'03 996 Stereo Replacement Woes

Greetings all! Earlier this year I got myself a 996 and I have been loving everything, aside from the head unit situation. Usually I am not worried about music as I am listening to the exhaust, but I am about to take a road trip in this car soon and would like to address the head unit before I go. I decided on the Sony XAV AX100 double din head unit with android auto and all that fancy stuff. However... I tried to wire things up and I get nothing out of the Sony unit. My car is a bit of an odd one. It is an 03 without the Hi Fi or Bose system, totally base stereo setup. It has the 6611 CDR23 with the built in amp and everything. I purchased both the Metra 1784 and 1787 harnesses just in case and have everything wired through the 1784 as the speaker wire runs into the CDR23. Basically I am wondering if there is anything I am forgetting that would cause the unit not to power up, I put the CDR23 back in and it powers up fine. I feel like I am tripping over the MOST system but don't know for sure, and can't find anything specific to a car without HiFi or Bose... Thanks in advance for the help!

This place might be able to help you. Maybe they can build you a "plug and play" adapter. I was able to install my stereo from CAI in less then 10 minutes start to finish. https://cai-store.com/

Common problem. You're trying to integrate an HU with analog output into a digital (i.e. MOST) based system. Metra wiring harness is ONLY for analog based systems '02 or earlier (e.g. CDR-220). You have a couple of options: 1. Send the original Becker CDR-23 to be repaired by Becker autosound. 2. Try one of those Chinese analog to MOST conversion boxes. 3. Remove the existing MOST based amp and install a new amp to drive the existing speakers. Read this thread. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ctory-amp.html Hope that helps!

Okay... so reading through that thread it seems that everyone there is dealing with replacing the amp that is in the car. Is this still the case with my car, since I don't have an amp at all? From the little bit I was able to find it seemed like the CD changer in the frunk runs through the MOST bus, but since the speakers connect directly to my head unit I would be good. Here is the back of my CDR23 (BE6611), which contains the brown plug I haven't seen in any CDR23 replacement threads: CDR23 6611 Might end up giving CAI a call soon...

If you are decent with a 25 watt soldering iron you can split the chassis of the OEM head unit and wire-up a Bluetooth board from eBay which will give you connectivity to your phone. A few of us have done it (myself included) with great results at low cost while preserving the factory look of your car. Sure, there isn't much whiz-bang in this solution, but it provides basic functionality for music and phone -- which based upon your earlier comments probably meets your needs. I can provide you with some helpful links as a follow-up if you are interested unless someone beats me to it - for now I have to hit the rack to catch a plane in the morning.

Update: As I've written the next few posts, my memory has been triggered a bit from the last time I wired a car just like yours.. I'll bet you a six pack your problem is quite simple. No switched power on the factory radio harness, so your radio never turns on. Pick up the switched power at the cell phone accessory plug behind the lower cubby. Skip ahead right to post 10 if you really don't care to read my intermediate posts and just get to what I'll bet you is your problem and the easy fix. ------------- With your particular radio, I can almost guarantee that you have a simple wiring issue, not a MOST issue. Or defective head unit. I had a 2004 C2 with the same base stereo as you and had no issues putting in a with a correctly wired aftermarket deck. You are not using ANYTHING in the MOST fiber optic ring once the install is done and can just leave the MOST connector hanging in space. I currently have a 2001 Turbo that I installed the same Sony XAV-AX100 in (nice unit, by the way). The Turbo, while not having MOST, did have the external amp, and wiring it was simply a matter of using the high-impedance outputs of the Sony vs. the low impedance (speaker) outputs that you would use in a 2003 non-Bose car. Double check your wiring, don't necessarily trust that the harness adapters are wired correctly. It was many years ago, but I kind of recall having to move one wire on the harness adapters when I installed in the '04. Get a volt meter or test light, see if you have voltage on both the constant hot and switched hot going to the Sony radio harness when the key is switched on. Sounds like you don't, and if you trace that down, that's likely your problem. Could also be a defective out-of-the-box Sony unit, or a blown fuse on the sony unit. Either way, not the most system with a non-bose, non-external-amplifier radio. Just to motivate you for the light at the end of the tunnel...

I just looked up some old notes... This is the wiring harness adapter I used in my 2004 C2 Non-bose, non-external amp car to wire a new radio. I also used the Metra 70-1784. Zero issues with MOST bus. Amazon Amazon

I'd have to go through all of these again to re-learn what I once new, but here are some of my wiring info files from when I did the '04 install... I do seem to recall that not all Porsche radio wiring harnesses have a ACC switched 12V source in the harness. You might need to pick it up elsewhere. The almost-always-unused car phone connector that is usually behind the lower cubby is an excellent place to pick up switched 12V. Might be of some help figuring out if you have the adapter wired correctly... Don't assume it is always like-color to like-color! As you can see below, the brown connector is all speaker outputs... That's why you don't see it on other head units using an external amp. Your radio config is the EASIEST of all the post 2002 996's to replace with an aftermarket deck because of this...

