E in Phila

A local stereo shop said I would expect to pay $180 for the head unit, $100 for a satellite add on, $50 in miscellaneous parts, and $175 in labor.

I'm pretty clueless about this subject, so I'm hoping someone can guide me as to whether there is a cheaper way to get this done.

Is the install easy enough for a novice to handle? If so, I imagine I can buy the equipment cheaper online. Or maybe I can just buy it online and then pay the store for the install only?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, including ideas for what head unit to look for. I have the Bose system. I'm not an audiophile, so I'm not looking for anything super fancy.

JBrown

I own a shop in NY and those prices are cheap. They are working on a PORSCHE. What did you exspect to pay. In the world of audio under $200 in a cheap radio. The shop is probably making about $50 on the head unit.. $20-25 on the satillite add on ( no money to be made on satillite eqiup) and the parts are the harness, antenna adapter and wire and connectors for the install. Then they have about 2 1/2 worth of install. $175.00 for instll is not bad..... They have rent , insurance, payroll so on and so on.

E in Phila

Thanks for the guidance.

I'm starting to wonder if adding satellite even makes sense. With iPod connectivity I could play Sirius through the app.

I assume that would work fine, although this is all sort of Greek to me.

JBrown

I dont know what you mean by ( I could play sirius through the app), As far as I now you cant get sirius thru an ipod. If you can that is great but it will not work great in a car. You need a special satilite antenna put on the car for satilite reception. The other thing is that the head unit will not display the sirius on the display unless it is the direct sirius add on piece. The nices and cleanest way to do it is to go direct add on. If you think about it, its about 150.00 installed for the satilite add on.
Worst case dont go with satilite and you can always add it on in the future.

E in Phila

You can definitely listen to Sirius on an iPhone. The Sirius Ap works great... just like any other version of internet radio basically.

With previous car (BMW 335) and an iPod connector I was able to play Pandora through the car radio. I'm thinking it might work the same way with Sirius. I know I won't be able to control the ap through the head unit, but I suspect it will play the audio. I would think the head unit doesn't know one iPhone audio feed from another (could be wrong).

JBrown

Yes it will thru the aux input but you still have to use the phone to controll the menu.

JBrown

Some of pioneers head units have pandora control built in. If you have an iphone with pandora you can plug it in the usb input and the pandora comes up on the radio and you control it thru the radio.

E in Phila

Thanks for the additional info.

At the moment, I'm leaning toward this, which provides connectivity and charges the iPhone. I'd be fine with controlling through the phone, and it would allow me to maintain the stock appearance.

Then maybe a stand alone bluetooth.

http://blitzsafe.com/catalog/univers...l?review=write



I'm still going to stop into a local audio place to see what alternatives they might suggest, but I'm leaning toward a simple plug-in approach.

Then maybe down the road I'll go for a more complex double DIN install.

eugkim

I just installed a double din Kenwood DNX6980 which gives ipod/Sirius/Bluetooth. I also added a rear camera. For now, I didn't activated the Sirius, instead using the aux input with my phone. We'll have to see if I decide to use it. In retrospect, I might have considered something like this to keep the stock look. However, I have to say that the sound with the Kenwood is far superior to the stock unit. I also like the GPS, although I could do without it.

E in Phila

Thanks for the input.

Better sound is one reason I would consider an upgrade. It's tough to get a good sense for the sound quality by listening to regular radio (haven't tried a CD), but it does seem like it could be better.

JBrown

eugkim, is right it sounds better also. Once you buy the ipod/ iphone adpater and the handsfree kit, you will spend the same money or more for those over changing the headunit and having everything built in.
The nice thing about that car is changing the headunit is straight forward with no modifications . When you sell it or want it back to stock you can just put the original head unit right back in.

E in Phila

I've noticed the screen of the CD-220 has a lot of pixels that don't work, so it's very hard to read. Which leans me back in the direction of a new HU.

My previous car had a "Logic 7" system that had a large number of adjustable parameters that were beyond my understanding. An audiophile on one of the BMW boards posted up suggested settings for the unit, and it really brought the sound alive.

Am I correct in assuming the CD-220 is much simpler and lacks the same amount of adjustability? I've only found bass, balance, fade and so forth. Would a fairly basic aftermarket unit be similarly simple, or would I need to make adjustments to get the best sound out of it? The reason I ask is I drove around in my old car for a long time before realizing I wasn't getting the best available sound out of the system.

Ron Stopfer

I just bought an 02 996tt and would also like the modern audio system to include nav, sirius, backup camera, bluetooth, iphone capability. Any suggestions for someplace in Ahhhhh, Kansas to get a quality job done?