Simple audio upgrade

[eclou]

I have been slowly tinkering with my stock HIFI stereo in the 993tt. The foams of the stock mids were decayed, and the woofers blown so I started by replacing the mids with new factory units (could not find a 3 1/2" speaker that fit well in the pods), and used an Infinity Reference 5 1/4" components to replace the tweeters and woofers. A slight bit of "clearancing" was required to fit the woofers in the pods, and the new tweeters I just jammed into the stock tweeter housings. The result was an insanely "bright" sound with more low end than before, but the sound only improved from a "shot clock radio" to a "new clock radio."

I pondered replacing the factory amp with an Alpine PDX-100 and adding a Kenwood KSC sub under the seats but decided I wanted to first add bluetooth. I ended up ordering a new Becker Grand Prix (7990) from a German ebay vendor - cost with shipping was about $500 USD which I thought was reasonable since I would be getting

1)built-in bluetooth for the phone
2)CD headunit
3)Ipod connectivity (requires cable)
4)factory appearance

After 1 month of shipping delay I got the unit and installed it today in about 1 hour. The plugs at the back are completely identical to the stock CR-210. I simply unplugged the stock wiring, removed the stock headunit "cage" and plugged in the new unit. I found that the stock CDC worked perfectly, but I had no audio whatsoever.

Issue is in the C1 connector the #6 wire is supposed to be an amp trigger in the stock system, but in the new system it is a subwoofer output. I tapped into the A connector #7 wire (switched power) and ran it to the C1 connector and soldered it to the #6 wire. Voila! Sound!

My impressions are that the sound is improved 100%. The bass and mids are much more full and the tweeters are no longer overly bright. This is without any adjustment from "0" of bass and treble, and with loudness "on". No longer would I call it a "clock radio" but rather a "bookshelf system." It is not audiophile quality but it is nowhere near as tinny and "thin" as before, to the point I am not going to replace the amp or add a sub.