Radio Wiring Question - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

I have done a lot of searching and looked at a lot of threads. I've looked at a bunch of wiring diagrams all over the interwebs until my brain hurts. I'm currently installing the AliExpress Android head unit designed for the 996?986. It looks fantastic in the car--very much like the PCCM units. I'm just having a little challenge because it really didn't come with any instructions, just a bit of a wiring diagram that's hard to interpret, and several harnesses without explanations. Anyway, the question: Did Porsche power the front dash speakers through the amp front inputs and the door speakers through the amp rear inputs? That's kind of how it appears. There are only two low-level RCA outputs from this head unit (left and right, obviously), where the aftermarket unit I just took out had four. When I added rear speakers a few years ago, I just connected them to the head unit's high-level rear outputs, and left the four low-level connections as they were. All the speakers worked fine, as did all the balance/fader controls. The thing about this one though, is that there are only the two low-level RCA outs on the head unit. This head unit's harness appears to connect those two RCAs to the front speaker connection in the car's harness, and then it bridges the rears with the fronts. I assume that will make the dash and door speakers function properly, but I'm not sure how that will affect the fader control. I'm planning to connect my rear speakers using the rear high-level outputs on the head unit, just like I did before. I realize there really isn't any other options, short of completely rewiring all of the speakers to use the head unit's high-level outputs.

No the door speakers and dash speakers are connected to the front left and right channels. The amplifier contains a crossover that splits out the dash and door speakers. The door speakers are not full range.

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So the way this head unit's harness is set up shouldn't change anything, right? Again, the unit only has a right and left RCA output, and where it connects into the car's harness, it connects each channel to both front and rear. It still has all four high-level output leads for direct speaker connections. It just seems the original and this new head unit are set up to bridge front and rear channels enroute to the amp, just at different points.

Not sure if these links help or hurt. Hopefully they help. https://wiringdiagram.2bitboer.com/porsche-boxster-radio-wiring-diagram/ https://cai-store.com/pages/996-and-boxster-single-din-radio-instructions

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The only other option you have is to replace the amp. You can go aftermarket which will break out the channels as you want to use them or you could get a Porsche 6 channel amp for a 996 so you can wire the rear speakers to the amp rather than the head unit. In the boxster there may not be much advantage as the audio configuration is sub optimal in general.

What I don’t see here is what year your Boxster is and how the amp in the frunk is integrated. My 03 uses MOST to connect the radio to the amp. Adding rear speakers was relatively trivial, as the amp already has outputs for them, so it was simply a matter of making those connections happen. No, the Box will never be an audio masterpiece (regardless of what you add, subtract, replace or upgrade). It’s a convertible with a very small cabin, which is why you bought it in the first place!!!

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I initially installed a 996 amp in my car and used it to power the rear speakers. I eventually upgraded the door speakers and installed a separate amp to power them. You can read about that journey in this thread: https://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/79558-door-speaker-recommendations.html I agree with spinjockey that there are inherent limitations in the Boxster's configuration that affect the quality of the audio experience. However, I found that replacing the dash and door speakers with better components and adding the rear speakers noticeably improved the sound quality. In addition, upgrading the head unit makes the car feel more modern. I know some people feel that the double DIN head units degrade the OEM look and feel. In this context, I note that Porsche offered a PCM system with a screen on the 986 and that the Boxster concept included a screen in the dash.

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I found just replacing the dash speakers with new OEM ones made a huge difference. The originals were in horrible condition. The aliexpress head unit HERE looks amazing in the car. It looks like it was designed for it (and much, of course, it was). There are a bunch of choices for features (memory, MOST, LTE, etc).

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2001, no MOST, no Bose. It’s the Hi-Fi model (door speakers and no sub—although I added a separate, self-powered sub). Adding the rear speakers just wired directly to the high-level rear outputs on the head unit has worked well. I have no idea how the amp is actually set up, hence the question.