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I have been thinking about bringing my GTA back to the original radio but really do not want to lose a ton of performance by going back. My pioneer is a DEH P77DH and the GTA had what looked like the up level UT4 radio. What I really want to know is how much better the pioneer is than stock.
I also upgraded the stock speakers after one blew out with JBL in stock size in the front and back, stereo honestly sounds great but it’s hard to beat the stock look. Just curious what opinions are from the audio guys, I am a real noob with audio.
If I lost a lot of stereo performance I would not bother doing the swap. Also the steering wheel audio controls currently work with the Pioneer which is great to keep OE functionality.
Not sure how we can judge how much better the Pioneer is than the factory but I just had M&R Electronics out of Saginaw, MI rebuild my radio. They replaced the faulty capacitors as the reception was bad then they fixed the cassette deck and added an auxiliary input. They turned it around in about a week.
Now back to the sound quality, I think all
my speakers need replaced so stay tuned, I will let you know how that goes. I think I am going to go with Polk Audio 6” x 9” in the rear and next year I will replace the dash pad and speakers (probably also Polk Audio).
Not sure how we can judge how much better the Pioneer is than the factory but I just had M&R Electronics out of Saginaw, MI rebuild my radio. They replaced the faulty capacitors as the reception was bad then they fixed the cassette deck and added an auxiliary input. They turns it around in about a week.
Now back to the sound quality, I think all
my speakers need replaced so stay tuned, I will let you know how that goes. I think I am going to go with Polk Audio 6” x 9” in the rear and next year I will replace the dash pad and speakers (probably also Polk Audio).
Those new speakers made a world of difference, I purchased them through Crutchfield and they came with everything needed for the install. Sound quality was really improved.
Also does M&R offer a Bluetooth upgrade on the radio? I actually added BT streaming on mine with a $15 Chinese part that plugs into the CD changer port and has 2 wires to power and ground, works great so far.
I think along the way I asked about Bluetooth and M&R did not recommend it. So I ended up going with a hard wired auxiliary port (see upper right port location).
IMO, head units don't make a huge difference in sound quality. It's the speakers that really matter. Or course, the head unit and speakers have to be well matched with regard to power handling. But for the most part, IMO, a radio is a radio. And Delco radios actually were pretty good.
For me, it would come down to how much I wanted the original stock look. I'd have to see what your Pioneer installation looks like. But the fact that you got that unit to work with the steering wheel controls is great.
For me, I considered getting a new unit because when I bought my GTA in 2018, the radio reception was really poor, though the cassette player still worked well. But there haven't been a lot of success stories getting other head units to work with the SWCs, so I had M&R repair my original radio, which needed some new capacitors. (Having that bank of non-functional buttons in front of me would have driven me crazy.) They also added an auxiliary jack so that I can plug in my phone.
IMO, head units don't make a huge difference in sound quality. It's the speakers that really matter. Or course, the head unit and speakers have to be well matched with regard to power handling. But for the most part, IMO, a radio is a radio. And Delco radios actually were pretty good.
For me, it would come down to how much I wanted the original stock look. I'd have to see what your Pioneer installation looks like. But the fact that you got that unit to work with the steering wheel controls is great.
For me, I considered getting a new unit because when I bought my GTA in 2018, the radio reception was really poor, though the cassette player still worked well. But there haven't been a lot of success stories getting other head units to work with the SWCs, so I had M&R repair my original radio, which needed some new capacitors. (Having that bank of non-functional buttons in front of me would have driven me crazy.) They also added an auxiliary jack so that I can plug in my phone.
The install was done by a PO but in my limited knowledge looks decent and the fact that they made sure the steering wheel controls still works says they likely cared somewhat to do the extra work.
Thanks for your insight on the head unit, I may look for a stock unit to sit on and get refurbished down the road. I know I will likely need the original connectors that went into the OE stereo too. Next time I have some time I will have to study the wiring back there to see exactly what I am working with.
