Rubbish Radio

[Guest]

The radio in my newly acquired 3.2 is driving be mad. I' ve been commuting in the car recently, and the noise emanating from the speakers in lieu of Radio 4 means I' m constantly retuning in an attempt to get a decent signal. Especially annoying, given how far over I have to lean. Some time it' s OK, but that doesn' t last long.

On another thread, John Bellringer said he fitted a new wing mounted aerial. Is this is problem for everyone, or will fitting a modern radio help? I looked for a connection to the aerial, but without taking the facia apart can' t see anything obvious. I' d take it out and try fitting the Phillips that came out of my Scooby when I upgraded (which is actually better at holding a signal than the one I replaced it with), but the Blaupunt has " Security Code" written on it, and I don' t want to get locked out. I' ve checked all the documentation I got with the car, but can' t find a code.

The way it stands I don' t mind getting locked out, so long as a replacement fixes the problem. Also, the speaker resonate pretty horribly too. I' m not at all into ICE, but this is like it was before I could afford a decent car, and I find it hard to believe this is as good as it gets on what was a pretty expensive car in its day. What I don' t want is to replace it ' cos I' m locked out, only to find that it' s the aerial. I' d appreciate peoples previous experience on this before I wade in.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Guest]

Having heard my name mentioned, I thought that I would try to reply.

I bought a Blaupunkt for mine, as it got good reviews in an Hi-Fi magizine, to which I subscribe, where the writer was complaining about RDS (the ability of a radio to maintain the same station, as you drive around the country - still doesn' t work that well, but the alternative, DAB, is, if anything, slightly worse. DAB is designed for the MP3 generation, so it' s quality is limited from the start, and sound quality matters to me).

The aerial connection, from the screen, hangs down from under the dashboard, behind the radio - of course, if the screen has been replaced in the past, and the connection not remade properly, then it won' t work too well. I replaced mine, as it just wouldn' t do the job properly - 1980' s engineering, for a 1990' s problem.

Having the security code reset, is simple - find a decent ICE retailer, and they will send it off to Blaupunkt (part of the Bosch group, in Denham), and get it reset - for a price.
OK, so I am biased, but I use Auto Audio 020-8743-9662, but then, I live in London, and have used them for years (they have too much of my money !).

Me, helpful ? More likely confusing, but I try.

 

[Guest]

Hi John,

I pulled the radio out at the weekend, to have a look at the wiring. I followed the aerial lead back, but couldn' t find where it attached to the screen loop, though I didn' t try too hard I must admit. I did want to try my Phillips, but then I spotted the code issue, and the back of the Phillips takes a rectangular connector block rather than individual connections (I guess there all like this these days?), and it was mega hot and the car was in the sun, so I gave up [].

I don' t really want to replace the aerial if I can avoid it. Are there owners out there that get decent reception on the screen aerial? And if so did you have to change the head unit to get this?

Thanks,

Jon

 

[Alan_Armstrong]

Cant help with the aerial, as my car is prior to the screen one, and just has a regular wing mounted electric jobby.

Speakers...

A bit of a nightmare really without spending lots of dosh. There was a big article in Porsche World/911 some time ago in upgrading the speakers/amps to a good standard.

Basiclly they made a new rear shelf and door bins, as there is insufficient room for the sounds to resonate properly (mostly a lack of bass). The standard fitment by Porsche was then considered poor (despite the cost of the car) and even worse now by todays standards.

There is one size of Kenwoods that are a straight swop on the rear shelf, and I have had new speakers with tweeters in the doors, with an Alpine cd/radio.

I am by no means into ICE as such, but the sound now is acceptable for those moments when I dont wont to hear that wonderful noise that comes out of the exhaust!

 

[Guest]

when I dont wont to hear that wonderful noise that comes out of the exhaust!

With a sports exhaust, general engine clatter, and a whining supercharger, I have the radio/CD on just to get rid of the noise ! The noise can be OK when hard driving, but on motorways etc., no thank you !

