Nakamichi CD player upgrade..... - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

bigislandboxster · 05-26-2005, 05:08 PM

Aloha all,
I've been thinking about upgrading my stereo system a bit in my '98, have an installer out here who has speakers which will fit the stock dash and door panel speakers (MB Quart RCE 210 in the dash, and Focal 5WS for the doors), but I am having a ******************** of a time finding the Nakamichi CD400 CD Receiver anywhere.....Tried online at 3 places, 2 are out of stock, and the 3rd has a month or 2 back order wait....Any ideas where I can find one of these babies? The Nak is supposed to have great sound and a very nice old school faceplate which would go great with the Porsche interior.....I hate those decks that look like a carnival ....

Lou

eslai · 05-26-2005, 11:25 PM

I had a CD-400 in my Eclipse. It broke after a few months--started playing very erratically.

I had been warned by my friends that Nakamichis are fragile, that they are known to break. But I figured that after the reorganization of the company, maybe they'd learned their lessons. So I never had a CD-45z but when the CD-400 was released I was all excited and bought it. I like the look of the Nakamichis a lot.

The real kicker with Nakamichi is that if you don't buy through one of their authorized dealers, they won't take the unit for warranty service. I had to try to track down the eBay seller that sold it to me and get warranty service through him.

So, personally, I would recommend against Nakamichi. I doubt they'd hold up well in any sports car.

Brucelee · 05-27-2005, 05:55 AM

The NAKS are very un Japanese in nature. Erratic but nice sound.

I would stay away myself.

bigislandboxster · 05-27-2005, 05:26 PM

Looks like reliability might be a problem then....Really don't want to go down that road ......Heard lots of good things about the sound quality tho. Did find someone selling the CD400, but they are NOT an authorized dealer, so I think I may look at Alpine....Have had good luck with them in the past, and not TOO flashy either...

Go in Monday for an overall look at the speaker options and sizes, looks like Focal or MB Quart will be the best options....

Thanks for the advice!

Lou

Brucelee · 05-27-2005, 06:28 PM

Best of luck, keep us posted on what you do!!!!!\\

Lux · 05-27-2005, 06:54 PM

I don't get the Nakamichi love. Most all CD players now have good A/D converters and great s/n ratio. You'd be hard pressed to hear the difference, especially in a convertible. I wouldn't waste my money on a headunit over $500. I think Blaupunkt has some old skool looking headunits.

Speakers are the most important thing. Second in line is amplifier. BTW, have you listened to MB Quart? Their highs are very harsh sounding to me. I actually prefer the mid-line JL Audio components with the silk tweets.

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bigislandboxster · 05-27-2005, 07:24 PM

in the near future for sure
Going in Monday to look over the options, I believe they carry JL products as well, so I'll take a look at those too Lux....I did have MB Quart tweeters before actually, they are quite up there as far as high frequencies go, will definitely check everything out.....

Never heard the Focal before, but they seem to be rated highly as well...Heres a link to the setup I saw which motivated me to look at the Nak and Focal speakers...

http://www.caraudioinnovations.com/installations.htm

You have to click on the column on the left which says "Installations in Porsche" , and then click on the 2000 Boxster S to see it.....

Lou