Here is the wiring diagram for the Sony... I'd start your troubleshooting by probing the Sony wiring harness with a voltmeter or test light and ensure that: YELLOW is good constant 12v BLACK is good ground RED is float when ignition off, 12v with ignition on (this is my guess of where your problem is. You can temporarily hook red to yellow if you don't have a good switched power feed just to test it, but the radio will not shut off with the key.) As mentioned above, if this IS the problem, pick up switched 12V from the unused car phone connector. Once you get it working, also note that: LIGHT_GREEN should go to ground to disable silly parking brake for video system BLUE/WHITE goes from your radio to your power antenna lead on the harness, otherwise you won't get any radio reception.

This is what the unused cell phone connector looks like... This one has a piece of tape over the connectors put on by the owner, yours will not. It doesn't take much fishing around behind the cubby to find it. Excellent place to pick up switched 12V without having to tap into the fuse box. You should always double-check everything with a voltmeter, but I believe the relevant wiring code on this connector is: RED/GREEN = 12V always hot GREEN/BLACK = 12V switched (Your magic bullet! Wire this to Sony harness Red, and Bob's your uncle!) BROWN = ground Photo from Renntech...

Wow, thanks for all of that information pfbz!! That looks to be exactly what I need, after I get out of work today I will go forth double checking everything and finding that cell phone connector in my dash. I will report back and, hopefully, be one step farther in this process!

Wow, sorry... I jumped the gun on my advice since we get these similar scenarios on RL every month. (I guess I can blame it on Irma blowing trees down in my back yard.) Most people that have the CDR-23 (including me) had the MOST based frunk amp. pfbz's advice is good. I didn't catch the fact that you weren't getting the new Sony HU to power up. That would be the first thing to check. When I upgraded to a Blaupunkt on my 996, I also used the switched 12V that pfbz points out. It's easy to access and some newer head units won't power up unless you have this 12V current connected. Older headunit's would just remain on. In my case, the Blaupunkt would remain on if it didn't have a 12V switched connection. That signal told the HU to turn off with the car. There was two 12V connections on my HU... 1. 12V CONSTANT (i.e. Battery) AND... 2. 12V SWITCHED. (i.e. Ignition or ACC) Now, if you connect the 12V switched to your Sony HU and it still doesn't work, then you need to check the 12 V constant (i.e. A5 pin on your Power connector) coming from the car and make sure it lines up right with your wiring harness and then connected properly to the Sony HU. Remember... your CDR-23 is powering up, and so it's a matter of checking the correct 12V connection. More than likely, the speaker outputs on Connector B should be fine. Great advice pfbz!

Thanks for all the help guys, that did it!! Tested the connections in the harness to make sure they were wired right for the Sony HU, and then confirmed the 12v switched power from the cell phone connector. Connected everything up and bingo bango it works! I didn't have enough time to put it all together tonight, but I will do that some time over the next couple of days. I can't wait! Thanks again, not sure how I would have figured this out without your help.

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Cool! Glad it worked out. On a side note, the Sony head unit is very particular about the memory stick it will connect to if you need to update the firmware or want to load a custom image as a background. I tried a couple I had lying around, none of them were 'supported'. Ordered a Sony memory stick (USM16X/B) and it worked fine. Pretty stupid limitation, but only $10 for a 'supported' memory stick so not that big of a deal. Amazon Amazon --- Got to say, the Sony Carplay unit gives one heck of a lot of modern functionality to a 15+ year old Porsche for under $400. iPhone nav is better than what virtually every new carmaker offers, commercial free streaming music through Apple music, or Amazon Music, or Spotify.. If Apple would allow other navigation apps like Waze to run on the Carplay screen, I'd be in heaven. As it is, I typically still run Waze on the phone display for live traffic and speed trap updates. I made a custom magnetic phone mount out of an old CD holder, but the Rennline magnetic phone mount looks like a nice alternative.

Is there a step by step installing a iPad mini and pioneer head in a 2001 996 I have seen the set up in pelican parts but no explaining how to do it with a {stereo set-up for dummies} I need to be led from start to finish if anyone knows please let me in on the secret and if someone knows if there is a guy to go to in Minneapolis I'm sorry I don't know the jargon and am a lot dumb knowing wiring as it looks like a lot of you really get it Help Moresyporsche

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I did this write up years ago, but it's not exactly a beginner project... https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-996-mkii.html

I tapped the phone power to my aftermarket radio, now I have blown my E6 fuse which caused me to be unable to fuel, any fixes to this? I'll be electrical taping anything loose but everything should have been ok. Is it safe to put a 10 or 15a so it doesnt blow? edit: My bad, forgot to wrap the connector for the ground and it must have shorted. wrapped, replace fuse, all good.