As a former
Cayman
owner and presently the owner of an '08 997.1 S Cab with PCM.2.1 and
Bose
, I'm posting this here because I think it might be both relevant and helpful to a few
Cayman
owners. Previously posted in another forum; this experience is from about a week ago.
I was tired of trying all sorts of kludgy fixes to get Bluetooth, and had absolutely no intention of spending a minimum of $2000 on a new head unit, with all that's involved for a
Bose
-equipped car.
I decided, despite mixed reviews, to try the latest Dension solution, the 500S BT. My first good decision was to buy it from Eric at
bumperplugs.com
. Eric provides unlimited phone and email advice and support, which can be invaluable.
Reading the many threads on the Dension, I concluded that success or failure was almost exclusively a function of the expertise (or lack thereof) of the installer. Thus, my second good decision was to ask Eric whom he would recommend to do the install in the Los Angeles area. The answer: Eric would only recommend one person, Jamey Rawlings of
Rawlings Audio
in Monrovia, CA (just east of Pasadena).
Jamey spent about three hours on the car, carefully explaining every detail as he worked. Having done many, many Dension installations, he knew, for example, that in order to get the phone function to work properly he had to disconnect the car's phone module under the passenger seat and employ a bypass.
I mount my iPhone 5S running iOS 7.04 on the dash, in a Proclip holder, so I wanted the Aux cord to come out from the cubby in front of the gearshift lever, which is what Jamey did. Should I want to use Bluetooth instead, I can always just push the cord into the cubby -- but then the iPhone wouldn't charge.
The end result is exactly what I hoped for. I put the iPhone in the mount, and it streams anything I have running on the phone -- usually Pandora, Songza or the internal music, plus a nav program. I can see what song is playing on the PCM screen, and use the Forward and Back controls on the PCM to control the music.
When I press the Tel button on the PCM, I can see my iPhone phonebook on the PCM screen and can run through it, and dial either from there or from the phone itself. I mounted the mic just to the left of the PCM instead of up by the mirror, for two reasons: 1) My Vi radar detector is mounted up by the mirror, and 2) I often drive with the top down, and wanted to keep the mic out of the wind as much as possible.
The car had to be programmed with the PIWIS to eliminate the car's built-in phone (so it wouldn't keep looking for it) and to add a CD changer (which my car didn't have -- the Dension is controlled via the CD changer button on the PCM). This took my indy (
House Automotive
in Pasadena) 10 minutes, and he didn't charge me for it. He did have a question, so he called Jamey, who jumped in his car and came right over to sort it out.
I do have the latest Dension firmware update but, proceeding on the basis of "if it ain't broke don't fix it", I haven't felt the need to install it. I will say this: Kudos to those who have done the installation themselves. Having seen how tricky parts of the installation can be, and how complex the internal wiring, all I can say is you're braver than I am.
Amazing service all around, and I couldn't be happier with the Dension unit. At $529 for the unit and a couple hundred for the installation, it's a huge value in terms of what you get for the money.
Glad this worked out well....always good to hear.
I have been very happy with mine, it works perfectly and I am able to stream music from my
IPhone
4S
