texas911

ICE=In Car Entertainment.

Finally got rid of that awful CR-1 head unit that came on my car. I ordered a CDR-210 from Becker for $250. Also ordered OEM front speakers from suncoastporsche.com for $30 each.

So I try and pull out the CR-1 and that trim piece is a b*tch to get off. I see someone tried to pull it out before as there are screw indentations around the radio hole. I pull it straight out without any tools and find a sticker on it that says it was serviced in 04. So that's where the indents came from. The connections are covered with that spray on goo that has been posted.

I disconnect and find the connections are a direct fit to the CDR-210. Great! So I push it in the hole and it won't go all the way in. So I search the archives and see that I should take the frame out. I do and the 210 slides right in. I left the security connection loose as posted somewhere in the archives as well.

Fire up the 210 and guess what, it has RDS! How sweet is that?

I then change out the speakers, very easy to do as you only have to take the door pockets out (non HiFi). About 6 screws. The grills are a snap connection and is super difficult to get off, I ended up breaking one of them (need to call suncoastporsche). Plug and play and put everything back. Also someone must have tried to fix the speakers because there were some screws missing from on panel.

Now I've been riding around with torn speakers for 3 months now using just the rear. And the new speakers sound amazing after that! Pop in a Rush CD and I'm off.

Now that bad news, at speed when its loud, I turn up the radio and the sound totally sucks. Dang, no wonder everyone upgrades those paper speakers. Oh well, I knew going into it that it wasn't going to sound that good, but they are cheapo. At least I didn't cut the car up and its 100% OEM and stock.

Still I'd recommend getting the OEM stuff if you want hassle free installation and are on a strict budget.

All you'll need is a phillips screwdriver for the install.

jdoc7

Cool, good job. Don't feel bad about your sound quality. I have some substantially better than stock equipment and the sound is nothing to write home about. Better than stock, yes. Audiophile quality, not a chance in hell. I was bored one day and decided to upgrade the sound but if I could do it over again, I would have spent the money elsewhere.

fbfisher

What's RDS?

Jeff96-993

Good question... my car has a CDR210, installed from the factory. I know how to turn it on, off, but after that I'm stumped.

I geuss I could read the manual, but I'm not much of an in-car audiophile. I'd rather listen to the engine.

Sort of a funny story... sold my 1986 Carrera 7 years ago to a friend... first question he asks me is how to work the stereo. All I could show him was how to turn it off/on.

He spends three weeks trying to figure it out, gets it working, etc, and then notices the sound sucks!!! Takes the speaker grills off and sees that the paper cones have disintegrated. He asked if I ever noticed the poor sound quality... answer was no, I'd hardly ever turned the darned thing ON in 8 years of ownership. He just shook his head like I was crazy...

Crimson Nape Racing

RDS - radio display system (maybe?) it scolls the name of the artist and song title as the song is played. Pretty cool. All the new cars have it.

Blue S2

You guys can hear your stereos??? You guys want to hear your stereos??? Ide have to turn mine up too far to actually hear my stereo, and at that point its too much volume and is just a distraction.

I'll enjoy the machinery! I find nice sound equipment is better left for the daily car, or the living room. Our cars make the best soundtrack anyways!

Felix

RDS = Radio Data System. For some more info see here.

Marc in AK

Texas911....cool. Nothing wrong with having the stereo work well...like after a long/loud drive and just chillin'/parked with the lady enjoying the sights...listening to some AC/DC...or something....Marc

tsjoel

Last year I replaced my becker cassette with a nakamichi cd player. I thought I would get better sound quality but basically I ended up with cd player that had terrible FM signal quality. Well I figured I would do the speakers next and maybe and amp. Well in January I picked up an 01 540i with the premium sound system with DSP (digital sound processing?). That beemer system is unbelievable!! I took the p-car out last week after a long winter nap and realized that I would have to pour another $1000 into the 993 to get a good sound system. I think I am going to shut that radio system off and just listen to the engine from now on. Maybe I should replace the maxflos with supercups.

the_buch

Does anyone happen to know what the difference is between the CDR-210 and a CDR-220 (out of a '99 Boxster) for application in a '96 C4S which has the vanilla radio/cassette?? ... plug and play, improvement, etc.

Thanks, Doug

nman413

From what I hear, the CDR220 has AUX output so you can plug something like an iPod in...