Nokia vs Haes Amp for 98 - what is diff and more help?

[Xcellr8]

Acquired a 98 that I'm trying to figure out the radio. The car has been resprayed so option label is gone, so is owner's manual. The head unit has been removed (by a butcher who apparently never heard of Crutchfield or Metra) and replaced with an aftermarket unit that doesn't sound good. It appears that from the factory, this car had an amp and disc changer (lots of wires/connectors in the frunk), but they have been removed.

I'm trying to put it back to factory (except CD changer), but don't know which amp to get. Nokia 4x40, or Haes 4x40? Which amp was used for which application? Or are the interchangable?

Actually, don't know which head unit to get either. Was leaning towards CDR220 because they seem plentiful and thus a good buy. Will that head unit work with one or both amps? Or should I focus on a different head unit?

Since the terminal cable ends have been butchered, is it possible to get the factory cable? Or is it so entwined with other factory wire harnesses that it can't be separated?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

[Topless]

Well... the stock Becker stereo in these cars is pretty awful. Maybe even worse than my original 63 Chevy Nova AM radio. A full Bose system is better but cannot match the sound you could get with $500 of quality aftermarket gear. An Alpine 40w x 4 head with USB port, a nice set of dash replacement speakers, and a nice set of door speakers would probably be money better spent. YMMV

[Chard]

I have to agree with Topless. The factory radio setups are crap and if you're going to replace, replace with quality stuff. Audio equipment is much cheaper nowadays and as mentioned, you can get a good setup from Crutchfield in the $500 range.

If you need to trace & splice wires since the factory harness was cut, this guide should be helpful: Pelican Technical Article: Changing Your Boxster Stereo Head Unit / Installing Boxster Ipod Integration - 986 / 987

That being said, if you're still set on getting a Becker, I have a CDR-220 for sale

[Xcellr8]

Thanks for the link and discussion. Aftermarket is tempting and I may go that way, but I would like to know if there is a difference in the factory amps and if the factory wiring harness is available and or, maybe just the harness ends with a tail of wires. Is there another way to identify which equipment I had?

Thanks again

[Wret]

I have noticed that many of the Amps on ebay include not only the bracket but the snipped off cable end. Maybe one of these is yours

You could probably find one and make it work but why bother?

[spongebob]

My recommendation would be to skip the HAES amp , the stock radio cdr 220 is not the best but decent with ipod input. The amp though, close to useless in my opinion. The built in filters makes it very hard to match any speaker at all to it. If you had the old power supply cables for the amp in the car you would also understand that nothing good can exit that black box. If stock look is important use the Cdr220 but a new amp is a must together with decent speakers.