Stereo Modding :-) - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

So I thought I would start my modding off with the basics. Air filter, pollen filter and car stereo. Took me a while to get the original stereo out. I'm great at breaking things and having extra bits left over so thought I would take my time. I still managed to cut my hands but that's part of the fun right? A good tip and will save time (wish I had done this first). Putting the pins in to remove the stereo use screw drivers to pull on the thin metal pins not your fingers. Took a while to hook both sides in but managed to pop the stereo out. On the back there are 3 connectors for the original stereo. I have the cd changer in the front so think one is for that. Blue, green, yellow connector. Can someone confirm? I have a harness for two of the 3 connectors but might go and buy a 3 way before I install and have to remove it again. Another tip you will need an antenna adapter for the arial at the back if using some types of after market stereos so check to see if one is needed. I had to run down to the car shop 5 mins before they closed to get one. In the cubby hole where the stereo came out of there are some outlets where hands free mic can pass through nicely. Was pretty easy to route it through. I will finish off the install tomorrow but thought I would post a few pics before and after or half way through

One other question I should ask. Maybe I should have asked this first before buying a new head unit. I have the Bose system. Will I still be able to use the factory amp/speakers? I read on another forum that the head unit changed but the guy had no sound and was suggested it could be that the amp switched on with the factory head unit. I would rather do the install myself than take it to a shop.

What's your model year?

I am not sure with the Porsche/bose setup it you can reuse the components, but with my Miata, I have removed the bose head unit and installed an aftermarket stereo and all is great, just purchased a wiring harness adapter soldered it into the stereo's harness and it plugged right in without a problem. all of the controls are fine (f/r fader, r/l balance, power antenna etc.)

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Model 3.2s year 2002

So. There are no wiring harnesses that i can find that do the 3 connections blue, green,yellow. Cd changers are now obsolete so no need for me to worry about that connection. However connecting just the two connectors below gave me no sound so either blue,green or yellow will be the amp Any ideas how to get around this before i put the stock radio back in?

And I forgot to add I have the Bose system. Shelf sub, door speakers, cd changer and amp in the front trunk

I could be wrong, but I think you have a car built on the MOST system, which is comprised of fiber-optic cables connecting everything important in the car. If this is the case, you probably have to do additional work and replace a few extra things to go aftermarket and use your factory speakers. Do some research on the MOST system and your model year and verify this is correct.

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I will have a look. Though MOST was from 2003 onwards but will look. I thought this would be a simple plug and play job

I don't have the bose system in mine, but when I was buying the adapter for my after-market unit I had to specify bose or non-bose system. I would assume that means there is an adapter for bose units. when I ordered my kit and from euro motorsports, they asked me the model, make, year as well as the original stereo model number and the model unit I was putting in. I think they custom make the cage and face plate.

unit do you have installed? I see it interfaces with the smartphones. I'm looking for the one just like that. Did you have the Hifi (with the EQ on the bottom)? Thanks

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I had the CDR-220 with the CD holder underneath. this unit is the Parrot Asteroid Smart I lost my cup holders to fit it in, but it was worth it. the BT handsfree and voice commands are excellent. it connects well to just about any smart phone. they have their own app store, but you can also install the android app store and others. it has it's own GPS or you can use Waze (free) or Tom Tom or several others. it also has built in wifi and you can tether it to you phone (if you have hotspot) for internet on the go. you would need this for apps like waze. you can also plug in a usb 3g or 4g dongle for its own internet, but I wasn't going to spend that much. the only things I don't like about it is that there is no physical volume buttons and it takes a while to boot up if it has been off >30 minutes.

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I think you are right. I did order the Bose harness but looking at the pins some are blank where pins should be. I have the pelican wiring guide but bought this as a plug and play so will go to the shop get them to do the wiring. Thanks for the reply

Finally fitted my aftermarket Pioneer stereo in place of the factory fitted setup. I managed to find a harness on eBay: (Autoleads PC9-410 Active Full Bose Amplifier Adaptor Porsche Boxster Cayman) by a seller called rudiemods here in the UK This fitted and worked on my Bose setup. I have had to forfeit the CD changer unit in the front trunk but now I have the Bose amp and door/shelf sub working well. So well pleased with the end result. All for £80 too Make sure you connect up the blue and white wire from the harness in to the remote wire this fires up the Amp and all should be fine.

