Stock stereo & phone mounting

Hey everybody! Just wired out the down payment on my new NSX. 2002 Black 6 speed ~50K miles, can't wait to be behind the wheel

I'm curious what people tend to think about the stock stereo because there isn't a ton of info out there on it. I'm not a bump the bass kinda guy, I had a BMW 3 Series before and while it had a new alpine head unit I found the stock speakers to be just fine. Is the stock audio really offensively bad or is it just not amazing?

Also as I'm keen to maintain the stock look as much as possible I'm thinking i'm going to be mostly using a cassette adapter to plug into my phone for music, is there enough room for one of those charger stands that plugs into the cigarette lighter or does that get in the way of the shifter? In that case I guess i'd be going with a windshield mount.

Are any of the cassette adapters out there better than others? They are all pretty cheap so it looks like there cost is no object. What about a bluetooth to cassette dealy? Seems like the battery would be an issue...one more thing to keep charged but maybe they last a while and it's not the issue I'm thinking it would be.

Thanks! I've been wanting to join the NSX owner club for a long time!

Congrats on the purchase! Have any pictures of the car? Be sure you use the search function and check out the Wiki section for some good background. Feel free to check out my thread as a jumping off point for other things. There are lots of great build threads and the community here is awesome.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/196743-Pursuit-of-Childhood-Dream-Car?highlight=grom

If you were happy with a stock stereo before, chances are the stock will be just fine too. I kept my stereo setup OEM. I had to send the amps out for repair but other than that it sounds just fine. You should see if you like it first, because if your going to replace the speakers its way more complicated and expensive then the typical stereo upgrades because of the design and space allowances in the NSX.

I would stay away from the cassette adapter. You have to deal with wires or if its Bluetooth its just another thing to charge. Plus just more to get in the way of the stick shift. Most people who choose to keep the factory radio utilize a plug in Bluetooth adapter. Either a USA-SPEC or a GROM unit. Personally I use a GROM unit. Both of them take over your CD changer slot and provide Bluetooth music from your phone. Or if you want you can have it connect to an old iPod or something via plug. I have the basic one below, but they offer others wit more options.
http://gromaudio.com/store/bt3_adapters/honda_acura_91-08_bluetooth_aux-in_ipod_iphone_adapter.html

Do some searching for the best place to place the unit. You can go directly behind radio, behind your driver seat on back wall, or in trunk. I did behind driver seat as I didn't get the best Bluetooth signal from trunk and didn't want to go thru the trouble of pulling dash out to get to back of radio. Best of luck.

Hey thanks texmorales those are some really good ideas. For the mirror mounted back up camera what do you do about power for it? Is it something you need to charge or is there a wire or what?

Seems like a cool thing I might want to score the one with the GPS as well.

GZtoSF said:

Hey thanks texmorales those are some really good ideas. For the mirror mounted back up camera what do you do about power for it? Is it something you need to charge or is there a wire or what?

Seems like a cool thing I might want to score the one with the GPS as well.

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I would do a lot of research and read thru a bunch of build threads before you pull the trigger on anything to expensive or elaborate. Lots of people have done some pretty cool stuff. The mirror is hardwired to power and to cameras in front and in back of car. Some people have wireless cameras and others have the camera feed go to their double din new headunit or the nav pod display. So many cool options. For me I just have my phone which as I replace it will never go out of date or features unlike headunits. But to each their own. Decide what you want. With the GROM unit you can get the directions from your phone over the stereo and if you want to see the maps just unlock it and mount somewhere you can see.

Interesting and thanks for taking th time for posting such a detailed thread on your build! It's VERY helpful.

I'm really liking the idea of the rear view backup/GPS and i'm looking at another one from the same brand that I think might also solve the bluetooth audio dilemma.

http://rydeenmobile.com/rearview-mirror-gps-mn312r/

It looks like that one can also serve (but i'm not 100%) as a bluetooth audio hub and be hard wired into the stereo. Probably I would need something like this...http://www.discountcarstereo.com/HON-AUXDMXV.1.html which would just plug in to the CD changer input on the stereo and function as an AUX jack to wire in the mirror to. That way I wouldn't also need to get the GROM unit as well. The one mirror would serve all the functions if I understand correctly.

Plenty of time to think about this I'm still working overseas for a few more months I'm having the car shipped to where I'll be living so plenty to research and think about in the meantime!