The install was done by a PO but in my limited knowledge looks decent and the fact that they made sure the steering wheel controls still works says they likely cared somewhat to do the extra work.
Thanks for your insight on the head unit, I may look for a stock unit to sit on and get refurbished down the road. I know I will likely need the original connectors that went into the OE stereo too. Next time I have some time I will have to study the wiring back there to see exactly what I am working with.
Good luck on getting a good stock GTA head unit. When mine was having issues and before I sent it for repair, I looked around for another one. Because of the steering wheel controls, they're pretty rare and desirable. I think only GTAs, some 6000s, and some Bonnevilles had the SWCs, so the surviving number of radios is pretty small.
The ones I've seen advertised (one just last week on Facebook) will say stuff like, "Everything works!. Except tape player." Yeah, great, everything except a major chunk of it works. And people ask for a lot of money for them. This guy wanted a little over $400. When I questioned the "everything but the tape player works" thing, he said that when he tested the tape player, if it worked, the price would go up.
Good luck on getting a good stock GTA head unit. When mine was having issues and before I sent it for repair, I looked around for another one. Because of the steering wheel controls, they're pretty rare and desirable. I think only GTAs, some 6000s, and some Bonnevilles had the SWCs, so the surviving number of radios is pretty small.
The ones I've seen advertised (one just last week on Facebook) will say stuff like, "Everything works!. Except tape player." Yeah, great, everything except a major chunk of it works. And people ask for a lot of money for them. This guy wanted a little over $400. When I questioned the "everything but the tape player works" thing, he said that when he tested the tape player, if it worked, the price would go up.
I figure if I can find a cosmetically decent one I’m in at least $3-400 and another $200 atleast to get it properly functioning…which is why I may just keep the perfectly functioning Pioneer for now.
This may be a after paint/body work project but it’s good to get info before and I have been keeping my eyes out for a radio, a guy sold an untested one recently on here for like $140 so there are some decent deals out there still.
I bought one of those Pioneer DEH P77DH units back in the day, and were it not for the whole "inoperative steering wheel controls" it would still be in my car. It sounded fantastic.
If your deck rejects it, take it apart and remove the gear. My cassette didn't need that mod in my Jeep, but my wife's cassette did for her Lexus head unit.
I bought one of those Pioneer DEH P77DH units back in the day, and were it not for the whole "inoperative steering wheel controls" it would still be in my car. It sounded fantastic.
It is a good one, mine was even rigged up for the steering wheel controls. I think I will stick with it until it breaks.
I also saw a nice looking radio mounting kit for the new single din units. The company was maptech and looked like decent stuff.
I have gone back and forth on this, I replaced all the speakers but my factory GTA deck had horrible reception, I sent it off to M&R in Saginaw they rebuilt it, put it away. I had put a Kenwood in, but it didn't match the look, sounded great, but didn't match, sold it. In that time I found a GTA CD player, sent that to Craig Kettner and had it rebuilt, put it in. I also added a Alpine Power Pack amplifier. That sounded really good because the speakers had the power of an after market deck, especially when played through your phone. Got kind of nostalgic and put the old factory deck in and pulled the Power pack, happy with it. Went down to half priced books, bought some used cassette tapes, found some others off ebay, and I actually really enjoy it. Does it sound modern, no, but it sounds good for what it is. I have a really nice JL 10" sub, I may add that at some point.
1. Replace speakers, that helps, it has a good sound, nothing like modern, but fits the car and the era.
2. The thing I learned from the Power Pack on the stock head unit, yes it gives the speakers more power like an after market head unit, but only sounds good on a "clean" audio stream, if you listen to FM for example, it's going to amplify everything. If you have an aux adapter to your phone, sounds great.
3. After market, more power, great with after market speakers, better sound processor most likely, but it doesn't match.
I wound up getting OE GTA radio and want to put it through the paces and everything connected nice except the antenna? The one on the car looks factory but it will not go into the OE gta radio…I took a few pics:
If you guys have any ideas or if I just need to get an adapter let me know. Wound this be the one to get? metra part # 40-GM20
