Re: Radio in 200

[Sargent Schutt <sargent@novagate.com>]

I have replaced the entire Bose system in my 91 200q. The speakers are
junk - as noted they need equalization in the amps to compensate for
their harmonic inabilities. The only way you get bass out of them is the
porting - inherently muddy. Compared to most stock sytems they sound
good though. If you want more, consider what I did:

Being on a budget, I gathered a few pieces of used equipment form a
local La Jolla purveyor of fine car audio equipment and
assembled/installed the system myself. (I also bought a few pieces from
classifieds.) They did the work of cutting some of the inner plate out
of my front doors so I could fit my used $65 a/d/s 6" speakers in the
door. Otherwise, I dun it myself. 4" and tweeters fit in dash speaker
housing with little modification. I used some speaker 'towers' from a
tan-interior 89-91 non-bose 100/200 (a la the cute little stands in the
90, but shorter) to house my (again used) Boston 6.2 Pro seperates (6" +
tweeter). 6" in rear deck with tweeter in stand just behind it. Power
all coming from a used a/d/s 6 x 50 amp run through an a/d/s 642Csi
electronic crossover. Bass is bridged to 100 watts mono to a Punch
"audiophile" non-ported subwoofer in a box  in the trunk. Very tight,
clean base. Head unit is an Eclipse pre-amp only am/fm/cd unit, bought
as last years model at a steep discount. It has no removable anything -
if it is stolen the manufacurer replaces it free in the first year. It
has a code system whereby you select a CD and that CD IS the code.
Thieves generally avoid this unit for that reason.

All in all I  spent less than 1/4 of what it would cost to go pay for a
bunch of this year's latest gizmos and brand new equipment. The sound is
very clean (ZERO noise/hiss) and, though not wake-the-neighbors on the
next block powerful (300 watts) it is very good for accurate sound
reproduction across the sound range and the imaging is quite good.
(given the environment).

The point is, if you have a little patience and assemble a system of
verifiably good used components you can have an extremely nice car
stereo for pennies on the dollar. However, I only advise buying truly
high-quality eqipment used. In my experience it is designed to outlast
the mass-produced stuff by a lot, and sounds much much better.