CDR-220 / Amp / Infinity install details
05-07-2009, 12:42 PM
#1
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
CDR-220 / Amp / Infinity install details
Hi all,
I've had a few folks ask for some of the details and when I was looking at equipment, there were a few questions that I didn't see answered on here. So here is the info on my recent stereo upgrade. I'm extremely pleased with the results - any better fidelity is wasted in a noisy cabriolet in my opinion.
Car:
1991 C4 Cab
Parts:
- CDR-220 Porsche/Becker head unit
- Infinity Kappa 60.9cs components (6.5" woofer, tweeter, and crossover)
- Old Audio Art 70.2xe 2 channel amp (70Wx2 rms @ 2ohm)
- eDead sound deadening in the doors (same/better then Dynamat)
- High density foam behind the 6.5" woofers in the doors
AMP
I first tried installing a 4-channel Alpine MRP-F240 amp (50wx4 rms @ 2ohm). It's physical size is 10-1/2"W x 2-7/16"H x 9-9/16"D. I had to move around two boxes under the passenger seat of my '91 C4 Cab (alarm and ?). I also remounted the passenger seat on thick 1/8" washers to give a touch of clearance. I used the stock +12V amp power and ground to the grounding stud near the front right seat mounting area. With the carpet in place, it would be tough to notice the amp at all. However, it wasn't a very eloquent fit by any means.
It turned out that the used amp that I bought had a short on the remote lead and it wouldn't turn itself completely off. So I changed strategy.
Enter the old-school hi-fi Audio Art 70.2xe amp (70wx2 rms @ 2ohm). I was lucky to come across this gem. Physical size is perfect to fit under the seat: 5.5" x 2.5" x 7.25". I've found the sound to be less bright at the top end, but similar otherwise. I notice that I don't fiddle with the treble and bass controls as much with this amp too. The power output is not enormous, but my component speakers are only rated at 90W rms max, so it isn't a bad match and I'm never left wanting for power.
Physical installation was easy and just required drilling four small ~1/8" holes into the under-seat tin and securing the amp with small self-tapping screws. As mentioned, +12V came from the factory amp wiring. I made a new ground wire by crimping a ring terminal on a heavy-gauge wire and secured to the grounding stud. The speaker input comes in via a coax/rca line. Speaker output was made very easy using Crutchfield's wiring harness:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1207016...s.html?tp=2977
Plug the stock speaker terminals into the harness, and slip the bare wire end of the harness into the amp terminals. No cutting and nothing could be easier.
I decided to just go with a 2-channel front speaker only system. When the rear speakers were in the loop with the 4-channel amp, I was really disappointed in the overall sound. The rear cabriolet speakers are 4" 2-ways (some aftermarket Pioneers) and they were being run through a high-pass filter. I intended to have them as some rear fill, but ultimately they detracted much more from the sound than added to it. By a significant amount. Going with only two channels was big step for me - I have a big authentic quadraphonic audio system at home that I exercise regularly!
*Tip - raise the seat all the way "up" with the front/rear power adjustment. This gives you more space to get to the allen head mounting bolts. These bolts are also fairly soft, so keep that in mind. They're easy to strip.
FRONT DOOR SPEAKERS
The speakers required some work. The tweeters are large and you'll need to open up the stock plastic mounting plate diameter very slightly (dremel or sandpaper/file) to fit them in. Turn the mounting plate around and you can reuse them along with the stock tweeter grill. You can attach the tweeters securely by pushing them into the mounting plate from behind and wrap a zip-tie wrapped around the back of them (no kidding) through the mounting plate. I'll try and get a photo of this up. The tweeters are bright, but the crossovers have a -6dB button to attenuate the tweeters down.
The woofers fit inside the doors without any problems. I mounted the metal retaining plates that come with the speakers on the inside of the door panel using the three studs that originally mounted the plastic baskets for the stock speakers. Then use longer (~ 3/4") machine screws to bolt the speaker through the door panel into the retaining plate. This only requires four tiny holes in the door cards which are well within even the stock speaker cover. The result is a pretty solid mount.
The crossovers fit inside the pocket where the factory crossovers sit. I stuffed the pocket with some foam to make it a snug fit then just bolt the armrest back on. You would never know.
