I just got back my 00 996 C2 from the installer. Took out factory amp, factory CDR220 and replaced with Eclipse AVN5435 Double DIN Navigation, DVD AV Deck in the same location in the dash as the factory Navigation. I replaced the factory amp with a JL Audio E6540 6x50w Amp, mounted in the trunk under a custom cover.
Next I plan on replacing the factory speakers and putting a custom subwoofer into the rear deck area behind the rear seats.
My impressions:
The car:
00 996 C2, Silver on Grey - 6sp with 18" turbo look (not hollow) wheels. Alum Gauges, Alum E brake, Alum Shifter and Trim ring (looks great with the silver trim on the AVN unit). I just purchased it about 4 weeks ago after owning BMW's exclusively for the last 10 years. What can I say? WOW. Factory Hi Fi (non bose, non most) but I did have the factory dash/door speakers and 6 ch amp. Its my daily driver and I still can't belive it every time I walk out to it. You all know this, but **** what a fine car. I was worried about RMS since I bought it used (and sight unseen actually), but had it checked out and its DRY and solid. (so far anyway :) ) 31k m on it when I bought it, 33k now. I certainly feel like I'm in the everyday supercar. Funny, I thought it was really fast...now after a month I am ready for more power hahah. Guess my next car will have the be the turbo. (dont tell my wife). My previous fastest car was either the E36M3 or my 2000 540. M3 faster than 540 at 0-60, 540 was faster than m3 at freeway speeds. 996 feels like it would embarrass either of them. I enjoy that just about every day almost I either see someone appreciating it or have someone make a positive comment about how nice it is. Sweet!
Install:
Deck:
The full installation took almost 10 hours. I didn't think it would be nearly as involved as it was, but ended up very clean. Since the Eclipse doesnt come with a mounting bracket or trim ring, my installer had to fabricate both items. The trim ring came from a Kenwood double din unit and required another piece of ABS to fill about a 1/2" space on the top of the deck. Color match is a bit rough (both black but slightly different finishes - I want it perfect), but we are going to paint them to match for now and will begin building a custom fabricated fibreglass trim ring to match exactly next week. The eclipse unit is completely self contained, all in the double din unit - no external brain. Unfortunatly, I also wanted Sirius satellite radio which is a separate module. They managed to get it all up under the dash in a very clean mount. Navigation and Sirius antenna receivers are mounted on either side of the alarm indicator on the upper dash. Looks good - like factory (with the caveats I mentioned earlier about the trim ring). I'm confident that when we get the fibreglass trim ring done it will be better than factory.
Amp:
JL Audio E6540 6x50w Amp
The amp is pretty good sized. I also considered the Audison amps as they could have fit in the space behind the spare tire where the factory amp was and avoided losing precious space in the trunk. However I wasn't ready to spend 1k or so on the amp with everything else that I'd just purchased. So I went with the JL. As I mentioned, its mounted to the floor of the trunk, with a custom carpeted cover above it. You can't see the amp when you open the trunk and it didn't take up too much space. At this point, since I'm still using the factory speakers (ugh) its hard to tell a big difference in sound quality. One big plus of the JL amp is a very customizable built in crossover network which will come in handy later when I replace the factory speakers.
Speakers:
I'd orignally purchased a 200w amplified bazooka tube (8") to go behind the seats. My thinking was that it would be easy to remove if I ever needed the space back there, and looks wise I was going to paint it or cover with factory carpet. When we got to the point of installation, we realized that there isn't a easy power solution without running the power lines right along with the RCA cables from the trunk through the firewall into the cabin, obviously terrible to do so as it injects noise into the system. So I scrapped that. As mentioned, all factory speakers are still in place but am going to replace with Focal separates and have the installers build me a 2x8" custom box to fit in the same place as the bazooka was going to go. I am really looking foward to this as the MAJOR deficiency in the system is the lack of bass.
Review of the deck:
The AVN 5435 is amazing. I had also considered the Kenwood 7015 and the Pioneer AVIC units. Eclipse AVN has a double DIN wide screen touch panel display that incorporates out of the box Navigation, CD, DVD, AM/FM, MP3 and ready for Satellite, up to 2 8 disc cd changes and HD Radio. The touch screen really shines in a unit like this and its very user friendly. The unit has 2 slots, one for DVD and one for CD - so you can listen to a CD and use the navigation DVD at the same time, or you can choose to put in a movie. Screen is SWEET, widescreen and movies look great. Of course I am not an advocate of watching movies while you are driving, but having the capability when your parked its nice. It must have some sort of coating on it because fingerprints are not obvious (too bad sony didn't put that same thing on their psp). Options for backgrounds, colors and changes automatically when you put your lights on so that its not too bright. Well thought out unit with dedicated function buttons around the bezel and plenty of detail if you want to get into the rest of the menus via the touch screen. Incorporates DSP, Subwoofer controls and EQ. Oh, and it plays MP3s! So you can make a CD with raw MP3s in folders and the ID information and drop it right in. Negates needing a changer thats for sure, and nice not to have to convert mp3s to wavs when burning CD's to listen to in the car. Very nice.
Navigation is done very well. My housing development is relatively new and this is the first unit which had it on their map. Nice. Easy to use, with nice animation and options. Only thing missing which would be nice but not completely mandatory would be the inclusion of the same sort of detailed information screens you can get from a dedicated GPS unit like a garmin that can give you speed, heading, altitude, average speed, trip distance etc, and also a readout of the number of satellites its receiving and positional accuracy. Just a thought. Otherwise, its not so complex that its going to freak out non technical persons, and yet certainly delivers on many other levels. Nice features like actual logos of shell and chevron stations so you can find not just a gas station - but the one you want. Does the same thing with resturaunts. Will display ATMS and emergency services. You can declutter the screen and even supports split screen navigation.
Very cool Again touch screen makes it really intuitive and the display is clean, clear and high resolution.
AM/FM/CD:
Everything you would expect, with the touch screen access making it easy to move around and listen to what you want. AM/FM reception seems better than stock so far. CD is CD, all the usual features and capabilities and sounds good.
Sirius:
This rocks. Probably what I've spent the most time listening to so far. You can have presets for your favorites, categories or direct tune to the station you want. Displays artist and title. I cant wait for Stern! I do alot of driving and when I leave the metro areas its going to be sweet to have the capability of listening to satellite no matter how far away I get from civilization.
Thats about it for the overview. I'll have pictures up soon, please feel free to ask any questions. I'll add to the posting as I get the trim ring done, the subwoofer installed and replacing the factory speakers.