Amp or other options to use CDR-210 with existing aftermarket speakers

My 99 early build came with a Kenwood deck and upgraded door and rear speakers. The installers used the Becker wiring harness to feed the rear speakers and splice right before the Nokia amp in order to use existing wiring. Fronts were wired directly to deck. I'm trying to put BACK a CDR-210 as that was the original stereo. From what I've read the CDR-210 can't power speakers well enough on its own, and the Nokia amp doesnt work with non-nokia speakers bc of ohms. Im hoping there is an amp I can replace the Nokia with. OR I'm wrong about the ohms thing and the nokia can run the door and rear speakers. When the kenwood was added, they cut the dash speakers entirely and wired the tweaters to the door speakers via a cross over. Im feeling a little lost with what to do. Pics of rears (kenwood) and door (boston) speakers with crossover (tweater is stock).

Ok, let me put this simply. 1. Yes, the CDR-210 has 4SPEAKER LEVEL output and can power 4 speakers at 4 ohm loads. And yes, very little power output.. I think it's like around 15-20 watts per channel. 2. If the car came with a Nokia or HAES 6-channel amplifier, ONLY two of the speaker outputs are measured at 2 ohm impediance. The front dash and rear speaker outputs from the 6-channel amps are standard 4 ohm impedance.

Quotes source post: 19042173

Thanks for that. Ok so using the Deck to power the speakers is not a possible solution then. And if i wanted to reconnect the wiring and use the Nokia amp I'd have the replace the door speakers to 2ohm speakers? Feel like path of least resistance is to get a 4 channel amp, connect the Becker to it via RCA ( i think there's a harness for that, though the becker does have line out wires but not sure they can run to a modern amp), but then I need an amp recommendation that would work with the speakers I have.

Quotes source posts: 19042228, 19042228

That is correct, the factory wiring for the door speakers is 2 ohm impedance. You can purchase 2 ohm 5-1/4" speakers from Crutchfield. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108P50...2IS.html?tp=97 https://www.crutchfield.com/p_151OE5...ss-OE-522.html Remember, you have 6 speakers in the 996. Therefore, you'll need a 6 channel amplifier or you can use the 4 channel amp to just power 4 speakers and the speaker level output on the Becker to feed 2 speakers. Yes, you can get an adapter that will take the YELLOW C1 plug and output LIVE LEVEL audio via RCA female connectors. They sell them on eBay.

Quotes source post: 19042272

Thanks for your assistance, do you have an opinion on which direction I should take? New amp and stick to 4 channels and existing speakers. Or Nokia amp, and go back six channels but have to pull doors apart and replace with 2ohm speakers. End of day I just want the original look and feel of the stereo back with ability to put radio on. Obviously good sound quality would be nice, but not looking to have a pumping stereo. My biggest issue is reconnecting the harness wires - already have so little length of factory wiring to work with.

Quotes source post: 19042397

This^^^ Get the wire sorted and put the stereo and amplifier back to the factory original and just update the speakers. That will give you great sound IMHO. If you ever wanted a modern radio that retains the factory look and feel, then open up your wallet and purchase the PCCM+.

Quotes source post: 19042426

Ok cool thank you, this mentally helps me move forward. It was a process to pull the Kenwood and the Sat radio antenea stuff (and while I was at it the Radar detector mess). Must have removed 10 lbs of junk! And then figuring out they had spliced the factory lines at the radio side and the amp side - it's worn me down. I'll get those 2ohm speakers and at least have a solid direction to go in! Next have to reconnect little tiny single strand line-out wires.

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I feel ya... had to do the same thing on my 2nd 996. It was truly a mess to sort out. With patience and a lot of photos, I got it all back to stock with a CDR-220.

Have a similar thread I am concluded with, continuing the speaker and final steps of the CDR rewire here! Finally rewired the back side of the CDR in my back to stock radio project. Soldered the tiny line outs back together again, and radio fires up and even got sound out of a speaker. I also resoldered the front tweeters that had been cut away so I can get back to using all six speakers. Next up. Rewire the harness right before the amp. And then the hard part, try and splice wires to the original harness to reconnect the door speakers. But they cut the wires to damn close to the front grommit, I'm not sure I can even get tools up there, let along strip enough wire cleanly (last pic). But given how long I've had a hole in my dash, so happy this menial project is moving foreward! Testing polarity with the 9V battery trick Left Door Speaker wire, looks like a lot more wire than there really is!!

Ben, love to see your final list of what you did and speakers used. After a round-trip from Chicago to phila and back, it's about time to replace my 22 year old speakers. Just like you, I am looking to keep the CDR-210 with aftermarket speakers that fit without modification.

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That's not actually what I've done here. Someone prior to me installed a Kenwood head unit with Kenwood rears, and Boston door speakers. They cut away the dash speakers in order to use the tweeters connected to a crossover off the doors. I am trying to put back the original CDR � 210 and in the process use the aftermarket Kenwood speakers in the rear, and I reconnected the tweeters to the stock speakers in the dash. That leaves me with needing to replace the door speakers because the ones they used are 4 ohm and I need to use 2 ohm. All the issues I'm facing above are a lot of wiring connections. From what I've read, aftermarket speakers can only do so much with the Nokia amp. But I'm more interested in just keeping things at stock as possible and having the radio on once in a while. I really didn't like the look of the Kenwood head unit. Both the door, and the rear speakers looks like they had to cut away parts of the plastic because they are deeper than the stock speakers. So you probably will have to do some modification is my guess.

Quotes source post: 19042272

Can you confirm the PowerBass speakers will fit the door enclosures? The website says it will not fit a 1999 996 but they are the only 2-ohm 5-1/4" speaker they have. I've been using just the dash and rear speakers, but time to try and get the doors replaced (biggest issue is the lack of wire I have available from the hardness -- scroll up a few posts). But I want to get the speakers ordered and I can at least get them in the doors when I have some open time.

Quotes source post: 19684997

Yes, I can confirm these work perfectly. The 2-ohm impedance is the key. During my tests on my Porsches that had the HAES 6-channel factory amp, I found that 4-ohm speakers would pop in the bass even if they weren't turn up much. I installed the PowerBass 2-ohm 5 1/4" speakers and booooom... they worked perfectly. And, a clearer sound than the factory originals.