I used all the stock speaker wiring with the exception of adding the wiring from the crossovers to the tweeters. The speaker wiring uses:
brown stripe = ground
solid color = positive
FR: black / brown-black FL: white / brown-white
RR: red / brown-red RL: yellow / brown-yellow
REAR SPEAKERS
In the cabriolet these are 4" speakers. The previous owner installed a set of 2-way Pioneer's (TS-G1040R, 20W rms). I originally wired these into the installation and powered them with the amp. I wasn't happy with having them in the mix and I decided to not use the rear at all.
CDR-220 HEAD UNIT
Really a nice piece of hardware. The interface is exceptional and it really looks like it belongs in the dash (it says "Porsche" on the unit and also on the display line when it powers up after all). However, if I were to do it again, then I would have gone with the Euro market Becker Grand Prix. If only for ipod contols - which you can control from the stereo itself.
The install is pretty straight-forward with the wiring kit from SW Stereo. One harness has ground / switched 12v / constant 12v / antenna remote. One harness has four rca/coax connections for your external amp plus a wire for the amp remote turn-on (you have to request this). I also added the ipod harness which is two rca/coax and requires a 3.5mm male to two rca/coax y-adapter for the ipod (also requested). Note that it won't charge your ipod while connected. Also, don't forget to have the display changed for the 964 viewing angle (something SW will take care of).
Fitting the unit all the way into the dash is tricky; you have to make sure there are no hidden wires behind it before it will settle all the way in and sit flush like the climate control. Actually, I haven't managed to get the right hand side to click in all the way...
For the best sound, I have the "loudness" turned off, the bass between 4 and 6, and the treble between 0 and -1. As I said, these are very bright speakers.
My only gripe is that the radio reception is pretty poor. That could be from the windshield antenna / antenna amp combo though.
SOUNDPROOFING
One of those "while I'm in there" things. I added eDead v2 butyl based sound deadener to the inside metal of the doors. I stuck it anywhere I could reach and you can tell an obvious difference when tapping on the door between a "ting" without it and a "thump" with it in place. I also added a large square of high-density foam behind the woofer speaker. All of these things will help with the lower frequencies and they don't take very much effort.
RESULT
The bass is enough to vibrate my body if I turn the volume up. The sound is clear and balanced. I listen to everything from Miles to the Ramones to Stevie Wonder and any and all in between. For audio in a 911, I would think that it would satisfy 90% of anybody out there - and you don't have to give up space for a sub. I'm very pleased and I don't plan on changing it a bit.
I've had a few folks ask for some of the details and when I was looking at equipment, there were a few questions that I didn't see answered on here. So here is the info on my recent stereo upgrade. I'm extremely pleased with the results - any better fidelity is wasted in a noisy cabriolet in my opinion.
Car:
1991 C4 Cab
Parts:
- CDR-220 Porsche/Becker head unit
- Infinity Kappa 60.9cs components (6.5" woofer, tweeter, and crossover)
- Old Audio Art 70.2xe 2 channel amp (70Wx2 rms @ 2ohm)
- eDead sound deadening in the doors (same/better then Dynamat)
- High density foam behind the 6.5" woofers in the doors
AMP
I first tried installing a 4-channel Alpine MRP-F240 amp (50wx4 rms @ 2ohm). It's physical size is 10-1/2"W x 2-7/16"H x 9-9/16"D. I had to move around two boxes under the passenger seat of my '91 C4 Cab (alarm and ?). I also remounted the passenger seat on thick 1/8" washers to give a touch of clearance. I used the stock +12V amp power and ground to the grounding stud near the front right seat mounting area. With the carpet in place, it would be tough to notice the amp at all. However, it wasn't a very eloquent fit by any means.
It turned out that the used amp that I bought had a short on the remote lead and it wouldn't turn itself completely off. So I changed strategy.
Enter the old-school hi-fi Audio Art 70.2xe amp (70wx2 rms @ 2ohm). I was lucky to come across this gem. Physical size is perfect to fit under the seat: 5.5" x 2.5" x 7.25". I've found the sound to be less bright at the top end, but similar otherwise. I notice that I don't fiddle with the treble and bass controls as much with this amp too. The power output is not enormous, but my component speakers are only rated at 90W rms max, so it isn't a bad match and I'm never left wanting for power.
Physical installation was easy and just required drilling four small ~1/8" holes into the under-seat tin and securing the amp with small self-tapping screws. As mentioned, +12V came from the factory amp wiring. I made a new ground wire by crimping a ring terminal on a heavy-gauge wire and secured to the grounding stud. The speaker input comes in via a coax/rca line. Speaker output was made very easy using Crutchfield's wiring harness:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1207016...s.html?tp=2977
Plug the stock speaker terminals into the harness, and slip the bare wire end of the harness into the amp terminals. No cutting and nothing could be easier.
