classic looking audio units...

[lateapex911]

So, my car, a 73 911E, suffered an engine fire.
I've mostly restored the entire engine compartment and the engine, and it's winter, and I have much of the interior out (while Im there)..

So, stereo....
It used to have a pretty good stereo, Alpine head, eq, ADS and Nakamichi amps and ADS speakers...

So, in V4, I want to do something that looks appropriate. The 300i A/D/S plates are totally appropriate for a 70s upgrade, so they can stay on the rear deck, and I created an under deck back box in the engine compartment to get the best bass out of them.

Up front, I'll go with A/D/S 320is...got a few of those ready to go. And I'll ficure out how to hide them, doing new door cards and stuff.

Subs, need to figure that out, but options exist, I've got some stuff, I can fabricate enclosures etc.

Amps, I have a stack or period correct choices from A/D/S/, alpine and Nakamichi.

For crossovers and time aligning, I'll go with an Alpine unit, and hide it . The capability so far outperforms the old vintage 90s A/D/S 642ix, it's just the smart move, plus it has 4+ channels I can use for the tweeters and go active crossover.

But the head unit...what to do there?

This is a candidate...it can get XM with a module and has RCA outs for 4...

https://www.retromanufacturing.com/collections/retrosound-europa-radio/porsche+911

Anybody use one?
Other options?
Porsche Classic is more 80s looking and four figures lol..meh.

I like the modern features, but the non flashy look. Blaupunkt stuff was a thought, but it looks mid 80s...

Not sure what Singer is using...I know it's a screen with phone and some nav functionality these days, early were a Sirius unit and a Blaupunkt? (And a Pelican did the Sirius in 2015)

[PeteKz]

Lately I've been using my Apple AirPods with noise canceling. I'm getting pretty used to them, and then don't care about an audio system.

[RDM]

The head unit is made to look like a 60s/70s Becker, which is a beautiful radio but I don't think I've ever seen one in a 911.

[fanaudical]

I have an older Retrosound Zuma in my '75 Targa. I used the Becker-style knobs and went through a couple of baseplate iterations. Here's the latest (and there are more examples in the rest of the thread):

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/700719-anybody-have-retrosound-head-unit-their-911-a-2.html#post11006187

I have some Boston Acoustics speakers in the doors and in the rear seat delete that I made. I'm not running an amp. That head unit looks good but it doesn't sound great (maybe it does need an amp). I have often thought that if I had to do it over, I think I would chase one of those Continental units - but it might not look right either.

I'm willing to share my baseplate design if you elect to use one of the Retrosound Motor 4HD build-a-DIN unit...

[911TerryT]

you may have to zoom in to see. Just put this in and like it. Bluetooth connection for phone....did have to run a wire and small microphone for hands free phone calls.

[Koizumi]

Like previously mentioned, I did the Retrosound and, sadly, it’s a cheapo internal design. It sounds like crap.

I have the Continental now and it sounds quite good. The annoying part is it needs a line level converter if you want to add amps. I did go thru the trouble: nice JL Audio 4ch amp to x4 Focals and a sub out to an amped under-seat Sub. The Conti phone mic works great, I stuck it on the sunvisor. Crisp clear calls.

Sounds as good as it could be in my loud car. Can’t see the point of throwing more at the system for such a noisy angry little car!

[lateapex911]

OK, which Retrosound? What made it sound crappy?? I won't be using anything but the RCA outs.
Was it the internal amps? Tuning? The only Continental I see is a DIN unit with orange back-lighting, looks definitely late 80s-90s, sadly,

[Balisong]

There haven’t been high end head units since Nak and McIntosh made them.
Porsche Classic Gen 2 is full of bugs for media playback and sonically a weak point.
In my 964 Targas nothing looks as good as the factory Blau Stuttgart. I have mine wired to the rear deck speakers for any FM playback or fun with cassettes. Usually though it’s just powered off.
The real system in the cars is a Mosconi Pico DSP high res Bluetooth enabled amp under the passenger seat.
Focal 6.5” components in the doors.
Focal iSub Twin subs in the rear floors.
The sound is phenomenal. One car has Focal Slatefibers and the other car has Focal Kevlar. I will get rid of the Slatefibers and get another set of the Kevlar eventually.
Very happy with it.

[Hi_Fi_Guy]

Running Retro Sound since 2017. Stock-ish looks, modern features. No complaints.

[blucille]

I’ve found all the modern blaupunkts just feel flimsy. The controls don’t justify the costs.

But this is pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1IzNgA7KAU

[jac1976]

A few things to look over…

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1078775-coolest-new-device-i-have-seen-while-classic-blaupunkt-bluetooth-converter.html

However, this looks like the ticket…

https://blaupunkt.com/product/frankfurt-stereo-mb/

[jac1976]

More correctly, this one…

https://blaupunkt.com/product/frankfurt-stereo/

[lateapex911]

That looks pretty interesting. It lacks Sirius radio, but that’s not an insurmountable problem. Sure is difficult to get real specs on any of these things. Obviously nobody’s useless since it’s not available yet! But it looks pretty good.

[blucille]

best to run Sirius as an app on your phone.

[lateapex911]

Originally Posted by blucille

best to run Sirius as an app on your phone.

An option, data dependent. I’ll have to look at the app. One bonus is it’s no extra receiver charge

[BOPE]

I bought my 1980 SC that had a goofy "modern" radio that the previous owner had installed. In my mind the radio looked way out of place in an '80 911 SC.

So I turned to eBay for a period Blaupunkt; see pic. There are certainly better sounding radios available, but in my case I thought it more important to have the correct-look rather than to have superior sound qualitly.

Jason

[Gus Berges]

This is a recent release from Pioneer (Pioneer SXT-C10PS)

https://youtu.be/0oqHpTZ8RMw?si=wUOrHNeUtjW-uRz-

[Koizumi]

Originally Posted by jac1976

More correctly, this one…

https://blaupunkt.com/product/frankfurt-stereo/

Wonder how much these units will be priced at.

[jac1976]

Originally Posted by Koizumi

Wonder how much these units will be priced at.

Considering the cars for which they’re intended, there will be a premium well above what the price would be otherwise

[PeteKz]

Good to see that more audio manufacturers are getting away from the swoopy flashing displays and goofy controls of the past decade or two. I'm willing to pay more just to get rid of that crap.