987 Spyde audio upgrade any suggestions
Discussion
happie33 said:
kingston
been into system data on pcm and can’t find version number, looked through manual and still no pcm version
god knows if the pic helps but
photo from front of manual ...
Hi there sorry I missed your posts before Kingston is correctbeen into system data on pcm and can’t find version number, looked through manual and still no pcm version
god knows if the pic helps but
photo from front of manual ...
You have PCM 2.1
The output of the Pioneer head unit is standard analogue audio, the Bose amp only works with fiber Most.
You can buy the Connects 2 cable for about £200 and it is a relatively straightforward affair
http://www.connects2.co.uk/Product/ProductItem/CT5...
I could not get the Connects2 steering control to work but the Pacer one from Italy is a dream and the phone buttons work unlike the Connects2 one!
Anyway you will need to run a switched live feed from the fusebox - just use a £2 piggy back jobby off eBay, 2 minute job
You will get the Pioneer functionality and the sound quality will be a bit better
However I really would suggest that you swap the amp and the mid-range speakers in the door too (keep the subs they are good) as it totally transforms it - but up to you. If you are in Surrey you're welcome to have a quick listen some time
I guess owning a Spyder you will be keeping all the Porsche stuff to swap back at some point if you sell as the cars are special and people like OEM.
I sold all mine and got £400 for it all - bit less than I wanted but still went nicely towards the £900 I spent on the new gear.
I'll 'watch' this thread in case you have more questions or feel free to PM me as you progress
righto chaps.....an update....
As mentioned above... Fascia matches, looks lovely, all flush and neat. touchscreen unit looks good, nice EQ built into the unit.
Point to note before removing PCM, make sure you 0 any base / fader settings.... tip from another source.
Also- the porsche Ariel leads do not connect directly into the head unit, so off to halfords to buy a connecting lead and bingo, i have radio again...
So the unit :
the pioneer double din touchscreen is in and working.
I got bluetooth, plays music from phone, radio from head unit.... etc
Iphone also connects via the apple charging lead.. phone charges etc but...
and BIG but...
cant get apple carplay to appear on the head unit.
Its as if the head unit doesnt recognize the iphone is connected.
Connected to port 1 as instructed, tried port 2 as well. but nothing.. Iphone has upto date IOS, rebooted iphone, gone into iphone settings switched on Car Play (it finds the head unit etc)...
just cant get the head unit to display car play and pick up the iphone....
still trying to resolve... any tips???
As mentioned above... Fascia matches, looks lovely, all flush and neat. touchscreen unit looks good, nice EQ built into the unit.
Point to note before removing PCM, make sure you 0 any base / fader settings.... tip from another source.
Also- the porsche Ariel leads do not connect directly into the head unit, so off to halfords to buy a connecting lead and bingo, i have radio again...
So the unit :
the pioneer double din touchscreen is in and working.
I got bluetooth, plays music from phone, radio from head unit.... etc
Iphone also connects via the apple charging lead.. phone charges etc but...
and BIG but...
cant get apple carplay to appear on the head unit.
Its as if the head unit doesnt recognize the iphone is connected.
Connected to port 1 as instructed, tried port 2 as well. but nothing.. Iphone has upto date IOS, rebooted iphone, gone into iphone settings switched on Car Play (it finds the head unit etc)...
just cant get the head unit to display car play and pick up the iphone....
still trying to resolve... any tips???
I got your PM on this, but easier for me to reply here as I can only access email on my phone at the moment.
Could you provide a bit more detail on the CarPlay issue? What exactly happens when you plug your phone in - nothing at all, or does it allow you to use it in the Pioneer OS? If it just doesn't connect at all, have you been able to try other Lightning cables and/or other iPhones?
The only time I found mine wouldn't work was when I had some dust that had accumulated in the iPhone's charging port. It charged ok on my other devices. but would not connect to CarPlay. It is worth carefully putting the SIM eject tool in there to check it is totally clear.
You also mentioned the handbrake connection. This shouldn't be causing your main problem, but it might limit some functionality. The unit is designed so that the handbrake must be applied before you can do things like watch video or type into the interface.
Whilst I wouldn't want to do those things whilst driving, I found it also limited the Siri voice control, so I bypassed it. From memory, it was as simple as connecting that handbrake cable to the earth wire to make it seem to the Pioneer that the handbrake is always applied. Hopefully, someone with more recent experience of the install will be able to confirm/deny this before you do anything.
