987.1 non bose aftermarket headunit ?

I have read many many posts on putting an aux input in a 987.1 cayman and i am very confused as how hard it seems. Cant we just replace the headunit with an aftermarket one with an aux input? What am i missing here? Is it that people want to keep the factory unit or is there something else i dont understand? I have a 2007 cayman with a non bose stereo. Thanks guys.

The stock CDR-24 head unit has no easy provision for Aux-In. I replaced mine with a Pioneer X850BT and custom bezel, and it was close to $1K, which is a lot for what I really wanted (iPod source). Your alternatives are Head Unit, FM transmitter ($100, but lowest sound quality), or an antenna inline box (Denison ($500)).

My factory headunit (CDR30) was gone the second week after delivery. I was used to a good BT and iPod integration. Aftermarket was the way to go. An added bonus was getting a decent Nav and better sound quality. However, I made sure that the installation was easily reversible.

Maybe i was not really clear in my question. I went on crutchfield and there are 100s of headunits that would work with the cayman with built in aux inputs. Some of them are only $100. So why cant we just install one of them that has an aux in bulit in? Is it that people here dont like afternarket headunits? Why did you spend $1000? Was the headunit really expensive or is the install very difficult and costly? I am a bit confused why people pay $100s for a crappy fm aux input instead of just installing a new headunit that has one.

You could go this route, yes but you still would need to purchase a dash kit for the unit and those still cost $250 and up. I'm in the same boat and there's really no low cost way to do this. $500 lowest at bare minimum.

It's a slippery slope. When you start eliminating the ones that don't fit the 2DIN opening (Crutchfield didn't recommend any direct replacements IIRC), you have to decide what you want to see there. Even though I really only wanted the iPod, the idea of something looking it came out of a 1980's Oldsmobile, just didn't work. So that drove me towards units with Nav. I even tried a chinese junk unit to keep the cost down.(I also tried getting a double to single DIN adapter, to use a Porsche CDR220, without success) That just added to the total cost. The Pioneer H/U was about $700, and labour about $300. But the installer gave me a deal on the labour. If you search the forums, you will find lots of conversion stories, but only you know what you will settle for.

It boils down to what you want to do, and how far you want to go... and how much you care about how your interior looks afterwards. You have the non- Bose system so you are actually lucky... going aftermarket with the Bose gets rather expensive quickly, so feel relieved. As stated above, you need to get a bezel adapter to fit the radio into the stock location. This is not only the bezel that surrounds the radio on the exterior, but also a frame to mount your aftermarket radio in to secure it into the vehicle. I'm pretty sure there are a few things that you can do as far as "tricks" to fit the radio, but my recommendation is that you spend the money, and go with Euro Motorspeed's bezel kit. They are a vendor on here, and they have eBay auctions with the kits, but my suggestion would be to PM Loi (Planet 9 UserId: Euro Motorspeed) and talk to him, he can narrow down what you need and their customer service is second to none! They also offer one of the best bezel kits on the market. I just installed mine and it looks basically stock. There are plenty of good double din head units to install. I have the Kenwood DNX980HD in mine... the reason why it doesn't look flush is because mine has the screen that can change angles and sits out a bit. It's actually cool because the ledge actually guides my finger to the right spots to click for the menu so I don't have to take my eyes off the road. Figure on about $250 for the bezel adapter depending on your options, and if you go with the Euro Motorspeed bezel it's a quality piece and worth every penny, plus the paint match is pretty much exact to the rest of the interior pieces. There are cheaper adapter kits, but you don't save a lot of money, and you run the risk of the quality and the paint match on the trim being not quite so good. Then figure the cost of the radio on top of that, but I'd actually spend some money and buy something decent, it's going into a Porsche after all. I've found Crutchfield to be less than helpful with the information on P-Cars. They basically don't make any install kits or have really much knowledge on the subject when you talk to their advisers. Someone like Loi at Euro Motorspeed knows these cars so much better and can help you with any recommendations.

Thanks for the info, your setup looks great and very clean. All I really want is a way to play my ipod through my stereo. I put away all my cds years ago and I don't want to go and pull 5,000 cds out of the attic and find a place to keep them handy. I also hate the radio and I don't like how the FM transmitters have very poor quality. I do think that your setup looks great and if I could get a cheaper headunit it might be a good route to take. Thanks again.