I decided to just go with a 2-channel front speaker only system. When the rear speakers were in the loop with the 4-channel amp, I was really disappointed in the overall sound. The rear cabriolet speakers are 4" 2-ways (some aftermarket Pioneers) and they were being run through a high-pass filter. I intended to have them as some rear fill, but ultimately they detracted much more from the sound than added to it. By a significant amount. Going with only two channels was big step for me - I have a big authentic quadraphonic audio system at home that I exercise regularly!
*Tip - raise the seat all the way "up" with the front/rear power adjustment. This gives you more space to get to the allen head mounting bolts. These bolts are also fairly soft, so keep that in mind. They're easy to strip.
FRONT DOOR SPEAKERS
The speakers required some work. The tweeters are large and you'll need to open up the stock plastic mounting plate diameter very slightly (dremel or sandpaper/file) to fit them in. Turn the mounting plate around and you can reuse them along with the stock tweeter grill. You can attach the tweeters securely by pushing them into the mounting plate from behind and wrap a zip-tie wrapped around the back of them (no kidding) through the mounting plate. I'll try and get a photo of this up. The tweeters are bright, but the crossovers have a -6dB button to attenuate the tweeters down.
The woofers fit inside the doors without any problems. I mounted the metal retaining plates that come with the speakers on the inside of the door panel using the three studs that originally mounted the plastic baskets for the stock speakers. Then use longer (~ 3/4") machine screws to bolt the speaker through the door panel into the retaining plate. This only requires four tiny holes in the door cards which are well within even the stock speaker cover. The result is a pretty solid mount.
The crossovers fit inside the pocket where the factory crossovers sit. I stuffed the pocket with some foam to make it a snug fit then just bolt the armrest back on. You would never know.
I used all the stock speaker wiring with the exception of adding the wiring from the crossovers to the tweeters. The speaker wiring uses:
brown stripe = ground
solid color = positive
FR: black / brown-black FL: white / brown-white
RR: red / brown-red RL: yellow / brown-yellow
REAR SPEAKERS
In the cabriolet these are 4" speakers. The previous owner installed a set of 2-way Pioneer's (TS-G1040R, 20W rms). I originally wired these into the installation and powered them with the amp. I wasn't happy with having them in the mix and I decided to not use the rear at all.
CDR-220 HEAD UNIT
Really a nice piece of hardware. The interface is exceptional and it really looks like it belongs in the dash (it says "Porsche" on the unit and also on the display line when it powers up after all). However, if I were to do it again, then I would have gone with the Euro market Becker Grand Prix. If only for ipod contols - which you can control from the stereo itself.
The install is pretty straight-forward with the wiring kit from SW Stereo. One harness has ground / switched 12v / constant 12v / antenna remote. One harness has four rca/coax connections for your external amp plus a wire for the amp remote turn-on (you have to request this). I also added the ipod harness which is two rca/coax and requires a 3.5mm male to two rca/coax y-adapter for the ipod (also requested). Note that it won't charge your ipod while connected. Also, don't forget to have the display changed for the 964 viewing angle (something SW will take care of).
Fitting the unit all the way into the dash is tricky; you have to make sure there are no hidden wires behind it before it will settle all the way in and sit flush like the climate control. Actually, I haven't managed to get the right hand side to click in all the way...
For the best sound, I have the "loudness" turned off, the bass between 4 and 6, and the treble between 0 and -1. As I said, these are very bright speakers.
My only gripe is that the radio reception is pretty poor. That could be from the windshield antenna / antenna amp combo though.
SOUNDPROOFING
One of those "while I'm in there" things. I added eDead v2 butyl based sound deadener to the inside metal of the doors. I stuck it anywhere I could reach and you can tell an obvious difference when tapping on the door between a "ting" without it and a "thump" with it in place. I also added a large square of high-density foam behind the woofer speaker. All of these things will help with the lower frequencies and they don't take very much effort.
RESULT
The bass is enough to vibrate my body if I turn the volume up. The sound is clear and balanced. I listen to everything from Miles to the Ramones to Stevie Wonder and any and all in between. For audio in a 911, I would think that it would satisfy 90% of anybody out there - and you don't have to give up space for a sub. I'm very pleased and I don't plan on changing it a bit.