I was not able to get the radio working on mine and I gave up in the end because I never use it anyway! Hopefully, someone else will be able to advise on that part.
Could you provide a bit more detail on the CarPlay issue? What exactly happens when you plug your phone in - nothing at all, or does it allow you to use it in the Pioneer OS? If it just doesn't connect at all, have you been able to try other Lightning cables and/or other iPhones?
The only time I found mine wouldn't work was when I had some dust that had accumulated in the iPhone's charging port. It charged ok on my other devices. but would not connect to CarPlay. It is worth carefully putting the SIM eject tool in there to check it is totally clear.
You also mentioned the handbrake connection. This shouldn't be causing your main problem, but it might limit some functionality. The unit is designed so that the handbrake must be applied before you can do things like watch video or type into the interface.
Whilst I wouldn't want to do those things whilst driving, I found it also limited the Siri voice control, so I bypassed it. From memory, it was as simple as connecting that handbrake cable to the earth wire to make it seem to the Pioneer that the handbrake is always applied. Hopefully, someone with more recent experience of the install will be able to confirm/deny this before you do anything.
I was not able to get the radio working on mine and I gave up in the end because I never use it anyway! Hopefully, someone else will be able to advise on that part.
jakesmith said:
Hi, happy to give as much advice as you need really - the procedure on a gen 2 should be exactly the same as gen 1
My car had PCM 2.1 and Bose.... etc etc.
Light thread ressurection but was wondering if you might shed further light on all that clever business...My car had PCM 2.1 and Bose.... etc etc.
Edited by jakesmith on Saturday 3rd February 18:25
987.2 Cayman with PCM3 Bose and it's still a bit sh*t. Options are:
1) New headunit + Connects2 fibre optic adapter (either ISO or Quadlock depending) but keep all speakers (better sealed & door skins deadened) & Bose amp. Simplest, if it works that is?
2) As above but swap out sh*tty mids/tweeters only. Would replacing with 2 ohm speakers of better quality effectively work as plug and play with the Bose amp?
3) The full bifta as you've previously laid out. Question here is how does one know if an amp is 2 ohm stable and would it be better to have the mids/tweeters 2 ohm? Also if swapping out the mids for 2 ohm would a new amp still provide a notable improvement?
Cheers dude
BillyRay said:
jakesmith said:
Hi, happy to give as much advice as you need really - the procedure on a gen 2 should be exactly the same as gen 1
My car had PCM 2.1 and Bose.... etc etc.
Light thread ressurection but was wondering if you might shed further light on all that clever business...My car had PCM 2.1 and Bose.... etc etc.
Edited by jakesmith on Saturday 3rd February 18:25
987.2 Cayman with PCM3 Bose and it's still a bit sh*t. Options are:
1) New headunit + Connects2 fibre optic adapter (either ISO or Quadlock depending) but keep all speakers (better sealed & door skins deadened) & Bose amp. Simplest, if it works that is?
2) As above but swap out sh*tty mids/tweeters only. Would replacing with 2 ohm speakers of better quality effectively work as plug and play with the Bose amp?
3) The full bifta as you've previously laid out. Question here is how does one know if an amp is 2 ohm stable and would it be better to have the mids/tweeters 2 ohm? Also if swapping out the mids for 2 ohm would a new amp still provide a notable improvement?
Cheers dude
If you’re only changing the head unit then as you identified, you’ll need a fibre optic most interface to keep the amp and speakers
The amp and speakers are not good
The fibre optic interface costs more than a 2 ohm stable amp that’s the issue for me. Why spend all that money and still be stuck with poor sound quality
The subs in the doors perform very well when driven by a good source and a good amp
The amp I bought was Focal 4.350
If you’re opening the doors up to soundproof them, and it does need doing, it’s zero effort to swap the mid range speakers for much better ones. And changing the dash speakers is also a quick and easy job
So really, considering the cost of the most interface, and the time spent soundproofing the doors, it was a no brainer to me to swap the amp and the speakers too - it didn’t add much in cost or time. The whole shebang was u see £1k from memory
The power wiring for the existing amp is adequate for that Focal amp too which saves time cost and effort in installing a new amp
Top tip is to buy the Bose amp interface plug from USA as it then means you can make it all reversible
Any questions just ask
kingston12 said:
jakesmith said:
Top tip is to buy the Bose amp interface plug from USA as it then means you can make it all reversible
Would you mind posting a link to that part. I've still got my HU going into Bose/MOST, but I still keep toying with the idea of doing it properly.I would contact them and see if they do a cheaper shipping option - they did when I bought mine both times (it's the same plug as the B&O amp on my R8). I would 100% recomend using this plug though as it means you don't have to
a) cut your car's loom / then have to put it back when you sell it
b) spend hours squatting over the car doing the above as you can make your own loom up in the comfort and warmth of your home & just plug & play
c) spend hours figuring out what is what as the wires coming off the plug are all labeled already for the Porsche Bose system
Sir you are a gentleman & a scholar, those Connects2 adapters are crazy expensive so that link is bang on.
