Ok, so the story is my husband is currently in Iraq and as a gift for his homecoming I've purchased him his dream car... a 2004 Commemorative Edition Corvette Convertible. Now it still has the standard radio still in it and I would like to upgrade it to an in-dash touchscreen (gps, dvd/cd, bluetooth, satellite radio, all that jazz).

I've been researching so many units and am unsure of the mods that will need to take place for a double-din or which unit is the best to buy (and will fit nicely) for this year car.

He returns home Dec 19th so I would like to get suggestions quickly so I can order and have a professional put in so I can have the bezel modified if needed.

PLEASE HELP!!!

 

Wow, what a gift regardless of the radio upgrade.

<----------- Also, you have great taste in cars.

Sorry, no help on the mod, but to you both.

 

There are some incredible women coming on the forum lately.Anyway,Dennis on the forum is the goto guy in this situation. I would go with a Kenwood in dash nav. I believe the best right now is the 9140.

 

You'll need a new bezel for positive. For the head unit, I recommend Pioneer. IMO, they build the best head units without question. If you can find an AVIC-Z3, that's the best of the best IMO. The newer AVIC-Z110 seems a bit more confusing to operate, and it lacks the on board hard drive that the Z3 has. With the Z3, every time you load a CD into the deck, it records that CD to the hard drive.

You'll have to have a stereo shop custom fabricate you a mounting kit, but it's pretty easy. I'm not sure of your budget for this, but you'll want to replace all the speakers in the car. I have a convertible, and from my experience, I wouldn't waste your time with rear speakers. Tough to fit anything decent back there, and you don't really hear them anyway. Do some really good door speakers and it will make a world of difference. For more sound (and more money) add an amp. For again more sound and money, add a sub. To keep the cost down, you can use a 4 channel amp wit the front channels running the door speakers and the rear channels bridged and running the sub. I just put a stereo in a friends car (03 vert) for about $1200 in parts, and it ROCKS!!! We saved a bunch of dough as I did the install, and we didn't do a nav head unit, but it still sounds awesome.

Good luck, I hope it all works out well.

 

A second this option. Kenwood IMO offers the best NAV system as it incorporates Garmin I believe.

You might consider upgrading the door and rear (useless OEM version) speakers to add some kick.

 

Thanks so much you guys! I am researching your suggestions now. I really don't have a budget in mind since the sacrifice he's made for our country is priceless and I want to show him just how much I appreciate all he does for me and our kiddos.

I will let you know how it all goes and will post pics when it's done.

THANKS SO MUCH!

 

Here is a link to the guy that has all the answers.
Bill
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...ck-to-you.html

 

Wow what a gift this will be. I can only imagine the look on his face.