I've been looking at swapping out the base sound system in my 1st Gen
Cayman
as it hasn't been up to scratch.
I have decided on buying
this
head unit and
this
fascia to fit it in.
I have read that the stock speakers aren't all that bad and so don't need to be changed however if this isn't the case then I'd love to hear some budget options which are a better option. Other than this head unit and fascia I am wondering if there is anything else I'll need to buy in order to make it work? I'll be doing the work myself with some help from a friend with some knowledge.
Many thanks!
What kind of budget are you working with? I can't really speak to the base system but I replaced my factory
Bose system
a couple months ago since I wasn't very impressed the stock system, but that's me. However it was not a cheap way to do things at all, so if you can live with the stock speakers that will be your best budget option. You will also need the wiring harness to connect to the factory plug, I used the Metra 70-1784 which worked fine for me but I only needed power and ground off the harness so I can't say for sure if it will work for all the connections on the base system. Also I found that the paint match on the fascia kit I used didn't quite match so I ended up removing the entire center stack and repainting everything, I don't have a picture handy but I can post one if you want to see how it came out.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Int...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532978008&sr=8-1&keywords=american+international+por911s
This is the kit I used, everything fit perfectly fine the color match was just a bit off. It's a bit more simple than the kit you are using and takes advantage of the stock mounting system built into the car already.
I just posted a thread on my install of a
Pumpkin Android 8.0 unit
here:
Porsche Cayman S Car Stereo Head Unit Upgrade
. Did you mean base or Bose sound system? Presuming base, it will be less expensive than the Bose system I upgraded. The dash kit you linked to looks much better than the one I got. I read that the Bose speakers are very low impedance and not compatible with most aftermarket stereos or amps. I don't know if this is the case for the base system though. It would be good to check. You should also get a wiring kit to make the install go easier. One problem with the Porsche 987 (and most others) is there is no key switch power to the stereo. You can run key switch power from the fusebox. You will also need park brake (somewhat optional), reverse (if you want a backup camera), illumination (for dimming with dash), and speed ( for speed/volume control) presuming that stereo supports this. The factory systems get all this info over CAN. I used an
integration kit from Axxess
for this but you can do this by running a bunch of wires to get these signals.
I used that
same dash bezel kit
to install a Pumpkin Android 8.0 head unit. All I ended up using from it was the bezel itself as it did not fit with my head unit.
Here is what I had to do
.
Ask yourself a few questions upfront. How much do you want to spend (car stereos are always money losers, you never get back what you put into it)? How much work do you want to do (or pay for)? How much better do you want the sound to be (in a noisy car)? Are the existing speakers and amp working? I have a
2006 Cayman S
with the CDR-24 head unit and
Bose
(fiber optic amp). I didn't need to turn the car into a sound stage, I just wanted to add hands free phone, bluetooth music and a few niceties. The
Bose system
painted me into a corner and I could either gut the car and replace everything, buy an odd amp that could handle the impedances of the speakers, or buy an adapter. I went with the NAV KIT-210 adapter (about $600) and a
Kenwood
head unit. All the work was done on either my workbench (soldering wires) or in the cabin of the car. I barely got my finger tips dirty and was done within a few hours. Just changing the head unit woke the rest of the system up - the sound quality is a lot better.
