Thinking a bit of the future - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Now that I've had my Boxster for a couple of months, I'm getting used to having it around (not that the excitement is gone, that is curable with a dash of throttle ), I'm thinking about changing some of the things that are a bit weak in my Box. The first thing is the sound system. It's worse in my Box than it is in my 97 Nissan Altima, what a disgrace. I'm thinking of getting a new CD player, along with a Ipod AUX port. My question is here should I pick up some new speakers while I'm at it (I already took the door panel apart before so I know how the speakers sit and hook up). The second problem with my Box is the leather seats. The guy I bought them from threw in some nice sheepskin seat covers in for free. Now I can see why, the leather down there is ripped and unusable. I want to get those changed, but since I am going to be spending quite a bit getting regular Porsche seats, I was thinking of getting Sports seats, like Sparco seats. Is there a particularly good one? I'm quite tall so I need to tilt the current stock seats back a bit to fit, can I do that with sport seats as well? Thanks for the help, hopefully I can get this car tip top so I can really start enjoying it .

Before completely replacing the seats you might want to think about having them recovered. Leather can be done very inexpensively. I had a pair done for $300 a couple of years ago. If mine ever need it I'm going with alcantara in the center section to hold better during cornering.

It's pretty torn up, so I don't know. I want some alcantara in my car . I realize alcantara is quite expensive though?

A search here and on renntech will turn up a lot of results on upgrading the stereo. Dash speakers make the biggest difference. You can also buy just new leather for the seats. Gahh sells leather replacements which may be a good alternative to new seats.

get the updated clear rear tail lights. those will really make the rear look better. i have a 2000 and when I bough it, they were already done. makes it look better. i think they are $250ish or so for a set.

Well, as you probably know, a sound system is just that--a system. If you replace just the head unit I doubt you'll be happy. Speakers in addition are probably a great idea, but I have no idea how good the stock amp is. I'll bet the subject has been beaten to death before so I'd recommend sniffing around these forums and others for more info. Of course, I'd also throw my hat in the ring for Reus Audio , but they're not cheap.

You might find that just replacing speakers makes a good enough improvement in the sound system.

Instead of alcantara, I'd go for escaine or a similar synthetic material. I've seen and heard of the lack of longevity of alcantara... it tends to wear pretty quickly and looks pretty bad in the process. But like all things, it depends on the quality of the manufacturer. I'm basing my opinion on BMWs. Something like escaine doesn't really wear, doesn't stain, and doesn't fade. The seats and door panel inserts in my IS are mostly made of the stuff, and they still look new after 7 years and 105k miles. Bad picture, but you can see what the stuff looks like (the lighter area on the pass. seat is just the nap brushed in a different direction, not wear):

it looks a little like velvet in that picture. Groovy.

I had the same issues with the stereo. I've heard better sound out of a Fisher Price toy radio. I've don't have the Bose system but I have heard it. Its nice to have the Bass tube behind you, but the mids and highs are horrible. I did the following with my base system: -headunit: (Kenwood DVD with Ipod adapter; RCA video and AUX in the glove box -door and dash speakers: (5 1/4 alpines co-axis in the doors and 3 1/5 alpines co-axis in the dash) Make sure you have 'bass blockers' resistors on the dash speakers or they'll blow like my first set. You can't use the OEM door speakers if you get an aftermarket head unit. The stock door speakers are just woofers and there are no highs or decent mids coming out of them. Things I should of put in while this was being installed: -8'' sub in the passenger foot well (will get one sometime in the near future, but not now. They want $800 to make a custom box with sub...no way!) -the SAT Radio adapter for the head unit (i'm using my PnP Sirius for now...I'm too lazy to go back and get the unit installed) I needed my Ipod and SAT radio...so a new head unit was mandatory. I would recommend saving your stock head unit in case you ever plan to sell it in the future.

Chig Spartan, you are fined 5 credits for violation of the Big Attachment Morality Statute. W W that's BIG!

...so is that hairy knee!

I had a look at GAHH, they only sell the seats themselves, worth 2 hundred something bucks. I'd rather just get Sparco seats, which are I think 200 dollars a pop (for the comfort seats, not track ones). I don't need a really fancy stereo, the stock one skips the CD around when I go over bumps, so I'm guessing the player itself is a bit bad right now. There is a place in my town that does 1 dollar installations, I'm thinking I might get a CD player and maybe a set of speakers from there.

My bad, I didn't reduce the size before uploading the pic.

Well, now that I know your age I can imagine what budget you're working with. Normally the first thing you'd change is the speakers when dealing with any OEM system upgrade, but if CD's are skipping, yeah, looks like you'd want to either find an OEM replacement online, or buy a whole different new head unit. Either way you go you're looking at a bit of cost. I would not recommend going to a Circuit City or "1 dollar" installation shop. Porsches are quirky in a lot of build respects and it's not going to be as easy as taking apart an old Civic to put in a head unit or new speakers. I'm sure Chig could elaborate LARGELY on that. Perhaps even in a HUGE way.

Actually, it was the custom shop that messed it all up. Eslai is right, you don't need a fancy head unit. I would recommend a single DIN with either an Ipod or Front AUX They will have to by-pass the stock amp which is not that hard. I actually had Best Buy fix the mistakes the custom stop did (it's a long story). If you're on a budget, I would only replace the door speakers and not the dash speakers. The doors are just woofers. They will sound muffled if you keep the OEM speakers in. Other than that, you'll have decent highs and mids but no bass. It's not my daily driver so I really don't care that much about the sound. Good luck.

Speaking of sound system, do you guys have a problem with the door panels vibrating when you have the bass up ? When I play music loud, get this really annoying rattle from the door panel that mostly (80%) go away when I push hard on the door panel with my leg. I checked the screws and they seem to be tight. I think its that huge cavity in the panel that causes an air pocket and vibration ? I haven't taken it to a pro shop yet .. but just curious .. any one else experience the same issue ?