Well you've convinced me to sling the Bose amp and mids, in which case would these be a good fit:
Thinking that keeping the speakers 2 ohm would be a better fit with the remaining system & new amp?
https://www.caraudioexpress.co.uk/manufacturers/bl...
And would this sucker be suitable to drive things?
https://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/s-series-ampli...
Thanks again dude, invaluable wisdom
Well you've convinced me to sling the Bose amp and mids, in which case would these be a good fit:
Thinking that keeping the speakers 2 ohm would be a better fit with the remaining system & new amp?
https://www.caraudioexpress.co.uk/manufacturers/bl...
And would this sucker be suitable to drive things?
https://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/s-series-ampli...
Thanks again dude, invaluable wisdom
BillyRay said:
Sir you are a gentleman & a scholar, those Connects2 adapters are crazy expensive so that link is bang on.
Well you've convinced me to sling the Bose amp and mids, in which case would these be a good fit:
Thinking that keeping the speakers 2 ohm would be a better fit with the remaining system & new amp?
https://www.caraudioexpress.co.uk/manufacturers/bl...
And would this sucker be suitable to drive things?
https://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/s-series-ampli...
Thanks again dude, invaluable wisdom
Probably fine but I would spend 20 mins taking the seat out and being sure you have space for the amp and crossovers (I believe in the gen 2 cars the amp was moved to under the drivers seat?). That amp will need 4cm or so for the cables to come out too don't forget. I know it's a small amp but space is tight especially as you need space for the cables, the big plug, and the crossoverWell you've convinced me to sling the Bose amp and mids, in which case would these be a good fit:
Thinking that keeping the speakers 2 ohm would be a better fit with the remaining system & new amp?
https://www.caraudioexpress.co.uk/manufacturers/bl...
And would this sucker be suitable to drive things?
https://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/s-series-ampli...
Thanks again dude, invaluable wisdom
Glancing at the specs, aren't the speakers underpowered for the amp if it's in 2ohm mode?
There is no need to run the 2 sets of channels at the same impedance, the amp can run the subs at 2ohm and the mids at 4 ohm and that would open up your range of speakers available. I'm not a fan of those little crosovers TBH
I installed some more 'value' Hertz components in my Smart recently and regretted it afterwards, the amount of effort involved it seemed a shame to not have something better in. Although changing speakers in the Smart is something else - you have to take off the bonnet, bumper, front quarters and outter door skins! it's a full day job. ANyway...
I installed these, they are pricey but they are phenomenal - they are the top of the middle of the range if you see what I mean
http://caraudiosecurity.com/es100k-elite-k2-power-...
Don't forget you will need to buy some foam weather-stripping to put around the edge of the bit that holds the mid into the door to get a nice tight seal
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10mtr-Foam-Draught-Excl...
ALso buy a few spare door card clips, unlike the ones Audi use, the Porsche ones are cheap and several will break, especially if it is the first time you take the door panel off
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PORSCHE-DOOR-PANEL-CARD...
And I would buy the correct tool for removing these, makes it a hell of a lot easier:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PCS-Car-Door-Upholster...
If it is the first time you have done this I found the easiest way is to lie down on your back under the door looking up, shine a bright torch up the crack as you peel the panel away gently, and you will see exactly where to place the tool to pop the panel off
Also - perfect time to inspect the waterproofing membrane - this part breaks down over time resulting in damp lower carpet on the door cards after rain - very common on 987 and 997s. If you unscrew the metal piece that is attached to the door (once the inner skin is off), you can inspect the lower edge. If the foam bit has degenerated, use some of this type of adhesive to repair, it is better than silicon as it allows more movement and non shrinking. Should save you several £100 in the future.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U-POL-Tiger-Seal-BLACK-...
Strong form with all those links, very useful indeed, nice one.
