993 stereos and Blaupunkt nostalgia

[stevewak]

Weren't this bunch supposed to be the bee's knees? https://enigmaaudio.co.uk Maybe a few years ago.

Avert your eyes from the wheels, but look at https://enigmaaudio.co.uk/work/porsche-carrera-911...

[grogger993]

chrisgaia said:

I probably should mention that I blew my whole student loan for a year on a Linn amp and Epos speakers for my bedroom in 1992…. Gentlemen of a certain age get a bit fussy, forgive me.

The comment about 're-allocating' your student grant to hifi purchases made me chuckle. I did something similar in around 1983 with my Tube Investments sponsorship grant-supplement cheque (£500 per annum IIRC) for a set of Linn Kan speakers. I still have the speakers 40 years on. (I didn't even take the job that TI offered me on graduation, ungrateful wretch that I am...)

[PistonBroker]

I was considering the Blaupunkt Madrid 200BT to replace the CDR22 in my 986S.

Is the Continental worth spending £40 more?

[Orangecurry]

I think they key takeaway from this thread is probably all modern kit (of a similar cost) will be similar circuitry inside, is all about features and convenience and phones and Blueteeth - so if you want a decent sound you need a separate amplifier and modern speakers, but choose the head unit purely on looks and on those features that you require?

I like the VDO as it looks in-keeping with the car, and yet can play all of my music via one of those micro Ultra USB SanDisk thingies.

chrisgaia said:

I keep hearing about that unit! I also noticed for the first time all the instruments are VDO!!

Oh Chris....

[PistonBroker]

Orangecurry said:

I like the VDO as it looks in-keeping with the car . . .

Yep. I think for the sake of an extra £40 that unit's worth it on that basis.

Someone in the US offers little Porsche stickers to go over the Continental logo as well!

[chrisgaia]

AAAH! Look what I found in my folder!

My upgrade Option 334 was listed as a Blaupunkt Bremen RCM 42 but as you can see the original stereo was a London RCM 43.

Key card present so that unit was probably binned. Would sell on EBay today for a couple of hundred quid if it was working. Ironic that the replacement stereo (2006) was probably faulty from the start as I have found previous battery drain problems from 2009!

I am spending all my desk time doing Blaupunkt research unfortunately…who needs a tax return anyway? This is more important.

Edited by chrisgaia on Tuesday 26th November 17:53

[chrisgaia]

grogger993 said:

The comment about 're-allocating' your student grant to hifi purchases made me chuckle. I did something similar in around 1983 with my Tube Investments sponsorship grant-supplement cheque (£500 per annum IIRC) for a set of Linn Kan speakers. I still have the speakers 40 years on. (I didn't even take the job that TI offered me on graduation, ungrateful wretch that I am...)

Fantastic, Grogger! Ironically, my Epos ES11 speakers have become a classic and the £330 I spent back then has seen 25 years of stunning sound and if you look on EBay today you will find them priced £360+ :-D

[chrisgaia]

stevewak said:

Continental is good and streams well from my iPhone. Internet radio, Spotify etc. As I have previously posted, it's not that loud.

When I bought my ex-PCGB/AFN car it was fitted with a Sony with a million tiny buttons and front-mounted CD player. I am sure original and I believe that was standard in the UK ca. 1995. Same on all VW-Audi as a contract. Top of the range one. Sony XR-C620RDS with CDX-705 Cdx 605 CD player.

Reason I took it out was the tiny buttons and CD player was pretty useless. I have kept it. Then went through some eBay Blaupunkts that looked good but did not work well and ended up with the Continental. My aerial is not right but there is not much I would listen to on FM anyway.

Ah! You've been there Steve...so the path I am on, as fun as it is, might well be fruitless, then. All those lovely old Blaupunkts I am looking at might not work. Did they really fit Sony OEM or at least at the delaer when they messed about with the alarms? Did you check your upgrade codes?

I was seriously thinking of returning the new Bremen and buying an old one (possibly reconditioned) and having Bluetooth fitted. I found a place in Bishops Stortford that does that. They look like they repair as well.

I will do more tests but the sound of my faulty 2006 unit is probably similar to having a separate amp. It is fantastic, I now realise. The speakers I had fitted by Auto Audios in 2014 were “Morel Maximo 6”. I recommend those guys, Greg knows his stuff.

