Changing standard speakers in a Porsche Boxster

[linggi]

I want to change the speakers and the head unit in my 2001 Boxster - does anyone know what kind of speakers are installed as standard?? Ive had a look at them, and they seem to be some of custom fit jobs. (these are the speakers in the top of the dash, not the speakers in the doors).

Cheers,
Adrian

[d3ano]

Liggi to be honest i would leave the top speakers in as they are quite good. You have a small tweeter about an 1" if i can remember correctly and then there is a slightly larger mid range speaker about 3". These run off an amp in the front (behind the spare wheel). If anything you will want to remove the woofers in the doors as they are under powered. They are no more than 4"woofers that struggle to produce any bass. I replaced these with 6x9 220watt speakers. To produce the the bass and then added a 12"sub in the rear for the really low bass. Sound trick.

As for the head unit this comes out with a key that only the Porsche Garage have. I took mine to Lindbrook, the tech did it there and then. Drove back home to replace it with a Sony MDX690. This took about 2 hours. in total to do.

[agent006]

I believe the speakers in the Boxster are made by Nokia if that's any help.

[linggi]

thanks for the replys, but I dont have any speakers in the doors - can these be retro-fitted, and will the speaker cable be behind the panel? or will I have to run cable down to the doors??

cheers

[d3ano]

linggi said: thanks for the replys, but I dont have any speakers in the doors - can these be retro-fitted, and will the speaker cable be behind the panel? or will I have to run cable down to the doors??

cheers

Speakers can be fitted in the doors but i recommend that its professionaly done as there is a lot of cutting involved and some MDF will have to go in there to hold the speaker.
Cables should already be there. They run from an amp in the front (if there is one there). It sounds like you don't have a SoundPackage. If there isn't any wires there run some down either from the new head unit or from a new amp. make sure that before you try to remove the door pannel you disconnect the earth wire from the battery otherwise you could have a bag exploding in ya face

[GregE240]

Ah, one of my pet subjects.

Since Emm got her Boxster I've been singularly unimpressed with the audio quality. It seems to be midrangy beyond belief with no defined top end whatsoever. The bass units in the doors are an utter waste of time - I did wonder for a while if they were actually connected. The head unit is a Becker rebadged as Porsche and they have a reasonable reputation - I don't think that is the root cause of the problems.

If/when I get the green light I will be replacing the dash mounts with a proper two way speaker that is capable of reproducing high end frequencies, and probably either two or three ways in the doors. Its got to be better than whats in it at the moment. I'd imagine the Bose option is better, by how much I don't know.

[d3ano]

I heard the BOSE option and its not that much better to be honest. To get anything out of Boxster you really need to change the head until, and door speakers. The Dash mounts are really quite clear and don't crackel at high volumes (thats why i kept them in) If you want to put 2 or 3 way speakers in the doors you will need to change the wiring as for some reason it will only play low frequencies (maybe due to a hidden cross over, sod knows where it is though). So at the moment i have a 6x9 producing the bass from the doors which is about 100times beter than what was in there.
I found that the OE head unit is underpowered also. Turn it half way up and all the speakers start to distort, even with the amp. So bined that and got a New Sony MDX690 with 4x52. much clearer top end and cleaner, tighter bass. I recommed that a sub is installed though, as when the hood is down most of the bass seems to escape. I have placed a 12" sub in the rear boot, and i still have space left for a coupe of shopping bags. I used to have 2X12" sub, but it doesn't sound any better as there is no free air in the boot.
My advice is get the upgrade ASAP!

[rodsmith]

Hi linggi, I had the same problem the only purpose built solution I found was by TechArt (www.techart.de/Techart_Katalog%20986_englisch/techart-katalog%20986/tuereinbaukonsolen.htm) . It replaces the speakers in dash with tweeters and speaker pods that are bolted onto the doors without having to cut the door membranes.

Luckily for me I bought them secondhand and it only cost me £250 plus £120 installation. If you buy them from tech9 I think its about £700 plus installation! But they do sound great!