Chucked in a short shift box today and in doing so discovered the sub in the footwell you mentioned earlier and the amp under the passenger seat. From what I can gather the sub's active and no doubt 1 ohm like the door woofers. So the full line up of the factory system is:
Door mids/tweets - 2x2ohm
Door woofers - 2x1ohm
Footwell sub - 1x1ohm active
Rear pillar mids - 2x2ohm
Never bother with rear fill speakers so would only concentrate on powering the rest. Also for various reasons will now be doing this in stages so sticking with the factory speakers for the time being and just replacing the amp / head unit. Concerning the amp would it be possible to do this:
2 channels (L&R) to front mids/tweets
1 channel to the door woofers wired in series to pull the channel up to 2ohms
Leaves 1 channel left over for the footwell sub but how to work that part is where I'm getting stuck.....? Bypass the built in amp and run the voice coil direct from the remaining channel of the amp?
Chucked in a short shift box today and in doing so discovered the sub in the footwell you mentioned earlier and the amp under the passenger seat. From what I can gather the sub's active and no doubt 1 ohm like the door woofers. So the full line up of the factory system is:
Door mids/tweets - 2x2ohm
Door woofers - 2x1ohm
Footwell sub - 1x1ohm active
Rear pillar mids - 2x2ohm
Never bother with rear fill speakers so would only concentrate on powering the rest. Also for various reasons will now be doing this in stages so sticking with the factory speakers for the time being and just replacing the amp / head unit. Concerning the amp would it be possible to do this:
2 channels (L&R) to front mids/tweets
1 channel to the door woofers wired in series to pull the channel up to 2ohms
Leaves 1 channel left over for the footwell sub but how to work that part is where I'm getting stuck.....? Bypass the built in amp and run the voice coil direct from the remaining channel of the amp?
The amp you’re looking at would run the door subs at 2 ohms each in stereo anyway so no need to use one channel instead of 2.
I’ve made the mistake of keeping the factory bose sub working in my 997 and 987S and both times I came to the same conclusion- it’s a waste of time. If you run the subs in the door with enough power and cross them over at 100hz, and do the soundproofing in the doors well, you’ll be astonished at how much bass you pull out of the bose door subs. They are isolated from the mids in the doors and work well.
There is no point having a puny sub on top of it for the sake of it, It is only a 6.5” unit anyway.
If you must keep it then run it as active with its existing amp from the sub output of your new HU it takes an RCA level feed from the Bose amp loom so very easy to patch in. It also has a +12v ignition on so just take that from your new amp’s switch on cable
You also would be under powering the door subs if you used just one channel of your Amp to power them.
I’d start off that way and if you really need more bass you’d need to build something for the boot or parcel shelf rather than reuse the bose sub
Also you can’t remove the bose sub even if it’s not being used as Porsche made a cost saving by not carpeting the bit it sits on!!!
Finally, You do know the tweets are in the dash not the doors right? the grilled pop oFf with a paper clip and I couldn’t get my focal ones in without trimming a fraction of the inner moulding off with a dremmel. Sounds scary but if you take a look you’ll see that it’s all hidden and not really possible to mess it up. Certainly no harder than fitting the short shift kit
You will need a tiny right angle ratchet screwdriver from memory as there is little clearance under the screen
I’ve made the mistake of keeping the factory bose sub working in my 997 and 987S and both times I came to the same conclusion- it’s a waste of time. If you run the subs in the door with enough power and cross them over at 100hz, and do the soundproofing in the doors well, you’ll be astonished at how much bass you pull out of the bose door subs. They are isolated from the mids in the doors and work well.
There is no point having a puny sub on top of it for the sake of it, It is only a 6.5” unit anyway.
If you must keep it then run it as active with its existing amp from the sub output of your new HU it takes an RCA level feed from the Bose amp loom so very easy to patch in. It also has a +12v ignition on so just take that from your new amp’s switch on cable
You also would be under powering the door subs if you used just one channel of your Amp to power them.
I’d start off that way and if you really need more bass you’d need to build something for the boot or parcel shelf rather than reuse the bose sub
Also you can’t remove the bose sub even if it’s not being used as Porsche made a cost saving by not carpeting the bit it sits on!!!
Finally, You do know the tweets are in the dash not the doors right? the grilled pop oFf with a paper clip and I couldn’t get my focal ones in without trimming a fraction of the inner moulding off with a dremmel. Sounds scary but if you take a look you’ll see that it’s all hidden and not really possible to mess it up. Certainly no harder than fitting the short shift kit
You will need a tiny right angle ratchet screwdriver from memory as there is little clearance under the screen
The sub sounds like a pain in the ass to run so I'm going with your recommendation to ditch it. The carpet comment did make me laugh, first thing I thought on seeing the cut out was 'well that's f**king annoying'! Guess a way round it would be a set of non-Bose mats and reigning in the OCD enough to ignore the gap underneath.
