My First Boxster and head unit issues

[Fin]

Evening all.

I am currently installing a Pioneer Sph -130- Dab double din head unit in place of my factory fitted Pcm 2 unit  which has awful navigation and fairly outdated connections etc.

With the help of an not too sure, auto electrician I am trying to install the pioneer head unit via an autoleads  PC9-408,and apparently I need to rewire the speakers from the amp bypassing the fibre optic connection and back through the bulkhead to each individual speaker , as apparently the original Porsche amp will not allow the patch cable to handle this.

Help!  

[huytonman]

Hi Fin, you have entered the forbidden world of MOST...do a search and you will find plenty of others who have tried or are trying to solve the same issue. There are two ways that seem to be the most common approaches:

1) Tear out all of the OEM set up, install you own amp which can be wired in without the use of the fibre optic connection and then use that to drive the speakers or as you are trying to do use the integrated amp as the driver (some suggest including the speakers due to their perceived poor quality and also odd low impedance).

2) Others have tried to re-use the fibre optic by using an active adapter which takes the wired signal from the headend unit and converts it to MOST and that way keep the OEM amp that drives the OEM speakers. This solution has eluded me, the MOST converters I have tried dont seem to work with the 986 gen2.

I followed a similar path to what you are trying to do by buying an old OEM amp from EBAY, removed the connector that joins it to the speaker plug and intended to use that has a donor for my own wiring harness to connect back into the car speaker harness...I havent got around to finishing the job and dont reallyt know if the head unit that I have (Alpine) will have the guts to drive the OEM speakers.

Good luck

Keith

[stupidget]

I'm looking to do the same thing, but wondered if I could simply bypass the AMP and use the new head-unit to power the speakers, or am I just being daft?

Does this look like it should do the trick:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Connects2-Porsche-Boxer-986-1997-2004-Fibre-Optic-Double-Din-Car-Stereo-Fittin/233318976817?hash=item3652e50d31:g:cy8AAOSwuW9dXWjw

[Fin]

Hi , I took the pcm unit out and therein the dance began.

non corresponding speaker, power coloured wiring , fibre optic connection caused issues.

At the moment the new head unit is in and I have disconnected the fibre optic line in , I have wired the existing speakers through the existing amp and back through the bulkhead to the pioneer head unit.   So all speakers working except now I have a horrible cracking sound when the volume approaches halfway. So next removal will be the amp followed by the outdated  Bose speakers.

huytonman above seems to be pretty spot on .

Either start from scratch and replace the entire system,headunit,amp and speakers (probably best sound quality and potentially cheaper) or mix and match the various aftermarket patch cables out there but you will be mixing old with new and from trawling the web , various results.

I will be replacing all except the Bose sub (if I can power it without interference) , albeit piecemeal and budget dependent.

Regards Fin

[stupidget]

@Fin probably a daft question but how loud is it before it starts crackling? I mean is it loud enough if you’re using an iPhone at full vol?

[Fin]

Hi , unbelievably its dependent on the type of music and format , its seems to hate anything with high treble or bass, and at 50 per cent starts to give the odd crack with it becoming worst at 60 percent full volume. Its not unlistenable but embarrassing when you sitting in your pride and joy but your stereo sounds like its out of a 1975 ford escort. I think the Bose system has odd low ohm speakers that work best with the factory fitted optic amp , when you change even one piece of the chain , the issues begin.  all or nothing is best advice or I have seen some Bluetooth or aux in cables that seem to work kinda if you do not mind changing the track etc via no info old cd standard changer screen

[RickLS7]

My car is a 2003 model so it had a MOST unit and had the upgraded multi disc player, amplifier and sub woofers in the doors.  I also bought a rear speaker kit from the US which improved things no end but was still disappointed with the sound.

I decided to a Pioneer double din nav unit and the front and rear speakers are driven by the Pioneer and the door subwoofers are driven by a 2 channel Alpine amplifier.  I removed the Porsche amplifier, multi disc and CDR23, put them all on ebay and got £350 which I was very pleased about.  The Alpine amp is mounted on the bracket under the frunk where the Porsche one was fitted, you need to run an interconnect from the head unit plus a wire which turns the amp on and off with the head unit.  I also fitted a reverse camera between the two rear number plate lights, very useful plus it's tiny so almost invisible.  The GPS aerial fits under the panel in the dash where the alarm flashing light lives.  You also need the power the white wire in the headunit ISO connector as that's the aerial amplifier.

I've changed the double din a couple of times for more up to date units over the years (I've had the car over 8 years).  Currently has a Pioneer 970BT fitted which works really well with smart phones.