My rear speakers are a drop-fit into the rear shelf; the fronts (Boston) are fitted in the standard position, with tweeters up near the door switches, and it gives pretty reasonable sound. I have a separate amplifier (Alpine - good price, not my first choice).

I am not obsessed with heavy bass, as real-life music doesn' t have it, neither does my expensive Hi-Fi at home. Cars are a compromise, when all is said and done.

 

[Jamie Summers]

I have Alpine component units in the front (separate bass units and tweeters). The bass units are one inch bigger than the standard fitment which makes a big difference to overall sound quality. The speaker cones are also made of plastic rather than card which means that they are better suited to Porsche doors which are designed to let water through between the inner and outer skins. I have Boston Acoustic speakers in the back - again slightly larger than the standard units but as they sit proud from the parcel shelf it didn' t require any extra hole cutting etc. The sound is a vast improvement over the rather tired original speakers that I bought the car with. They were all fitted by Auto-Audio (mentioned by John Bellringer above) at a cost of about £300. I have an Alpine single slot CD head unit which was already fitted and is perfectly good enough. I have the ' in screen' aerial and get perfectly satisfactory radio reception. I noticed the other day that the screen is non-original (it has an Autoglass sticker at the top), so even after a change over the reception is still fine. I believe this is a fairly common problem though, much in the way that you sometimes get problems with rear windscreen demisters ie. it' s a dodgy connection to a very fine wire embedded in the screen.

 

[Guest]

Dude,
The aerial connection on the 3.2 is behind your clock. Pull the clock out (simply pulls out), and you should see a small box type item, with a co-ax cable pluged into it. This is a small signal amp, connected to the lead from the aerial in your windscreen.
Common fault with this setup (as with any car), is the earth connection (on signal amp), develops high resistance. []
Cure; clean all earth connections and check with multi-meter.
Mine has a similar fault, but I don' t care at the moment, radio broadcast material is crap, and with this warm weather, I' d rather listen to the flat 6!!!!>[]

 

[Guest]

I don' t have a signal amp in my 87 3.2 - this enables me to use the aerial as a transmitting aerial (the car pages me when the alarm goes off).

Having said that, I will check for sure - after the Beer Festival, that is.

 

[Guest]

Keep the priorities in order John.....
I wonder what signal loss is experienced by having the alarm axed into the system also??
[]

 

[ClubSport 911]

I found the same problem with my radio, so I just re-wired the thing, ensured power was getting to the pre-amp (nr the front scuttle panel) and it worked dandy.

Trouble is, that in my car, I have no (i.e zero) sound deadening. Even the little pad under the rear deck is missing.

Unless I' m parked, I don' t bother, and listen to the Audio track of 6 cylinders flying in loose formation.

Like John, I' m a hi-fi man at heart so as long as it play' s tunes I' m comfortable, and expect only " low-fi" from most car audio' s - even more so considering that car' s are full of glass - one of the worst materials known for creating a great sound environment in !

 

[Guest]

Turns out it was the radio, not the aerial.

After a fruitless search for the aerial connector the other night, and after discovering the tap
e mechanism was totally knackered, I just pulled it out and threw it in the nearest skip. Initially I though it was going to be a right PITA to fit my spare Phillips, but a quick trawl of the web turned up an article from 911&PW about a bloke who upgraded to a DAB head unit. He said he got an adapter (DIN to ISO) for both power and speakers from Halfords, and though Porkers aren' t in their parts catalogue, they are the same as old fords.

Popped down Halfords and was very pleasantly surprised to get one off the shelf, and that it took literally 2 minutes to fit the new unit. The reception is now fine.

I' ll probably upgrade the speakers, and fit a CD/MP3 head unit, but in the meantime I can at least listen to something other than interference.

Peter, thanks for the low down on where to find the aerial connector, I' ll check it out anyway, just to make sure things are as good as they can be.

Cheers,

Jon