Second-day Cayman owner (Bose, no Nav), first time poster. I've been through the forums trying to understand options for getting XM into my CS. I don't care about iPod integration, so Dennison IceLink feels like overkill. Has anyone installed an XM Roady XT? Looks like it will fit in the space to the left of the center console, but getting to the 12V outlet on the passenger side may be ugly. Any ideas?
Search around a bit. I've seen an article or was it a forum thread on installing a FM injector to the antenna lead. It covered power too. Haven't used an injector yet but it has to be better than the built in FM transmitter. At least the transmitter on my MyFi sucks.
Other than that the passenger side outlet is unswitched so killing the battery is possible if you forget to turn off. There's a bit in another article about doing fuse taps. Really straight forward. You can get these things at Radio Shack etc.
I don't think fishing a wire across from passenger to driver side will be that bad but you will need to drop the passenger side cover under the dash.
I should add that what appears to be the best spot for the antenna is where Porsche puts the GPS antenna for the nav system. It's under the plastic cover that's under the passenger side wiper.
Perhaps you can tell that I've been researching getting XM to my CS also. Rather torn between doing something like a Roady and FM injector and just installing the PCM with XM and bluetooth. No doubt which one is cheaper. Sound quality is likely the same.
Once the forum gets the articles section back up read through the electronic install stuff. Probably get all the ideas needed if you've ever done much of this.
Greywolf has done a good job answering the question...here are some more suggestions.
The best solution for you is definitley adding a unit like a Roady XT, in your searches for instruction search for Sirius because most of the posts have been on installing Sirius radios but the process is the same. You will need a wired FM modulator for the best sound without going the expensive fiber optic route. Scoche's unit available at cruthfield.com is a very popular one and my personal recommendation, and XM makes their own as well that is a good alternative because it comes with a power hardwire kit for your radio and I believe you can turn the fm modulator on and off through the radio. The model number is the XM XMFM1, it's actually manufacturered by Audiovox.
You will need antenna adapters to use an FM modulator with the Cayman... they are available online through Crutchfield or sometimes you can find them in stores such as Bestbuy and Circuit City. You need one of both, so that you can successfuly patch in both the regular FM antenna and the FM modulator:
Antenna Adapter Euro female to Motorola male Works with a variety of 1999-up European and American vehicles at Crutchfield.com
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?showAll=N&g=119400&i=12040EU20&tp=2569&avf=N
The best source for power is the fuse box with a fuse that is switched, see the articles section when it's back up for Radar hardwire guides... same principle.
As far as where to put the antenna, the most popular place is the front cowl where the windshield wipers are where Porsche mounts the GPS antenna. That way it is hidden but still gets decent signal as long as you are using a high quality, magnetic antenna. We recently had a thread on antenna placement you can look at for more suggestions:
http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-electronics/22247-where-did-you-put-your-satelite-antenna.html
Thanks to both of you for the help.... of course now I have stumbled upon the Garmin Street Pilot 2820, which integrates XM with GPS and bluetooth phone capabilities. Tempting package, but clearly has to be mounted on the dash, as far as I can tell. I may take the easy route and take these on separately, XM first. I will post my experience when I finally do it. Any thoughts on the StreetPilot appreciated.
Suneet, By any chance did you duplicate one adapter? I'm guessing that one should be a Motorola female to Euro male.
Yes sorry I did... copy and paste error.
Thanks... i fixed it
I have the Street Pilot 2730 with integrated XM and traffic and I have been very happy with the all in one package. I use the integrated FM transmitter at the moment which is just about acceptable but I would like to upgrade to the Denison interface for a clean sound. The wired FM modulator sounds interesting though, I'm going to check into it.
Nick
The antenna adapter can be purchased for half the price of Crutchfield here:
METRA - 40EU30 - VW/BMW/EURO ANTENNA ADAPTER CABLE KIT - AudioOutfitter.com
This one item is the set of 2. item 40EU30 = 40EU10 + 40EU20
I have no problem figuring out where to put the antenna and where to get power, but my big issue is where the heck to put the Roady XT itself.
In my Boxster S I had the dual level cubbies right in front of the shifter and it mounted well there, but there's no obvious similar open area in which to place the XT.
I had the Commander MT installed in the space in front of the shifter and use the wired FM. It sounds fine (no static), except the volume level is lower than that of the radio or CD player. Only downside is sometimes you have to change the FM frequency on the tuner and the XM unit if a strong signal is in the area. Only happened once when I was traveling out of my area.
