becker stereo upgrade

HONEYMON57ER · Mar 27, 2007

Hi,
I've had my C2 for 10 days now and the first thing to do was
get the 24k service done. Sorted this at OPC Sussex ( + RMS
and new tyre ) so used a bit of my upgrade budget. Anyway
first thing is the stereo. I really want to change from CDR22 to
a Becker Grand Prix 7990 as it's good value (£255), looks like the original
and is bluetooth and ipod compatable ( with lead £70).

I was wondering if anyone has fitted one of these themselves or had one
fitted. I would prefer to have it fitted but by someone who is recommended
as I had a bad experience with another car of broken and badly re-fitted trim.
I'm in the Gatwick area if there is anyone local. I have done a search but Becker
dealers seem few and far between.

Thanks

Paul Fraser · Mar 27, 2007

Take off the switch panels with a screwdriver wrapped in a thin cloth, and remove the aircon unit (4 screws). Push in the clips and the bottom front corner and it'll slip out. Your replacement will have the same connections. Don't know about the iPod cable though. It'll either plug in where the CD changer cable goes or it'll go somewhere in the aerial feed if it's a FM modulator tye thing.
There are lots of how tos here and on renntech.org

Black80XSA · Mar 27, 2007

the ipod adapter is about £70 extra, and plugs into the rear of the becker unit

the Porsche branded becker units cdr23 and cdr24 had intermittent faults which causes the unit to freeze, i hope the becker equivalents are better.

The becker units give good sound quality, and fit the porsche dashboard well, but there are better equiped headunits around, from Pioneer (DEH-P6900IB which includes ipod cable - about £165 but no bluetooth, orthe DEH-P55BT if you need bluetooth phone ability for around £165 plus £80 for ipod cable, both from www.bassjunkies.com ) or Alpine.

you can buy a dension ipod adaptor for under £100 for the cdr-22 btw, so this might be an option if you can use a bluetooth headset

bothe the cdr 22 and any of the units listed use standard iso connectors so its plug and play - your only snag might be the aerial lead, some units use female socket,m others male, so you may need an adaptor, a few pounds only.

pwafer · Mar 27, 2007

I fitted the Becker 7990 Grand Prix myself, along with the iPod adaptor.

++ Take out the old unit, un-do the glove box
++ Fit iPod lead into glove box and feed to stereo space.
++ Run the microphone up the A-pillar (for hands free calls)
++ plug everything into the back of the headunit and slot in.

Took me around an hour because I was careful.

Very nice head unit... only if you have a CDR-23 (like I did) you need to find an ignition +12v feed (which I haven't yet) and need to unplug the CANbus connector C1... but I think if you have a CDR-22... it'll be a piece of cake !

P.

HONEYMON57ER · Mar 27, 2007

Thanks for replys. The link doesn't seem to work[

]

I haven't got a glove box but could probably route ipod to
2 little shelf compartments below stereo? How difficult was
routing the mic up the A pillar? Other than that it sounds easy!

Thanks

Black80XSA · Mar 27, 2007

link corrected - close bracket in the web address originally !!

from the price you quote for the becker unit i guess its from prestige audio direct - Bob Hobson is one of the top 3 installers in the UK, might be worth asking them how much to swap the units over, might only be an hours labour and perhaps not worth your time and effort

Richard_Hamilton · Mar 27, 2007

ORIGINAL: HONEYMON57ER
How difficult was routing the mic up the A pillar?

Take a look at the Footwell Lighting DIY in the Technical Articles section. It has instructions on removing the A pillar trim.

Richard_Hamilton · Mar 28, 2007

ORIGINAL: pwafer
... only if you have a CDR-23 (like I did) you need to find an ignition +12v feed (which I haven't yet) .....

Paul - you don't have an ignition-switched supply on the radio power connector of your car like there used to be on the older models. You can get a switched supply from fuse E1 on the fuse board in the driver's footwell. HTH.