Eclipse AVN5435 NAV Double DIN Install

[Beretta]

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.

[neil.schneider]

Congrats on the car and the new system. I have an aftermarket system with an eclipse. Athough the sound is great the ergonomics of the head are terrible....knobs too small and in the sun you can't see the face at all. I have a cab. Do you think the screen is bright enough to see in full or partial sun? Also just integrated that ipod nano into the system and now CDs are worthless.

[Beretta]

Congrats on the car and the new system.  I have an aftermarket system with an eclipse.  Athough the sound is great the ergonomics of the head are terrible....knobs too small and in the sun you can't see the face at all.  I have a cab.  Do you think the screen is bright enough to see in full or partial sun?  Also just integrated that ipod nano into the system and now CDs are worthless.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The AVN unit doesn't have any knobs, only dedicated buttons. They are small, but larger than the buttons on the factory deck. Almost all of the major functions are articulated via the touch screen. I think the ergonomics are great. Screen seems very good in all sunlight conditions so far, but recognize a cab is a different matter. Screen seems great and you can 'tilt' if you get a bad angle. I think it would be easy to integrate the ipod, not sure if it has a dedicated input for the ipod but know I can integrate a separate video/audio input (ala PS2 or other video source) so could do it that way. Between satellite radio, my local northern california FM stations, MP3 via CD and regular CDs I'm really not even jonesing for my Ipod. In fact, the satellite variety is almost better - I get exposed to new stuff that I otherwise would be missing out on.

Bottom line on the screen, I think it would be fine.

[JoeA]

Any Pictures?

[dipspanigrahi]

can i ask ask how much it cost (ballpark) to buy and have the set-up you placed installed?

thanks so much

i am interested in a similar setup and have started pricing now.

[Beretta]

can i ask ask how much it cost (ballpark) to buy and have the set-up you placed installed?

thanks so much

i am interested in a similar setup and have started pricing now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Deck: 1799 on ebay. If you go this route, be sure it comes with serial numbers as some Eclipse dealers are really sensitive to this and I had a couple shops threaten not to install it if they were not there. Mine were.

Amp: JL Audio 6 ch amp - 399 new, with warranty from dealer. Can be found on ebay - again be sure your getting serials.

Install: 800 ish from high end shop.

Still have speakers to go...expecting another 400 for a subwoofer (thats just for sub and box, I'm going to fiberglass and paint myself). Another amp - 300$ and upgrade speakers - probably another 1k. (focals seem to be the way to go).

[Gator996]

Install picture request # 2!

[Beretta]

Install picture request # 2!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have been holding off on the picts until the trim ring was done...its drying now. Not perfect, still have some mods to do but looks good. Picts coming tomorrow.

[Beretta]

Ok pictures. I finally finished the trim ring. Looks good for a rookie. I am still not happy and am going to raise up the unit and flip the trim ring so that the narrow portion of the trim is at the top and the wider portion is at the bottom where it is barely seen.

[Beretta]

I must be doing something wrong...cant upload pics. Stand by.

[kristap]

Let me know if you need a place to host the pics .... I want to see the pictures :D

[eddie911]

greetings,

i bought the saqme unit last week and had it installed. i was debating with the kenwood but i opted the eclipse. My idea was to move the AC and optionalcd storage unit to the bottom of my center console replacing both cubby spaces. The eclipe unit would go in the location of a stock nav. I bought the optional porche cd storage unit for $99 at the dealship. I found a local car stereo shop. the unit cost me 1700 plus 149 for sirus radio tuner , 150 install/custom work and tax. Antenna for the siruis and GPS went to my back window. the installer made the frame around the Eclipse out of wood and then covered it in vinyl. same goes with the ac and cd storage. from far it does not look bad but im have plans to go with fiberglass as well. went to sound advice this weekend. i heard that they do amazing cuztom work as they are affiliated with tweeter and s forth. they offered some good ideas but price was sky high$ 850 for one continous peace from the nav all the way down to the ac and cd storage. let me know how much that piece that your making cost you and save that template. im realling wanting to replace what i have. im will post pics. thanks

[siddharth]

I must be doing something wrong...cant upload pics. Stand by.

Any pictures ?

[bigmds]

I must be doing something wrong...cant upload pics. Stand by.

Any pictures ?

Love to see :eek: zome pictures...

[meb]

The wait is agonizing... oh for those pics!

[stumpjumper]

if you're having trouble uploading, perhaps you forgot that you need to resize the pics?

I'd also like to see it, I've been wanting to do the same to my boxster

[djantlive]

if you need pics, just do a search on eclipe and nav. plenty of ppl have done this.

[siddharth]

if you need pics, just do a search on eclipe and nav. plenty of ppl have done this.

Actually I couldn't find a picture of the final installation searching for eclipse and nav. In fact I noticed that most were asking the same question and nobody's really documented a double DIN installation like the other DIY mods. Seems like a lot of people were confused. I don't blame them (=me included!) ... there is no "porsche approved way" and trying to figure out custom wiring, custom mounting as well as a custom trim finish from scratch isin't intuitive. Maybe for the high end audio shops ... but not to me :( !

If you do know the search pattern/link, could you post it here ? It'd be nice.

Anyway ... I'm thinking of going this route sometime this summer. If I do and its successful, I'll try do document this into a DIY.

Edited February 24, 2006 by siddharth

[dipspanigrahi]

i recently had the eclipse avn 2454 double din installed in my car, the climate control and storage cubby moved down. it looks money. the eclipse units are really pretty cool. their nav system interface is one of the best i have ever used. i also hooked up 8 disc changer in the front trunk. the unit has a bult in dash cd player. i also hooked up xm to it. it also has a dvd player with dolby digital 5.1 (i will never use this but i have to admit it sounds awesome through the audison amps and focal polyglass with the 5ws subs.)

the unit has 6 dsp settings (i never use) and a dsp sound field modulator to optimize stereo imaging to any spot in the car.

i have been VERY impressed with this unit

eclipse customer support sucks so make sure you have guts and kind of know what you are doing with the install. i am happy to help anyone who asks.

overall it looks amazing. people keep telling me how oem it looks. i am ver happy with the result!

if anyone can tell me how to post pics, ill take some today and put them up.

cheers

[siddharth]

i recently had the eclipse avn 2454 double din installed in my car, the climate control and storage cubby moved down. it looks money. the eclipse units are really pretty cool. their nav system interface is one of the best i have ever used. i also hooked up 8 disc changer in the front trunk. the unit has a bult in dash cd player. i also hooked up xm to it. it also has a dvd player with dolby digital 5.1 (i will never use this but i have to admit it sounds awesome through the audison amps and focal polyglass with the 5ws subs.)

the unit has 6 dsp settings (i never use) and a dsp sound field modulator to optimize stereo imaging to any spot in the car.

i have been VERY impressed with this unit

eclipse customer support sucks so make sure you have guts and kind of know what you are doing with the install. i am happy to help anyone who asks.

overall it looks amazing. people keep telling me how oem it looks. i am ver happy with the result!

if anyone can tell me how to post pics, ill take some today and put them up.

cheers

Oh great ! Then I have some questions for you :) ...

1) How did you manage to secure the double din player in that spot ?

2) After installing the double din tightly/securely, how did you manage to cover up the gap between the player edges and the rest of the console trim ? As far as I know none of the porsche trims can be used/reused towards this job.

:cheers:

Sid