So yours had the hi fi option, OC? What exactly was that? Presumably a good head unit, upgrade to cruddy Nokia speakers and an amp under driver’s seat?

Edited by chrisgaia on Tuesday 26th November 18:41

[Orangecurry]

chrisgaia said:

I was seriously thinking of returning the new Bremen and buying an old one (possibly reconditioned) and having Bluetooth fitted. I found a place in Bishops Stortford that does that. They look like they repair as well.

I will do more tests but the sound of my faulty 2006 unit is probably similar to having a separate amp. It is fantastic, I now realise. The speakers I had fitted by Auto Audios in 2014 were “Morel Maximo 6”. I recommend those guys, Greg knows his stuff.

Can't you simply get your existing HU fixed so there's no battery drain? And Bluetoothed as well?

[chrisgaia]

Orangecurry said:

Can't you simply get your existing HU fixed so there's no battery drain? And Bluetoothed as well?

Yes, that would be the easy option but as you well know, I seldom take a simple approach...

Problem with that is it would cost probably the same as a Continental unit to sort it out, and while sounding stunning it does not look good as it is partly silver. I have been looking at similar BP units in black, which would be a close enough match.

Unfortunately, I am on one with this now. Steeped in nostalgia and chasing that elusive perfect head unit...

I should have just got the Continental, eh :-)

[Orangecurry]

Not at all - you have to be 'happy' with stuff, otherwise what's the point?

[JohnnyUK]

Castrol for a knave said:

I have an SQ46 in my 928.

It has a pretty decent sound, although I have replaced all the speakers and have a sub.

It also runs through the original Blaupunkt amp, which gives it a nice mellow analogue sound.

It might be as you say, comparing CD quality at 1,400 kbps with compressed MP3 via bluetooth at 360kbps.

Me too, though runs through an Audison DSP Amp.

[gsewell]

If you want a level of originality, how about the pccm?

[gsewell]

If you want a level of originality, how about the pccm?

[John Henry]

Modern Blaupunkt isn’t German anymore. The Chinese bought the name some time ago. The new stuff is not comparable with the old product.
Becker Grand Prix and Indianapolis are now old units. I ran mine with an iPod classic in the glovebox. Bluetooth is built in. Excellent units and look OEM because they were OEM for Porsche in period. Albeit the Becker name was replaced with Porsche.
The continental units look OK at best but the Becker units suit the 993 better than anything else. Yellow display for the win.

[Dirty gertie]

Had a Becker in the 993 and 964, and switched to a Continental unit when the Becker broke down. Tried a modern Blaupunkt in the 928, but was not convinced. Wobbly knobs, confusing menus, not something that meets 2024 standards imho. Running a Continental again and happy now.

Edited by Dirty gertie on Wednesday 27th November 05:57

[stevewak]

chrisgaia said:

So yours had the hi fi option, OC? What exactly was that? Presumably a good head unit, upgrade to cruddy Nokia speakers and an amp under driver’s seat?

No, it was bog-standard car run by PCGB than sold to AFN so would be super straight. We had an Audi 100 from that era and it had Sony. I think It was the time when cars were shipped over without stereos and then fitted by the national distributor who had a deal with whoever. I am sure customers could get an upgrade at extra cost. Might have been that you had to pay for the radio as an option anyway?

I had a new Golf GTi in 1983 (best car ever) and that had a Panasonic with separate amp. Radio was pinched soon after...

Edited to say I remember pre-190 series saloons when Mercedes' prices were off the scale and YOU DID NOT EVEN GET A RADIO!

Edited by stevewak on Wednesday 27th November 13:54

[chrisgaia]

gsewell said:

If you want a level of originality, how about the pccm?

It’s just a silly price £1050 and I’m not sure it does anything your phone cannot. Do you have one? Are they actually good sound as a stereo?

[chrisgaia]

stevewak said:

I had a new Golf GTi in 1983 (best car ever) and that had a Panasonic with separate amp. Radio was pinched soon after...

Edited by stevewak on Wednesday 27th November 13:54

I would have love a Golf GTI. I had a 205 CTI in early 90s, one of my favourite cars ever. Lighter feel than the Golf.

Of course car stereo theft was a massive deal hence all the key cards, removable heads etc. You can just spot the 8 Blaupunkt security stickers that came with my 993 new in the pic above! God knows where they were all meant to go :-D

[Koln-RS]

Porsche Classic PCM in 993.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Inayq6Ld3vY