sorry to beat this up.... CDR24 replace HU or entire system

I have an 07 Cayman S. I cannot take the Bose system any longer. I would like to add ipod and Bluetooth, plus a significant improvement in sound. I am stunned by how bad the Bose system is. my question is, does a HU replacement significantly increase sound quality, as well as providing bluetooth and ipod audio? I have always thought of Bose as a speaker dealer, is it just the HU that is lousy? Or is an entire system replacement necessary to achieve better sound? thanks all- YOLT

I replaced my HU, added an amp and kept the speakers. I think the system sounds great. I'm sure it would be even better if you changed out the speakers too. There are several threads in the electronics section.

Not replacing the Bose amp makes the change of the HU more difficult (finding a match). Fortunately, mine didn't have the Bose setup.

I'm going through the same with my '06 right now. Here are the full set of choices, and I expect each one to perform better than the one preceding it. Option 1: HU only, keeping Bose amp/speakers The dash bezel + MOST HUR electronics will run you $800. This is before you even buy a new HU. The high cost is to keep the fiber optic communication link to the Bose amp. A nice 2-DIN HU with Nav, Bluetooth, and all the bells and whistles can run you $1k (or more). A cheap non-Nav 2-DIN HU can be had for $400. Depends on what you're looking for. If you're paying someone to install, figure $1400 on the low end to $2000+ to go this route. Option 2: HU + amp Here you still need a bezel kit, about $260. You save about $500 by not needing the MOST HUR. But you'll easily spend that $500 plus a little more on an amp, wiring, and installation. I would expect it to be demonstrably better than the Bose at this point. But you're probably in for another $200-300 before its all said and done. Stick with a small class D amp so you can tuck it out of the way easily. Option 3: HU + amp + speakers A nice set of component speakers in the front could be anywhere from $400 to whatever you'd like to spend. Coaxial rears should be under $100. But, you'll probably need to pull some new wiring, which adds to installation cost. Probably need to make some mounting baffles, and maybe deaden the door panels too while you're in there (it starts to add up). The speaker upgrade could be anywhere from $500 to $1k (or more). Option 4: HU + amp + speakers + a real subwoofer All of the above plus a real subwoofer (not a 4x6 in the footwell). Figure another $600 (or more) for a single driver in a box. The side of the trunk could fit an 8" in a fiberglass enclosure. Or there are bigger, more expensive options like the JL Stealthbox. If you go with this option, make sure you select a 5/6 ch amplifier with enough power for the sub. I'm pricing out pieces for option 4 as we speak. My back of the napkin calculation is approaching $4k for everything I'd like to do. That would be Pioneer's new top of the line NEX receiver, a JL 700/5 amp, 3 way components, and a Stealthbox. Not cheap, but I expect it to be night and day better than what's in there now.

I spent $2k all in to upgrade the HU with Loi's hardware, amp, speakers. Additional $500 to add the subwoofer, which is a nice-to-have but not absolutely necessary. Night and day difference IMHO

Jeffbrig, thanks so much, great info! do you mind if I PM you about this? and thanks for all the replies, I know this whole issue has been beaten up pretty good. YOLT

Feel free, but if there's any discussion that others could benefit from, I'd be happy to keep that visible on the forum.

thanks Jeff, sorry, I got slammed at work. will reply later today. appreciate it!

Thanks again, so I know this isnt a system on the scale of anything you're looking at, but I've had some pretty solid single din HU's. [ and I am getting old, I've done enough damage to my hearing ] it seems from what you've said it would be possible to simply get a dash bezel and new single din HU (though on quick search I think I might have to get the double din bezel and add a tray), bypass the bose amp entirely, and just use the bose speakers. then if the sound still isnt so great, I can always drop another $500 on some new speakers. any reason that wouldn't work?? it's the HU and bose amp that have the fiber optic to bypass.... thanks!

Double DIN fills the space and provides room for GPS and the like.. I approached the upgrade in the manner you're suggesting and in hindsight wish I had completely overhauled the system in one fell swoop.. HU, amp, speakers

maybe I am wrong, I would think a simple single din would be less likely to attract attention from someone with an inclination to bust into the vehicle. also, how hard is it to access the speakers to change them? I presume the wiring that is in place can all be used...

If you're concerned about theft remove the face plate when you get out of the car.. but really car stereo theft isn't a huge concern for me. Single DIN will look completely out of place in a Porsche, perhaps if it was a Honda Civic.. Yes, you can reuse the wiring in the car, that's about the only part of a Porsche entertainment system that's worth keeping.

ok, thanks, good point. I may go that direction then, double din HU, bypass amp, try current speakers and likely upgrade those as well. I used to love messing with car stereos back in the 80's but its been a long time. what about access to the speakers? is it fairly easy? I want to keep this DIY.

