Joined
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87 Posts
Again I say 2000+ but this upgrade can be done to most years of production. For this job it is a little time consuming approx 3 to 4 hours conservatively, as well you must be semi mechanically inclined and know a little on car and stereo wiring. This is one job maybe best left to the professionals, but if you are like me (a jack of all trades master of none) you will only trust yourself in doing it 
Stereos in super cars are always a hot topic as purists say "who needs a stereo just lower the windows and yadda yadda yadda
) But most of you I'm sure are like me and you like to listen to music while driving, or use blue tooth phone, or at least have GPS all integrated in one system.
The interior of my Esprit is good but tight, that means you have little room to work with. The stereo they were only able to install was a single DIN player. A single DIN means it takes the space of a normal car stereo, unlike moat of todays double DIN systems which incorporate GPS, reverse camera, movies etc..
Now that doesn't mean you can't din an excellent single DIN unit with a 7"inch touch screen with all the bells and whistles. Problem lies in the fact that for some odd design feature on the Esprit none of the regular flip "UP" systems will work as the will hit the top where the light switches are located.
I am and have been an Audiophile all my life, I always have decent system in all my cars. My Diablo was one of the worst cars for sound, 2 sets of speakers and a ****ty sub. After I was done with it with simple upgrades is sound amazing. But enough of me toot toot tooting my own horn
lets get to business.
Because of the unique layout of the stereo and dash in the Esprit I began a long and tedious search for the right system for the car. My final choice IMO looks great. It looks stock, it adds to the interior and updates it to the 22nd century.
The stereo is an Ouku single din flip "down" 7"inch touch screen, gps, bluetooth, reverse camera etc etc. The key word here is flip DOWN, most systems flip up with screen this does the opposite which works fantastic for the Esprit. Now I know you're saying to yourself "you moron you will hit or block off the climate control knobs" after you see the pics you will understand better.
The reason I chose this not so well known brand is simply because it is the only one that will flip up. There are other single DIN with a down 7"inch but none that flip back up or with GPS Blurtooth etc etc etc...
When you need to access the climate control you simply press a button and it lifts up to 90degrees making the climate control knobs easily accessible at any time. I only use my car in summer time so I hardly ever touch the climate control, so they do not need to be visible 100% of the time.
The Stereo itself is quite good, the touch screen works easy, it has pre programed graphics, a built in GPS for north America (sorry this will not work for Europe) bluetooth, SD slot, CD, CD-R, DVD, Iphone hard wire hook up or bluetooth music playback for all other devices, reverse camera input, built in EQ, subwoofer out, 45watt output from unit. Graphics are good, ease of use simple, sounds good not fantastic but if you add a sub (which I am working on) it will sound great.
Install was straight forward wiring, mind you I have done this 50 times in my lifetime so it comes easy. Be patient and have all the right tools, zip ties, clamps etc do not just use electrical tape as you will surely fry something
The way this stereo is designed when it is in down position it has a 1/2 space behind it where the climate control knobs sit. This is still not enough to clear so when you install the gage that holds the system you need to have is set out by another 1/2 inch giving you 1 full inch which is what size the knobs are. Take your time, be patient, and have a little imagination on how to finish it so it looks stock. I pre painted black the cage and around the stereo 3" roughly, this becomes apparent when the final install occurs you will not see the aluminum silver cage.
Job took me 3 hours, I hard wired my Ipod as it sounds better than bluetooth, also reverse camera and outputs for future powered sub. Always think ahead and a few steps beyond like wiring the mic for the phone in the pillars above my head. It does have a pretty good built in mic on the unit but since I will be playing my volume at 11
thought I needed an exterior mic.
This is pretty much final result, I might still do something about being able to see the blue color of the temp controls, it's not a big deal but I'm anal that way rotfl
I apologies I was so excited wiring the system I totally forgot to take pics of install my bad.
Here are the pics of the stem already installed
1-shows the Ouku deck complete with Ipod to the left
2-shows unit closed
3-shows unit opening
4-shows unit and accessibility of the climate control knobs
5-shows unit lit up
Stereos in super cars are always a hot topic as purists say "who needs a stereo just lower the windows and yadda yadda yadda
The interior of my Esprit is good but tight, that means you have little room to work with. The stereo they were only able to install was a single DIN player. A single DIN means it takes the space of a normal car stereo, unlike moat of todays double DIN systems which incorporate GPS, reverse camera, movies etc..
Now that doesn't mean you can't din an excellent single DIN unit with a 7"inch touch screen with all the bells and whistles. Problem lies in the fact that for some odd design feature on the Esprit none of the regular flip "UP" systems will work as the will hit the top where the light switches are located.
I am and have been an Audiophile all my life, I always have decent system in all my cars. My Diablo was one of the worst cars for sound, 2 sets of speakers and a ****ty sub. After I was done with it with simple upgrades is sound amazing. But enough of me toot toot tooting my own horn
Because of the unique layout of the stereo and dash in the Esprit I began a long and tedious search for the right system for the car. My final choice IMO looks great. It looks stock, it adds to the interior and updates it to the 22nd century.
The stereo is an Ouku single din flip "down" 7"inch touch screen, gps, bluetooth, reverse camera etc etc. The key word here is flip DOWN, most systems flip up with screen this does the opposite which works fantastic for the Esprit. Now I know you're saying to yourself "you moron you will hit or block off the climate control knobs" after you see the pics you will understand better.
The reason I chose this not so well known brand is simply because it is the only one that will flip up. There are other single DIN with a down 7"inch but none that flip back up or with GPS Blurtooth etc etc etc...
When you need to access the climate control you simply press a button and it lifts up to 90degrees making the climate control knobs easily accessible at any time. I only use my car in summer time so I hardly ever touch the climate control, so they do not need to be visible 100% of the time.
The Stereo itself is quite good, the touch screen works easy, it has pre programed graphics, a built in GPS for north America (sorry this will not work for Europe) bluetooth, SD slot, CD, CD-R, DVD, Iphone hard wire hook up or bluetooth music playback for all other devices, reverse camera input, built in EQ, subwoofer out, 45watt output from unit. Graphics are good, ease of use simple, sounds good not fantastic but if you add a sub (which I am working on) it will sound great.
Install was straight forward wiring, mind you I have done this 50 times in my lifetime so it comes easy. Be patient and have all the right tools, zip ties, clamps etc do not just use electrical tape as you will surely fry something
The way this stereo is designed when it is in down position it has a 1/2 space behind it where the climate control knobs sit. This is still not enough to clear so when you install the gage that holds the system you need to have is set out by another 1/2 inch giving you 1 full inch which is what size the knobs are. Take your time, be patient, and have a little imagination on how to finish it so it looks stock. I pre painted black the cage and around the stereo 3" roughly, this becomes apparent when the final install occurs you will not see the aluminum silver cage.
Job took me 3 hours, I hard wired my Ipod as it sounds better than bluetooth, also reverse camera and outputs for future powered sub. Always think ahead and a few steps beyond like wiring the mic for the phone in the pillars above my head. It does have a pretty good built in mic on the unit but since I will be playing my volume at 11
This is pretty much final result, I might still do something about being able to see the blue color of the temp controls, it's not a big deal but I'm anal that way rotfl
I apologies I was so excited wiring the system I totally forgot to take pics of install my bad.
Here are the pics of the stem already installed
1-shows the Ouku deck complete with Ipod to the left
2-shows unit closed
3-shows unit opening
4-shows unit and accessibility of the climate control knobs
5-shows unit lit up
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