Factory "match" stereo decks?
 

I'm not a big fan of the OEM stereo deck in my car, so I'll be wanting to change that in the near future. However, not a lot of stereo manufacturers make decks with orange lighting now.

Are there any popular brands/models of stereos that are popular with the Porsche crowd to keep a semi-OEM look?

Nakamichi

Do a Google search. I remember seeing a popular brand (Don't remember which) where you could program the color scheme.

There may be others, but I went with Blaupunkt. You can plug them directly into the existing harness and you can program the color.

-shawn

My Pioneer Avic D3 also allows you to program the color to match... and my 9115BT model in my touareg also supports this. FYI

I recently installed a new Pioneer AVIC-930bt and when looking at new decks just about every one I looked at allowed you to program a specific color. A major requirement to match the red interior trim on my MY03.

Blaupunkt Brisbane SD48
No longer being made, but should still be easy to find via the internet. I think I paid $90 for it.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSCN1199-1.jpg

Plugs right in to the factory connections. Audio output is excellent from the radio. Audio output from my iPod Classic seems to be at too low of a level and I have not been able to bring it up. I have not been able to get audio output from my iPhone 4 to work at all.

the nicer Kenwood excelon decks have selectable lighting...unfortunately I dont have one of the nicer excelon decks and its neon blue and highly annoying, but does play Pandora through my iPhone 4 really well

I've got a Kenwood Exelon head unit in my 996 and the lighting is adjustable. Mine matches perfectly.

My car had a Alpine in it. It was a great deck and the wiring harness has the needed parts. These days it is looking great on my office shelf... PM me if interesed.

LOL, I had visions of a record player, until I went onto their website. Wow!

message sent

we want pics Dennis c!!!

I think their product line holds that classic contemporary look which is perfect for 993 to 996s. I loved my cassette tape deck from them.

I'll take some new ones and post them. Do you want to see the headunit itself, or the lighting?

Funny, I'm looking to get the Alpine cde 133bt which I don't think has the multicolor selectable display but the 126bt does.

Both if possible, thank you!

I snapped a couple of quick photos in the garage. My garage has windows, so it wasn't totally dark in there, but you get the idea on the color matching.

Here's what I had done for my system upgrade:

- Installed a Kenwood Excelon DNX-6960 headunit
- Removed the factory Bose system and replaced all speakers with Focal Polyglass speakers
- 3-way speakers were installed in the dash, 2-way speakers in the rear, custom mounts were built for the doors for 6-1/2 inch woofers and a custom speaker box was built to replace the Bose sub-woofer box. A single 10-inch subwoofer was installed in the custom box and it was recarpeted to match the interior.
- A Focal 4-channel amp was installed in the frunk in place of the CD-changer
- Custom iPod/iPhone dock was built into the dash that conceals the iPhone when it is connected

I like the DNX-6960 for a few reasons. First of all, it has a fast response time compared to many other units when you push a button. Secondly, it doesn't have a motorized face. That's one less thing to break as far as I'm concerned. Finally, it has a volume knob instead of buttons to control the volume. I find this much easier when driving. The unit offers Garmin sat nav with live traffic updates and re-routing, bluetooth, voice dialing, Sirius/XM and obviously iPod connectivity and control. I'm very happy with the unit and the installation.

A couple of other installation notes:

- I had the antennae for the Sirius/XM and for the navigation system installed on the front bumper, underneath the bumper cover. They are totally concealed, and they work very well.
- I had the mic installed in the factory location, behind the little grill in the instrument cluster. It's totally concealed. It works reasonably well. The 996 is pretty loud inside, especially on the highway, so callers tend to hear lots of road, wind and engine noise.

that deck looks awesome!

I wonder if there is a way to mount a better am/fm antenna under the the front bumper cover to improve reception on a stock radio?

I used the OEM antenna for AM and FM. The FM reception is about the same as it was. The AM reception is actually worse. My installer told me that the new decks just don't have strong AM receivers. The AM format is slowly going away. I occasionally like to listen to talk radio, so I wasn't too happy with that. Fortunately, Sirius has Fox News as well as the NFL network, ESPN, etc.

This is a good place for the XM antenna. I use the mounting location as well. Better than anywhere else I tried.

That seems to confirm that the AM reception problem is with the antenna and not the radio. I'm still looking for a solution other than sticking an antenna on the fender. I'm within 20 miles of a 50,000 watt AM sports station, but can barely hear it through the static. I've never had that problem with any other car.

I recently replaced my Becker head unit in my 1999 MY 996 C2 with a Kenwood KDC-BT61U - single din with variable colour illumination. About £150 in the UK.
Works pretty well - has Bluetooth and CD too. Importantly for me it's USB socket is on the rear - I've fed that to a Brodit iPhone mount - I didn't want a USB cable hanging down the front of the unit.
You can change the colour of the buttons and the LCD screen independently - you can get the amber to match pretty well (it has presets and separate RGB fine-tuning). The only thing I don't like is that the factory LCD's are effectively amber text on a black background, whereas the Kenwood is amber on darker amber (unless there's a way to change that and I haven't found it....)
I can take a pic if anyone's interested.

Does it support bluetooth audio streaming?

Yes it does. I don't use that personally because my iPhone is plugged into the Brodit mount (which is excellent, incidentally) permanently. I use TomTom on the iPhone and it works well too - the audio from the iPhone dips to allow the TomTom voice through - all output through the iPhone's USB lead and into the Kenwood.

I put in a single DIN alpine unit and routed the ipod connector to the glove box. The Sirius antenna I duck-taped under the plastic cover below the wiper blades.

I have the Kenwood Excelon 995 deck, and it is very good. Parrot Bluetooth, Pandora iPhone connectivity, HD radio, iPod/iPhone connectivity, voice control, SMS text capabilities, etc. It does have an adjustable color display, as well. It is single din, and the installers were able to keep my stock DSP. Not sure how much use the DSP is any longer but the interior looks nicer with it still there. Sound quality is pretty good, but now saving pennies for a speaker upgrade.

So it is just a case of moving the climate control panel to below to make the double din space?

Correct. It's very easy to move. The wiring is already long enough, the mounting holes are already there, etc. The lower location is where the controls are located when a 996 has the OEM navigation option.