopped around and found the best deal on Dynamat was at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-10455-...6351099&sr=8-1 That's the foil looking stuff above. It has an adhesive layer, asphalt based layer core, and then a foil layer. My car is a daily driver and not a track car, so I was not phased by the weight.

Before I put the door panels on I added a foam seal around the speaker opening:



Keep in mind that all if this can be boiled down to three principles:

1) Eliminate vibrations and noise around the speakers
2) Ensure a secure and solid mount of the speakers to the structure of the car
3) Eliminate air pressure from the front of the speaker from reaching the back of the speaker.

In order to ensure a secure and tight mount to the door structure I cut a ring of 1/2" MDF which I mounted with heavy screws directly through the door panel and into the frame of the door. Naturally, I drilled pilot holes through the door frame and counter sunk the screws so that the speaker would mount flush:


The grills that came with my Polk speakers are terribly ugly. I bought after market grills from Parts Express: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=260-422

As you can see I cut the MDF rings to be flush with the grills and painted the rings with Napa black bumper paint which makes a great finish:



The leather wrinkle at 2:00 easily worked out by just rubbing the leather around. I am very satisfied with the resulting stock look and the sound is MUCH better.

In the rear deck I went a slightly different route. I cut some of the sound deadening out to make more room:



I then made cloth "pouches" in my rear deck by stapling some fleece material under the the speaker opening. (sorry I didn't take pics). I used cheap fleece that I bought off the remnant pile at Wal-Mart. I bunched the material up so that it hung down and made a fleece pocket under the speaker opening. I then put it back in the car and pushed it around with my hand so that it was flat against the firewall and evenly pooching out. I then mixed up about a cup of fiberglass resin and dabbed it all around in the pouch. After it dried I had nice custom speaker enclosures in my rear deck! Actually they needed a little strengthening so I added some glass reinforced body filler. Here's the bottom view:



and a close up:



The advantages of the fiberglass in the rear deck is because the rear deck is pretty flimsy and not near air tight. As a result mounting speakers there does a pretty poor job of all three of the aforementioned speaker mounting objectives.

To power my speakers I hooked up an Alpine 4 channel amp fed by a Pioneer head unit with iPod input. My next upgrade is to add the rear floor subs. I am going to try my hand at making the fiberglass ones myself. The biggest challenge is finding the time.

Good luck.

mverdura

This is my first post so excuse me for being a little green. I recently sold my my 95 993 Coupe and purchased a 97 C4S and have been kicking myself for not removing the Nakamichi stereo. After weeks of searching I finally found an Audio company with Nakamichi head units in stock. They have the CD-400 available for $489.99. It's exactly $40.00 more than I paid when I had one installed in my 95 Coupe locally three years ago. Their website is woofersetc.com. The lighting on this unit can be changed to amber which looks somewhat factory. Hopefully this will help some others who want a stereo with a factory look, that sounds great.

MisterRisky

Mverdura is right around the Nach head units, they sound great. But any head unit is only as good as the speakers it is hooked to.

Megatron-UK

I have some info on replacing the front speakers with 6.5" Infinity components on my site: http://www.target-earth.net/cars/por..._speakers.html