Nakamich Pioneer Headunit Compatability

[OmarG]

I just thought I'd tell you guys about My stock headunit journey. I got a 93 ls400 in july 06. The tape player (pioneer) didn't work. I got about 4 replacement pioneer replacements. All of them were faulty. ALL OF them :cries: . I finally got one that worked good. :D But then when the cold weather came, it started acting up. until the car was warmed up the tape player would have awful feedback interference noises. Also if my ipod was cranked up any higher than 3/5ths the player would go mess up with awful noises. Sometimes i could just eject the adapter and put it back and it would be fine. But after a while it wouldn't work and i was stuck listening to the radio or a crappy radio transmitter. Well i would have loved to hardwire my ipod but i don't have a cd changer, so it wouldn't work. I also really don't like aftermarket headunits. They look out of place. If i were to fix my H/U it would cost over $180! (Don't worry most of the relplacements were free under a 30 day warranty.)

Well the member Pioneersuby told me nakamichi head units are compatible. Also nakamichi is a tape specialist and their headunits are built much better than pioneer. So i went out and got a 93-94 Nak and guess what it didn't have the same connectors. :( I was bummed. Well i finally got my hands on a 90 nak and apparently 90-92 Naks are compatible with 90-94 pioneers. The sound is so much better! Holy crap! More bass, more treble, more mids. Better all around. It sounds phenomenal. I got some Nak tweeters too and the sound got even clearer. I'm very happy.

ok so if you didn't wanna read all that I'll sum it up

Pioneer tape players suck. Don't waste your money on them. The sound isn't very good either.

Nakamichi tape players rock! Very clean sounding. Better built too.

90-92 Nak headunits are compatible with 90-94 pioneer systems. They have the exact same connectors.

93-94 Nak H/U's are are not interchangable with any other LS400's. The connectors are different.

Hope this was a bit helpful!

[dcfish]

I just thought I'd tell you guys about My stock headunit journey. I got a 93 ls400 in july 06. The tape player (pioneer) didn't work. I got about 4 replacement pioneer replacements. All of them were faulty. ALL OF them :cries: . I finally got one that worked good. :D But then when the cold weather came, it started acting up. until the car was warmed up the tape player would have awful feedback interference noises. Also if my ipod was cranked up any higher than 3/5ths the player would go mess up with awful noises. Sometimes i could just eject the adapter and put it back and it would be fine. But after a while it wouldn't work and i was stuck listening to the radio or a crappy radio transmitter. Well i would have loved to hardwire my ipod but i don't have a cd changer, so it wouldn't work. I also really don't like aftermarket headunits. They look out of place. If i were to fix my H/U it would cost over $180! (Don't worry most of the relplacements were free under a 30 day warranty.)

Well the member Pioneersuby told me nakamichi head units are compatible. Also nakamichi is a tape specialist and their headunits are built much better than pioneer. So i went out and got a 93-94 Nak and guess what it didn't have the same connectors. :( I was bummed. Well i finally got my hands on a 90 nak and apparently 90-92 Naks are compatible with 90-94 pioneers. The sound is so much better! Holy crap! More bass, more treble, more mids. Better all around. It sounds phenomenal. I got some Nak tweeters too and the sound got even clearer. I'm very happy.

ok so if you didn't wanna read all that I'll sum it up

Pioneer tape players suck. Don't waste your money on them. The sound isn't very good either.

Nakamichi tape players rock! Very clean sounding. Better built too.

90-92 Nak headunits are compatible with 90-94 pioneer systems. They have the exact same connectors.

93-94 Nak H/U's are are not interchangable with any other LS400's. The connectors are different.

Hope this was a bit helpful!

I could have told you that... :whistles: And I could have got the nak for you in the first place.

[OmarG]

What would I have to do to wire up an OEM CD changer? I have a car that i can take all the parts out of. I have a 93 the parts car is a 90

[PIONEERSUBY]

What would I have to do to wire up an OEM CD changer? I have a car that i can take all the parts out of. I have a 93 the parts car is a 90

i am glad you followed my advice and got a 90 to 92 nak headunit. if your car had no changer when ordered from factory it was not prewired. for the cd changer cable which is part of the main wiring harness so the one in the parts car is of no use. but since you have a cd button nak radio now a custom made cd changer cable will solve the problem. there is a 14 pin plug into the cd button radio and the 6 and 10 pin connctors to connect to oem changer in the trunk. the oem 93 94 changer is the best one. the 90 to 92 changers are not fixable anymore due to parts unavailable. the 93 94 changer mechanism is still used today in 7 series bmw so parts more available. the custom made cable is ground shielded otherwise you will get interfrence. i sell them for 75.00 and the parts to make one properly will cost more than that.

[flanker271]

Hi, great info!

I have a Pioneer unit. My question is, my left driver's door speaker has lower volume than the right door speaker. The balance knob is set to the middle, of course. This is true for all volume settings and is really annoying. Thinking this might be the left speaker problem, I replaced both left and right speakers with two brand new 4" speakers. The problem still exists: left speaker has lower volume than right speaker. Now I need some inputs from you guys. Could it be the headunit or bad (old) wiring or possibly the amplifier?

p.s. if it's the head unit then I'm looking for a 90-92 Nakamichi Head Unit, following OmarG's advice

[dcfish]

Hi, great info!

I have a Pioneer unit. My question is, my left driver's door speaker has lower volume than the right door speaker. The balance knob is set to the middle, of course. This is true for all volume settings and is really annoying. Thinking this might be the left speaker problem, I replaced both left and right speakers with two brand new 4" speakers. The problem still exists: left speaker has lower volume than right speaker. Now I need some inputs from you guys. Could it be the headunit or bad (old) wiring or possibly the amplifier?

p.s. if it's the head unit then I'm looking for a 90-92 Nakamichi Head Unit, following OmarG's advice

Well, The amp in a 92 is built into the headunit. The amp in the trunk is just for the sub. So you should replace the headunit. I have the nak head and amp available.

[flanker271]

So you think it's the headunit that's causing the problem? If switching to a Nak Headunit do I need to replace the Pioneer amp also?

Give me a quote on the nak headunit.

Thanks

[flanker271]

I just figured out why my woofer is not working -- it wasn't powered! It looks like the previous owner installed after market radio into the vehicle but then tried to restore it back to OEM. My question is, where should the woofer wires be connected to the amp in the trunk? I only have one plug for the amp but I don't see any terminals +/- for the woofer wires to hook up to.. Please see the attached photos. I don't think the woofer wires are OEM either.