Modernizing a Non-Nav Stereo (1 Viewer)

[rbrave]

I have been tossing around options for updating my 98 LC non-nav stereo, and something about the dual CD cassette deck has grown on me quite a bit. I upgraded speakers to Morel Maximo components in the front, and to be honest it sounds quite good for my tastes. I had been doing Bluetooth with a cassette adapter, but those require recharging and I get paranoid about the player going out eventually.

I discovered this cheap “Yomikoo” Bluetooth adapter that hooks up to the old style 5+7 connector. For $55, worth a try. Has Bluetooth 5.0, does hands free calling, and aux in. Went in seamlessly, and I was able to route a 1/8” audio cable up through the passenger a-pillar to the headliner light console. I have no idea if the mic they send with these units is any good, and this way I can do swaps in the future without taking everything apart again. I also imagine that these units would work as well as the BT45-TOY that I have seen posted, and they are available for newer stereo pinouts as well. At $100 cheaper, worth checking out.

For anyone trying this in the future, I did zip ties for cabling where I could and used double sided tape to stick the Bluetooth unit on the back of the stereo. Plenty of room back there to hide everything away.

It all went back in without issue, and pairs seamlessly with way better sound quality than the cassette adapter. Hitting track up/down cycles songs through Spotify, if you don’t want to grab the phone to change songs.

I also wanted a wireless dock, and installed a Peak Design one in the blank on the bottom right. The one caveat to this is that the power on the Bluetooth unit, or the cable I used, doesn’t seem to be working 100% of the time, so will need to sort that out in the future. There are a couple of convenient workarounds for now until I get back in there and mess with power behind the dash.

The end result is as clean as I could have hoped, keeping the interior almost entirely stock. Maybe one day I will upgrade to a CarPlay system, but for less than $300 between speakers, Bluetooth, and charging dock I’m quite happy with the setup so far. Will have to get more time with calling to be sure it’s worth using, but I’m not on the phone a lot on my commute so won’t be upset to pick up on occasion. Forgive the last bits of wood grain that haven’t been pulled off yet in the photo!

 

[excessive]

You're luck to have the non-navigation, that's one thing i'd change about my 100 series if i could. your options for replacing are wide open

 

[Patassa]

Why not upgrade to a modern head unit? You're 90% of the way there with that nice non-nav set up already. Having wired/wireless apple carplay / android auto in a 20 year old vehicle is a total game changer. It was the single most impactful "upgrade" I did to my cruiser that allows me to keep it another 10+ years.

 

[rbrave]

Why not CarPlay? My wife has a newer Subaru that gets the mileage for long trips, and my daily commute is relatively short. I wanted to be able to jump in and drive, without visual distractions that making the swap would do.

That, and I tend to go bare minimum or all in when I do stereo upgrades. I priced out swapping the head unit, amp, wiring, etc and was in the $1k range for what I would do with a full upgrade. Maybe I’ll do that someday, but for now this keeps the 1998 vibe going strong. Over the summer I rediscovered my old CD collection, and this setup keeps me living on both sides of the century. Also - I have Led Zepplin 2 on tape, and there is no modern equivalent to that tape warble!

 

[Tmparker05]

Why not CarPlay? My wife has a newer Subaru that gets the mileage for long trips, and my daily commute is relatively short. I wanted to be able to jump in and drive, without visual distractions that making the swap would do.

That, and I tend to go bare minimum or all in when I do stereo upgrades. I priced out swapping the head unit, amp, wiring, etc and was in the $1k range for what I would do with a full upgrade. Maybe I’ll do that someday, but for now this keeps the 1998 vibe going strong. Over the summer I rediscovered my old CD collection, and this setup keeps me living on both sides of the century. Also - I have Led Zepplin 2 on tape, and there is no modern equivalent to that tape warble!

Nicely done I used the peak design wireless charger as well. Your the first person I’ve seen using it what a great mount.

 

[rbrave]

Ooh but you swapped sides. I need to bite the bullet and get the bencc printed mount. I do not advise trying to mod the stock blank - it doesn’t support the weight of the phone without annoying rattles/squeaks. I also hid my USBC cable behind the mount panel, so there aren’t any wires hanging out. It’s super slick.

I’m now in the middle of a full stealth stereo upgrade. I posted this elsewhere, but sound deadening the doors does worlds for overall sound quality on the stock head unit and amp in my 98 LC. I spent around $250 on Resonix products (on sale) and I can’t get over how much more enjoyable everything sounds and feels as a result.

I used Resonix Mega CLD on the outer door skin, and ran butyl between the door skin and the crash bar. The latter has something in there from the factory, but the panel is really “live” still. After treating, the door is absolutely dead, and the rears comparably sound like a steel drum.

Don’t mind the nasty grey remnants of closed cell foam on the inner door skin. Pro tip: don’t use the wrong material on your doors, it is far harder to take off than it is to put on. I will be making service panel inserts out of 1/32” lead covered in that foam, since I have so much on hand still. Right now all the holes are just sealed up with adhesive vinyl sheets as a temp solution without a vapor barrier installed.