So I'm a little confused about the door speakers now as been doing a lot of digging around concerning their impendance & all the info I've discovered agrees on the component mids/dash tweets being 2ohm and the woofers 1ohm. So in order to run the woofers safely they'd have to be wired in series off a single channel of a 2ohm stable amp, no? The component mids being 2ohms can have a channel each no drama.
No problem chopping into the mountings, did the same with my 996 when sorting the tin pot audio in that.
Once again, appreciate the time taken to help me out on this. Have done a few installs in my time and always find them incredibly satisfying so am soaking up all this new knowledge like a sponge, lovely stuff.
So I'm a little confused about the door speakers now as been doing a lot of digging around concerning their impendance & all the info I've discovered agrees on the component mids/dash tweets being 2ohm and the woofers 1ohm. So in order to run the woofers safely they'd have to be wired in series off a single channel of a 2ohm stable amp, no? The component mids being 2ohms can have a channel each no drama.
No problem chopping into the mountings, did the same with my 996 when sorting the tin pot audio in that.
Once again, appreciate the time taken to help me out on this. Have done a few installs in my time and always find them incredibly satisfying so am soaking up all this new knowledge like a sponge, lovely stuff.
BillyRay said:
The sub sounds like a pain in the ass to run so I'm going with your recommendation to ditch it. The carpet comment did make me laugh, first thing I thought on seeing the cut out was 'well that's f**king annoying'! Guess a way round it would be a set of non-Bose mats and reigning in the OCD enough to ignore the gap underneath.
So I'm a little confused about the door speakers now as been doing a lot of digging around concerning their impendance & all the info I've discovered agrees on the component mids/dash tweets being 2ohm and the woofers 1ohm. So in order to run the woofers safely they'd have to be wired in series off a single channel of a 2ohm stable amp, no? The component mids being 2ohms can have a channel each no drama.
No problem chopping into the mountings, did the same with my 996 when sorting the tin pot audio in that.
Once again, appreciate the time taken to help me out on this. Have done a few installs in my time and always find them incredibly satisfying so am soaking up all this new knowledge like a sponge, lovely stuff.
What you're saying rings a bell, maybe the subs are 1.5 ohm or something but I ran the door subs off this amp without putting in series for a year with no problems, played it on long journeys at volume, no issues. It is a good quality amp but can be bought for £200 and is a known quantitySo I'm a little confused about the door speakers now as been doing a lot of digging around concerning their impendance & all the info I've discovered agrees on the component mids/dash tweets being 2ohm and the woofers 1ohm. So in order to run the woofers safely they'd have to be wired in series off a single channel of a 2ohm stable amp, no? The component mids being 2ohms can have a channel each no drama.
No problem chopping into the mountings, did the same with my 996 when sorting the tin pot audio in that.
Once again, appreciate the time taken to help me out on this. Have done a few installs in my time and always find them incredibly satisfying so am soaking up all this new knowledge like a sponge, lovely stuff.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOCAL-FDS-4-350-NEW-201...
This seems the best thread to discuss options for incorporating Bluetooth streaming to the existing Head unit.
I have a CDR30 in my 987 spyder with no aux - so far the best option seems to be the below.
https://www.discountcarstereo.com/a2d-cdr30.html
Has anyone found an alternative?
I have a CDR30 in my 987 spyder with no aux - so far the best option seems to be the below.
https://www.discountcarstereo.com/a2d-cdr30.html
Has anyone found an alternative?
Str6mik said:
This seems the best thread to discuss options for incorporating Bluetooth streaming to the existing Head unit.
I have a CDR30 in my 987 spyder with no aux - so far the best option seems to be the below.
https://www.discountcarstereo.com/a2d-cdr30.html
Has anyone found an alternative?
That’s the best option I have seen and a million times better than those crappy £10 Bluetooth radio transmitters I have a CDR30 in my 987 spyder with no aux - so far the best option seems to be the below.
https://www.discountcarstereo.com/a2d-cdr30.html
Has anyone found an alternative?
No I’m basing my judgement on the available options on the market I haven’t actually tried it out. What I value is a hidden, hard wired for power and audio, so it doesn’t require plugging in and turning on on every use, doesn’t need tuning or using the radio in any way, doesn’t involve having naff looking devices plugged in or wires all over the place like a minivan.
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