Aftermarket CD Player & Navigation Options??

Macatron · 10-15-2008, 02:02 PM

Well, after ogling over the incredible interior pictures of the Coupe for the last few months I started thinking about a few things. Mainly I'm curious, and maybe even a little bit concerned, as to what our options are going to be for aftermarket CD players and/or Navigation setups. Judging from the looks of the center console, the only way that you're going to be able to change anything out will be to completely replace the center console with some kind of aftermarket equivalent. Then, you would be able to simply mount your aftermarket unit of choice into the newly created space.

I'm mainly concerned because I have never really liked any factory stereo for very long because they never seem to have all of the options that I would like to have. Also, from what I've read, the Coupe will only come with the option of XM satellite radio. This presents a problem for me because I have been a happy subscriber of Sirius satellite radio for over 2 years and I really don't want to switch over to XM. Now, I am aware of the Sirius/XM merger, but so far they haven't started offering a personal selection of favorites from each provider. All I've seen so far is a "Best of Sirius/XM" (depending of which service you currently have) that really only gives you about 4 or 5 channels (not of your choosing) from the other provider. So now we are back to my first issue...the factory stereo, and how to change it out. :3_frusty:

So, with that said, what's everyone else's thoughts regarding this?

roddy · 10-15-2008, 02:25 PM

ya that was one of my first worries too. i wish they just made a simple 2 din slot for factory.

i also don't like the look of aftermarket dash kits that will help you fit a 1 or 2 din deck because it just looks like there's too much empty space around the head unit, hopefully they come out with something that looks decent

FlesHBoX · 10-15-2008, 04:23 PM

custom carputer housing

7 or 8 inch touch screen display (probably 7) moulded into the center console. At least that is my plan eventually.

[edit]

Here's a chop I did just messing around one eve.

ER101160 · 10-15-2008, 05:36 PM

Had the same problem in my present car.Just changed the door speaker's to JL Evolutions 6.5 & Pioneer amp to push them and a 200w Infinty Basslink in the trunk.

Sounds alot better with out destroying the stock dash and its intregated electronics.

Will the Infinty premium system be offered in the V6 GT as in the SE versions ?

Tufast · 10-15-2008, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ER101160

Had the same problem in my present car.Just changed the door speaker's to JL Evolutions 6.5 & Pioneer amp to push them and a 200w Infinty Basslink in the trunk.

Sounds alot better with out destroying the stock dash and its intregated electronics.

Will the Infinty premium system be offered in the V6 GT as in the SE versions ?

Did something similar in my 540i, sound system sounds pretty damn good factory with a decent amount of bass, but wanted some you could feel, so added 2 10" P2's & a 300w punch 1 channel amp jumped off rear speakers with a bass link. Rocks now & carries pretty well. Still have the problem of intergrated computer & stereo w/no ipod connectivity or XM.

Hyundaitech · 10-15-2008, 09:57 PM

As a fellow sirius subscriber I thought about this as well. My current sirius subscribtion is lifetime, but its tied to the pioneer avic d1 in my car...Thus when I sell the car I will buys a stilleto, transfer my subcription to that, and wire in the car kit or go through aux port (if there is one?). Who on sirius would want Oppie and Anthony, if you have had Stern for the past 2 years!

Baba boey!

Macatron · 10-15-2008, 11:11 PM

Well, in my search for answers, I have found a few shining rays of hope for us. I asked myself "what other vehicle's have PITA factory stereo setups" and then remembered that my girlfriend's Mazda 3 is pretty damn impossible looking to replace. However, I did find that there are companies that do make installation kits for that particular setup though.

Here's a picture of the factory setup

The following pictures are of an aftermarket stereo installation

Also, I actually found a website that talked about preserving the steering wheel mounted audio controls as well, so that still may be an option for us. Hey, if it's possible on this setup, it looks like it could be possible on the Coupe. Here's hoping!

Here's the site I found:
Google Image Result for http://www.nexxia.co.uk/Car_Stereo_fitting_kits/images/FP-26-01.jpg

Macatron · 10-15-2008, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyundaitech

As a fellow sirius subscriber I thought about this as well. My current sirius subscribtion is lifetime, but its tied to the pioneer avic d1 in my car...Thus when I sell the car I will buys a stilleto, transfer my subcription to that, and wire in the car kit or go through aux port (if there is one?). Who on sirius would want Oppie and Anthony, if you have had Stern for the past 2 years!

Baba boey!

Yeah, that may be the route I'll have to take as well, but I guess we will see. If I ended up going with a external mount setup (i.e. Stilleto), I wonder if there would be a way to splice into the antenna gore cable for the factory XM setup and use it for my Sirius radio? It would just be nice to be able to use the already installed satellite antenna that's stuck to the roof.

roddy · 10-16-2008, 01:11 AM

see i just don't like that extra space around the din kit on the mazda3, i have that problem too on mine, and it just has too much unused space.

the photochop above is cool, do you plan to have both cd players functional?

FlesHBoX · 10-16-2008, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy

see i just don't like that extra space around the din kit on the mazda3, i have that problem too on mine, and it just has too much unused space.

the photochop above is cool, do you plan to have both cd players functional?

What I would probably do is either find a way to use the existing CD for the computer (not likely) or replace the drive behind the face with a slot loading laptop drive, slightly modded to fit nicely.

The rest of the computer would most likely be either mounted under the passenger seat (not ideal for space/noise considerations) or possibly in the trunk (longer cables to run to the dash, and long VGA/DVI is SPENDY)

I would most likely build on an ATOM processor to reduce heat production and power consumption. Ideally it would use an SSD drive, but those are not cheap, so it would probably be a suspended shock cage for a spinner, and the boot partition / OS would be on a CF card for fast booting.

I have some information on setting up a static hibernation point so that rather than boot up fully each time the car turns on, it would just resume from hibernation, using a saved hibernation point that is not overwritten, it will shutdown quicker and always load to the exact same spot.

I would probably use the digital audio out to go to a D/A converter and break into the stereo channels and to a cross over from there to the amps and then speakers. I'm thinking Kicker/MTX/JL sub(s) and either higher end infinity or Boston Acoustics (if I am feeling rich) for the rest of the speakers.

Not that I've thought about it much