Project FD RX-7

[.RJ]

Finally, I embarked on a search for a head unit that wouldn’t break the bank, and would look near-as-possible like it belonged in a 90’s interior.  I can’t believe how more audio manufacturers haven’t caught on to the fact that their space-invader offerings look totally out of place in many cars that are still on the road to receive a single-DIN head unit.  A Reddit post turned me on to the vaunted early-00’s Nakamichi CD700 - the 700 now referring to what it costs to buy a new-in-box unit, if you can find one.  Blaupunkt had some decent options too, but thankfully Clarion seems to know what’s up (their “Clarion Builds” 90’s cars definitely help their case) and for about $80 I got my hands on their FZ-105BT that was recommended in the same thread.  I think this’ll be plain enough to fit in nicely without clashing or drawing too much attention to itself.

This is my favorite part of your post.  This is gonna look killer.

I had an old Nakamichi head unit in my old E36, it looked great, dead match for the factory gauges and sounded great - whenever I relive my 90's dreams I'll have to find one.  I hate the space invader offerings too and I'm pretty happy with the 'BMW Professional' audio in my cars now - they're simple and dont look so cluttered.

I also hate nav screens and automatic transmissions so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