radio blows

sorry to everyone if this has been posted before. i did a quick search and didnt see much about it. Just wanted to vent a little. i've had my CS for about a month now and i have 1 complaint. the radio is by far the worst radio i've ever had in a car. couple fetures i dont quite understand. what's with the delay/fade when you press the radio station button? why does it randomly get louder when idling? why does the recpetion blow? i've played with all the setting and still it blows. i have the bose option, so i expected a little more than this. i know the car was made to drive and deliver performance, but this is ridiculous. anyone put an aftermarket radio in? better results? thanks for reading, jat

Many before you have remarked at the short-comings of the OEM stereo (both Bose and non-Bose). I think the delay you are talking about when you are changing radio stations might be because it appears to be pulling it from some memory chip (based on my observation that you don't lose your station presets when you disconnect the battery). The Bose does have the noise level feature which will automatically increases the volume as the noise in the cockpit increases - maybe that's what you're noticing? If you haven't heard of it previously, there is a fairly simple mod to improve the bass response: Bose Subwoofer Stuffing Mod . Apparently Porsche put a subwoofer designed for an open cockpit car (i.e. Boxster or Cabriolet) into the Cayman which results in the poor bass sound. There have probably been a ton of threads on various aftermarket mods; try entering "aftermarket head unit" or "aftermarket stereo" in SEARCH, and you should get plenty of reading material. :cheers:

i know it has that feature, but mine seems to do the opposite. gets louder at idle and softer upon acceleration and higher rpm's. anyway, thanks for your response. will search for more info.

You have it completely backwards. It is widely agreed that the radio sucks. If you listen a bit more, I'm sure that you will agree...

I love me new 2007 Cayman-S, but the fact is the Bose audio system is terrible sounding to my ears. The stock Monsoon sound system in Turbo-S Beetle was far better sounding, lively, enjoyable. I have tweaked the Blose Audio some in the Cayman-S and I now find it semi-tolerable when listening to CDs, but that is about it. The base is a mess. The mid-range has no life. The highs sound like a 5$ Am/Fm radio. I never was a fan of Bose, and so I am not surprised but whoever signed off on this system had a tin ear. The saving grace in this is, turning the radio off leaves behind the amazing sound of the engine.

One of our fellow Cayman Clubbers came up with settings on the Bose unit that mitigates some of the harsh sounds. I've added some of my own color based on spending a year with the Cayman now. 1. Bass to -1 or -2 2. Treble to +3 to +5 3. Fader set heavily toward the front 4. Surround set to "Low" for CD's and "Off" for the radio 5. Experiment by turning Audio Pilot off Give it a try if you have not already tried similar settings.

Those are the settings I came up with independently. They improve things, but there is still a strong sense that one is listening to lifeless paper speakers, and not music. Better for sure, but a long way from a good audio system.

I'm happy with mine, and I have the Porsche radio. From what I had been reading here I was expecting much worse. It was tinny-sounding when I got it, but after dialing it in I think it's just fine. Now I'm not a big audiophile, and I would have bought a Cayman even if it didn't have a radio. It's a freekin DRIVING car! No radio station or CD make a sound like that coming over my right shoulder. Hit the road and drive the thing.

Gutted my whole system - new head unit (blue tooth, sat radio, back up camera, ipod integration, cd changer, and dvd player (only use parked!)), digital amp, speakers & sub, rewire. Cost under $3000 (I did all the labor). No issue now. I couldn't stand the stock unit either. It was painful!

Stock Porsche radios have always been cr@p. I've concluded it must be intentional since the audio systems in any number of inexpensive cars put them to shame. I guess it's a Porsche tradition best described as an idiosyncrasy of the marque. If anyone complains the approved response is, "the only music a Porsche driver needs comes from the engine."

+1 I opted for the stock sound system in mine as I could tell little to no difference with the Bose option on my test drives.... now I find myself with radio off 90% of the time just so I can listen to the exhaust note .

Yeah. I listen to either AM Sports talk radio, or the engine. I have one CD that I keep in the player, and swap it out once in a while. If I'm out of range of the AM station and sick of the CD, I listen to the car. The only thing I'd want is an aux input jack for my iPod. I'll wait until the MY upgrade comes.

Bose in a Cayman is a waste of time. Any stereo including a honda factory stereo will beat it. I think it is due to space and lack of quality speakers. Bose in a Cayenne is heaven. Quite comparable to the Lexus's Mark Levinson. It is very nice but it would be hard to put that many speakers in the Cayman.