Next, I treated the door skins using 2” Thinsulite 600A and 0.5” Resonix Fiber Mat. Before doing so, I cleaned up the fiberboard and then “painted” it with 1:1 water and titebond III wood glue. After drying for 24h, I used leftover Amazon Basics CLD to add some extra mass (I was paranoid this wasn’t going to stick without a better prepared surface). The Thinsulite only fits into the deep parts of the panel around the speaker and arm rest, and the Fiber Mat is thin enough to go on most everything but behind the map pocket and the very front of the door card.

After all of this, I’m now on a slow roll for replacing the stock amp with a Mosconi DSP setup that has more power and processing than I’ll know what to do with. I started all of this thinking I wanted it to sound amazing, and really don’t think I would have gone much further than treating the front doors had I known how big a difference it would make.

I guess this will be my stereo build thread from here on out? I also have plans for custom sail panels for a 2” wideband speaker to replace tweeters, a small box for a 10” sub, and eventually upgrading the Morel midbass. But for now, I’m really enjoying the complete 1998 stock look with excellent sound.

 

[SMLE]

I have been tossing around options for updating my 98 LC non-nav stereo, and something about the dual CD cassette deck has grown on me quite a bit. I upgraded speakers to Morel Maximo components in the front, and to be honest it sounds quite good for my tastes. I had been doing Bluetooth with a cassette adapter, but those require recharging and I get paranoid about the player going out eventually.

I discovered this cheap “Yomikoo” Bluetooth adapter that hooks up to the old style 5+7 connector. For $55, worth a try. Has Bluetooth 5.0, does hands free calling, and aux in. Went in seamlessly, and I was able to route a 1/8” audio cable up through the passenger a-pillar to the headliner light console. I have no idea if the mic they send with these units is any good, and this way I can do swaps in the future without taking everything apart again. I also imagine that these units would work as well as the BT45-TOY that I have seen posted, and they are available for newer stereo pinouts as well. At $100 cheaper, worth checking out.

For anyone trying this in the future, I did zip ties for cabling where I could and used double sided tape to stick the Bluetooth unit on the back of the stereo. Plenty of room back there to hide everything away.

View attachment 3533904

It all went back in without issue, and pairs seamlessly with way better sound quality than the cassette adapter. Hitting track up/down cycles songs through Spotify, if you don’t want to grab the phone to change songs.

I also wanted a wireless dock, and installed a Peak Design one in the blank on the bottom right. The one caveat to this is that the power on the Bluetooth unit, or the cable I used, doesn’t seem to be working 100% of the time, so will need to sort that out in the future. There are a couple of convenient workarounds for now until I get back in there and mess with power behind the dash.

The end result is as clean as I could have hoped, keeping the interior almost entirely stock. Maybe one day I will upgrade to a CarPlay system, but for less than $300 between speakers, Bluetooth, and charging dock I’m quite happy with the setup so far. Will have to get more time with calling to be sure it’s worth using, but I’m not on the phone a lot on my commute so won’t be upset to pick up on occasion. Forgive the last bits of wood grain that haven’t been pulled off yet in the photo!

View attachment 3533909

Just got to say, I'm super jealous of how straight forward and classic this stereo/fan controls setup is. I'd love to change it out on my 04 Nav model for the older spec as it's such an annoyance

 

[willyroo]

I started all of this thinking I wanted it to sound amazing, and really don’t think I would have gone much further than treating the front doors had I known how big a difference it would make.

+1000

Do this right. I'm having to go to this extent with my doors, as any decent driver will rattle a less than full treatment. It's absolutely worth doing it right.

LX470 Mark Levinson full replacement - Alpine Optim8, german speakers, 2 way active front stage

Hi all, Having some good audio gear at home, the "surprisingly good" audio system in the LX was becoming more and more tired. There's always been a bit of "haze" and a messy mid-treble mix with the 2 1/2 way front speaker system. Having successfully installed and used the T'eyes CC3 for over...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[rbrave]

Just got to say, I'm super jealous of how straight forward and classic this stereo/fan controls setup is. I'd love to change it out on my 04 Nav model for the older spec as it's such an annoyance

Every time i see the “what year 100 is best” question i ask…but does it have rotary knobs and single purpose buttons?

 

[CBB]

Nicely done I used the peak design wireless charger as well. Your the first person I’ve seen using it what a great mount.

Is there a write-up on switching sides for the blank and hazard/diff lock, or is it fairly straightforward with the right parts?

 

[nissanh]

I've been thinking about this upgrade. I recently installed a CD Android Auto Nakamichi stereo with correct wire adapter, but ended up removing it due to a faint buzzing sound from the speakers even at volume at zero. Tried noise canceling devices from Crutchfield and no good either. Went back to factory radio and this adaptor is now in my list.

I like the stock look, but if you want a newer stereo and have a bzzing sound, then simply bypass the amp. There is an aswesome thread on how to do that at the amp and also wires that you can purchase to send speaker signals directly to the amp output wire connector under the pass seat.

 

[missfortunecarry]

You're luck to have the non-navigation, that's one thing i'd change about my 100 series if i could. your options for replacing are wide open

It seems like it's doable, non-nav head unit on e-bay are 300-600 usd. Here's a thread: Pre-03 nav delete how-to. Wiring seems tedious but doable esp with this guide and the Crutchfield harness.