how hard is it to access the speakers to change them? I presume the wiring that is in place can all be used... The door speakers shouldn't be terribly hard - once you get the door panel off. Lots of people say they've broken off a tab or two figuring out how to detach it. One thing to keep in mind....the existing door woofer is 8". Since you're not likely to buy a set of components with 8" drivers (6.5" is normally the largest you'll find), you would need to mount some sort of baffle over the 8" hole, then mount the speaker to that baffle. The door also has room for a 3.5"-4" speaker, and the tweeter is in the dash (the grille lifts off from above). The speakers on the rear shelf, from what I understand, require for a lot of panels to be removed in order to change the speaker. As for using existing wiring, that's fine for the rear speakers. For the door/dash speakers, I'm less certain. Component speakers are commonly driven off a single amplifier channel, with a passive crossover that splits the frequencies off to each speaker as appropriate. Your Porsche drives the 8" door woofer off of one amp channel, and the 3.5" door speaker and dash tweeter share another amp channel. That means there's a crossover somewhere in the car between the amp and the 3.5/tweeter. Or, the filters are mounted on the speaker terminals themselves....I don't know which. If you purchase an aftermarket speakers, you have a couple of options to consider (what is it with me making lists?) A - 6.5" 2-way component set. You'd probably have to dump the 8" woofer to mount the 6.5 in its place, and the smaller mid-range speaker location goes unused. Y ou'd probably need to pull new wiring from the component set crossover to the 6.5" and tweeter. This would be needed to bypass whatever crossover is hidden in the car's existing wiring. On the other hand, if you can confirm the the Bose "crossover" is actually some capacitors mounted on the terminals of each speaker, you could put the component crossovers in the front trunk, and feed the signals into the existing wiring harness. Maybe someone else has information here. B - 4" or 5.25" 2-way component, and keep the Bose 8" woofer. This would be the smaller version of A, but it allows you to keep the existing 8" woofer (which is probably desirable if you're not adding a subwoofer). Same wiring questions still apply as in A. This option may involve enlarging the hole in the door to mount a 5.25" driver. You will need a separate amp channel available to run the 8" woofers, and they should be wired in series so the amplifier can handle it (each woofer is 1 Ohm, which most amps can't handle. Putting 2 in series increases impedance to 2 Ohm, which is safe). Then it's up to you to balance the crossovers for the 8" and mid/highs and see if you can get it to sound the way you want. More fiddly than the 3-way component option, but I suspect a lot of people have tried it. C - 6.5" 3-way component set. Typically a 6.5", a 4", and a tweeter. To do this, you would definitely need to pull new wiring from the component set crossover to all three speakers, since they'll be on a single amp channel. This replaces all 3 front speakers on each side with a properly matched set. Now, some people think 3-ways are completely unnecessary in cars, and difficult to image properly. They may be right, I have no firsthand experience here. I've never had 3-ways, but I am leaning towards trying this solution. It's the only option that uses all 3 slots with matched speakers, and a crossover engineered to drive all of them. (The JL Audio C5-653 is the one I'm looking at.) Whatever you choose (and I'm sure people have done all three of these options), I would generally try to purchase similar rear speakers from the same manufacturer, in the hopes that they are reasonably matched in sound and performance. Oh, and in all of these options you will give up having a center channel speaker. Pretty much universally, people say this is not a big loss. You'll notice a lot of people on here are using a 6 channel amplifier. Usually in this configuration: 1/2 - front mid/tweeter (L/R). 3/4 - rear shelf speakers (L/R). 5 - 8" door woofers. 6 - Bose subwoofer. One word of caution I'll throw out... Some people have been successful pushing the low impedance Bose sub with an aftermarket amp. Some people have not. Most amplifiers are only rated to handle as low as a 2 Ohm load, and the Bose sub speaker is well beyond that threshold, potentially dangerous territory. This is one of the reasons why I've decided not to use mine when I make my changes.

If you're concerned about theft remove the face plate when you get out of the car.. but really car stereo theft isn't a huge concern for me I'm under the impression that many of the touch screen 2-DIN units have permanently attached faceplaces, but I could be wrong about that. I don't really worry about stereo theft either. My other car is a softop (Honda S2000), and it has a decent aftermarket stereo. I have removed its faceplate exactly zero times, and I've owned that car for 12 years. If anyone breaks in, they'd be looking to steal the seats, steering wheel, and airbags. The stereo would be a total afterthought.

The only speakers that were a PITA to replace were the two rear speakers, they're mounted in round plastic posts on either side of the engine. The rest were quite easy (and yes, you need to make a baffle for the larger speakers in the doors). The JL Audio six channel amp I bought fits nicely where the stock amp is in the frunk, swapping out the entire system isn't that hard.

I'm looking at the xd700/5 for mine (higher output, don't need the 6th channel), which has identical dimensions to the 600/6. I haven't decided if I want to put it in the Bose amp location, or put it on a shelf inside the small plastic compartment above. I've seen pictures of both options. Do you mind sharing which speakers you installed?

Sorry to go slightly off topic, but just looking at upgrading an '08 Boxster without the Bose system (says SoundPkgPlus on the option list, has CDR24 as well). Is a head unit replacement simple retrofit without amp replacement? I just started looking into this and was under the impression that in addition to the HU a Dension (or similar) interface was required. Thanks for any feedback!

Infinity Reference (in my experience there's great synergy between Pioneer HU's and Infinity speakers) "(says SoundPkgPlus on the option list, has CDR24 as well). Is a head unit replacement simple retrofit without amp replacement? I just started looking into this and was under the impression that in addition to the HU a Dension (or similar) interface was required. Thanks for any feedback!" Mine was SoundPkgPlus as well, the ASK amplifier in your frunk will fail.. if it hasn't already. So I replaced the HU and the amplifier at the same time, there's a sponsor here on Planet9 that sells the trim plate and wiring kit (Loi @ EuroMotor Speed). Best $250 I ever spent, the install was a no-brainer. Looks great IMHO..