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Wow! So you didn't have to change your amp? Have you come across an adapter for non Bose systems?

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Was a straight plug and play. Try those guys on eBay. They may have a harness for non Bose

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How do you like the Parrot Asteroid Smart? I currently have a stock CDR23 with base audio (no door speakers, amp or CD changer) and will be upgrading my system soon. I will be changing out the dash speakers and adding the rear speakers. I am trying to figure out if I can fit a powered sub under the passenger seat. The Parrot is one I am considering very seriously.

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I'll preface my answer with saying that I am not much of an audiophile (more of a tech geek). don't care about thumping bass etc... so my main concerns were with the features. this unit doesn't have a CD/DVD player, which didn't phase me, but may some. it does a great job of playing off ipods/iPhones, thumb drives, SD cards and, from what I understand, just about any device. decent Radio with song artist info (forget what the technical name for that is). most importantly to me though was the blue tooth and apps. the BT hands free is by far the best I have seen. top down at 45 mph and my wife could hear me perfectly (thought I was at home in the living room). the BT audio streaming is excellent as is the playback of a iPhone or even USB drive with loose mp3s plugged in. if you give it an internet connection (via your phones hotspot for example) it will scrub the files and give you actual info rather than just file name. the internet connection also comes in handy for apps like Waze (better than a radar detector). there are also tons of apps for various things. Parrot has its own app store or you can install the android store (and some others I think). basically you can run just about anything that you can run on an Android phone or tablet. my only complaints about it is the lack of physical volume and mute buttons, although if you are on a source screen (i.e. tuner, connected USB drive etc..) you can simply swipe up or down to control volume and tap to mute. I like having the Waze app running so, it is inconvenient when I need to mute or adjust the volume. also, when it boots, it always goes to the home screen, rather than back to the radio screen or whatever you were on when you shut down. it is also pretty slow to boot. in the morning I am usually out of my driveway before it has started playing music. As a tech guy this is annoying to me because I know the reason for it and I think their implementation is dumb. basically this thing is like a android tablet. with a tablet or smart phone, when you "turn it off" you are actually just putting into sleep mode. so when you unlock it, it is on and ready to go virtually instantly. with the Parrot, it goes into that sleep mode for 30 minutes. so if you are just running into the store and come back it will be booted and ready when you start the car. longer than 30 minutes it powers off and has to cold boot when you start the car. their reason for doing this is to prevent it from draining your cars battery. I have been arguing with Parrot Tech support about this for a while. by my calculations a decent car battery would be able to run the Parrot in sleep mode for about 3 weeks before it drained the battery enough to make starting the car an issue. they retorted that some people may have cars that they don'e drive very often. I think they should give that option to the user. i.e a setting that allows you to adjust the time to power down. for me, I would probably set it to 24 hours. they do do a pretty cool thing where they use the accelerometer in the unit to detect vibration (car door closing etc..) to start it booting. if you give it power within 30 seconds, it is already "pre-booted". otherwise it goes back to power off some people have added a cheap relay on the back of the unit and wired it into the keyless entry. being a cheap relay, it "thumps" enough to trigger the pre-boot. too much trouble for me for something that can be fixed in software. for is few faults though, it is still an excellent unit and I would recommend it if you are looking for lots of cool features.

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Thanks, That was exactly the info I was looking for. I'm an old rock and roll roadie and did pro audio for major touring bands in the 70 & 80', so my ears a bit shot any way, so the cool features are more what I am looking for rather than as you say thumping bass, etc. I saw that you can get a TomTom app, and that is a big plus for me as I have been using TomTom GPS for a long time and like their interface. I like the features and it is not stupid expensive as well. The bluetooth a a big thing for me and its nice to know it works well even wit the top down as I live in San Diego and probably 90% of the time I'm top down. Where did you mount the microphone? Based on your evaluation and other stuff I have read, I think I will be getting one soon. Just need to find the correct harness so I don't have to cust the factory connectors off. In my searches, it looks like the Audo/VW/Scoda harness/adapters will work Thanks again