D-MAN63

Hey guys and gals, I have found one Spectra Blue GS with Black interior !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a couple of questions I need to ask.

1) It has the Nachamichi upgrade and I never heard how that is. How MUCH difference is the Nachamichi compared to the stock pioneer. If I am not mistaken, the pioneer has 260 watts compared to the Nachamichi with 280. Is there enough difference that you would say to yourself that you are glad that you spent the extra money in the upgrade?

2) The pre 01 NAV on the GS, how accurate is it? To tell you the truth, I've never seen the pre 01 NAV when it is on . How is it when its on, how are the color display? Pleasing to the eyes?

I was thinking of just using my Alpine NAV but I would like the NAV to be in dash(stocked).

Thanks again !

GS4Will

D-man,

the nav on my 99gs4 is good enough for me, very easy on the eyes on application. the stock pio has a bit less than 260 watts if i remember correctly. basically it all depends what are your priority. to improve music quality, based on our stereo gurus, a couple of speakers should do the job. to me, stock nak sounds a tad better than the pios. but i think i read it soem where that the main difference between the pio and nak is just the amp and subwoofer.

blue+blk int is very very RARE. as you said, i also like my nav to be stock, and just upgarde the stereo-this is an easier route.

william

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Love my pre-01 nav. Moreover - I love the way climate/audio/nav are integrated. Very cool.

Nak is slightly better than Pioneer, but not THAT much better.

JustGS

How do you tell if you have the Nak or the Pioneer? I have NAV does that mean you can only have one or the other?

Thanks,

Matt

GS430 GUY

Matt,
98-00 GS's either have Nakamichi or NAV. One can't have both on their car, which is why the 01+ GS's switched to Mark Levinson. Now one can get NAV and ML (Nak replacement). Hope this helps.

Johnny Mo

Dieselman,
I have Nak and it was one of my requirements. The NAV is cool, but for me I didn't like the vid screen in the middle of the dash. The difference between NAk and PIO is negligible. Either way with the technology available today you can easily adjust one or the other (upgrade PIo to nicer sound, or add a/m NAV).

Good luck with your decision!

mooretorque

Nakamichi is a fairly high-end Japanese audio mfgr, whose rep was made back in the 70s and 80s by their cassette tape decks, on which you had recording and playback response of 20 - 20k Hz (albeit at -20db levels), which was reel to reel freq response. Now, I want all you youngsters to remember that this was the pre-digital age when God and everybody else did everything analog cause that's all there was. They also made the first 3 head cassette tape deck that allowed you to monitor your recording as you made it; once again, a very big deal and something no other mfgr was able to even get close to for years.

Car and Driver tested the OE systems in Cadillac, BMW and Lexus (Bose, Harmon Kardon ((which we used to call Kommon Hardon back when I sold stuff like Klipsch, MacIntosh, Bang & Olufsen, Tandberg and Nak)), and Nakamichi, respectively) using as their judge the conductor of (I think) the New York Philharmonic. He judged the Nak to be the most accurate system of the 3......note the term "accurate" meaning most faithful reproduction of the recorded original, which in his case, was (among other things) CDs of HIS orchestra when he was conducting it.

I've spent a fair amount in my home system. The Nak in my SC compared favorably to it. By a fair margin it also spanked the Pioneer system. However, it all depends on what you listen to and how critically you listen; most of what most people listen to doesn't require audiophile equipment or even audiophile ears.

And I might add that the ML blows the Nak out of the water. Granted that the best upgrades will always involve replacing speakers, what I've got is sufficient for my needs these days. Vibrating my welds loose with a monster subwoofer is not a priority, nor is it (usually) accurate reproduction. It's just what a lot of folks find fashionable. Nothing wrong with that, though.

This history lesson brought to you courtesy of Budweiser, of which I've had a few tonight. And now that I've edited, I'll have another. (Doctor prescribes another 12 oz of medicine for himself.)

Webbles

Wow, Moortorque ... i had to read your post 3 times to grasp all that information So wise ...

Diesel, If eveyrthing else looks good on the car, i would grab it, reguardless of the Nav or Nak! Its a killer combo Blue/Black.

Personaly, im gonna have my Nav system mounted seperatly. If my new GS comes with a Nav system built in, then i would just modify the sound system ...

Easy descision, you know you wanna buy the car ... you know ... come on .... i dare you.

Im gonna read Moortorques post again ...


Webbles

JustGS

Thanks for the info GS430 GUY. I have been wondering if you could have NAV and Nachamichi.

For me NAV was a must, I don't like the cheesy black l.e.d. display that you get with no NAV. You can very easily make the stereo sound better by changing the speakers and adding an amp. You can also add NAV but I don't like blocking my hole dash and vents with the after market ones. I have an after market NAV in my Tahoe and I like it but I would much rather have it built in by the factory.

Matt

D-MAN63

Thanks for all your responses guys ! It is a very good idea just to get the NAV and put in a little dough and upgrade the system. Though the GS I found with black int seems like a lucky grab to me. My brother's friend is a car dealer and just so happened got the blue/black combo at his lot. I'm going to see if he can get a blue/black with NAV because talking to him a few times, he seems like a very resourceful guy. I'm going to check out that car tomorrow.

Mooretorque, damn I gotta read your post again A lot of info !


I haven't heard the ML neither but from what people been telling me around my area, it ROCKS ! The reason why I am not getting the 430 is first because I kinda NEED e-shift . Second, the spectra blue wasn't made anymore for the 01's . Hopefully in the coming years, they will bring back the spectra.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I think your chance of finding a blue/black/nav is almost zero. There are few blue GS's to begin with. I do actually know someone though who has a ('98 I think) blue (don't know about interior) with nav in NJ! Don't know if he want to sell his car, but if you want his e-mail address anyway and want to try to get it off him, PM me

GS4Will

Mooretorque,

you read that review too:eek: i actually saved up that copy for some bragging rights to my beemer friends who think their HK systems are the best. my first lex, a 94gs300 had the nak, and the quality was to my satisfaction.

about the nak, remember the "DRAGON" Deck? i remember a college buddy of mone actually had one. and every time when i visited him and checked out his stere set up, it was like viewing a rare and expensive art collection...

william

mooretorque

gs4, indeed I do........remarkable machine.

Another tidbit for auto audiophiles: back in the mid 70s, Nakamichi and ADS brought out the first actual high fidelity car audio system with a Nakamichi tape deck (playback only) and biamped, internally powered 2 way speakers from ADS. ADS is the company that started the "small speaker, aluminum box, big sound" idea. Nak and ADS had to come up with a 12v power supply from 120v cause so many owners would take it out of the car and into the house (easy to do since the deck was underdash and the speakers were surface mounted and all brackets had nice big ***** for easy removal of speakers and deck). The speakers and deck ALONE cost $800 in 1978. This was about twice what a good home system went for but the sound was virtually unbelievable. The average car cost was around $4-5k then.

I had that system in 2 different cars, neither of which cost as much as the system!!

You guys can thank those two mfgrs for all the high end auto audio out there now; before that system, there was absolutely NOTHING that would play very loud or render what it played with anything like decent fidelity.

D-MAN63

Thanks bit for the help, appreciate it. First let me check the one thats in the lot today and I'll ask my dealer friend what he can do about getting the NAV. If all else fails, you will hear from me shortly