stereo upgrades, speakers, subwoofers...

Hi all. (I posted a reply to a "coaxial speaker replacement" topic, and thought I might be able to help more people if I started a new topic. I'm going to post the same info here that I posted in the reply, as well as add some info on the Bose setup.) (I receive the daily 911 digest, but don't venture to this board more than a few times a year. After seeing all the stereo postings, yikes, maybe I should tune in more often! I might be able to help) On the 996, the non-hifi equipped cars have come with a 4" full range in each dash location and a 4" full range in each rear side location. On the hifi setup, there is a 5.25" subwoofer mounted in each door, and the dash and rear side speakers are 4" mid and separate tweeter. All dash and rear side speakers attach to the grills, and overall size is pretty much restricted to a 4" speaker there. If your car didn't come with the hifi package, then it's actually quite simple to simply upgrade speakers all around with 4" coaxials, though attaching them usually involves "gutting" the factory speakers to use their "mounting flange" to clamp the new speakers in place, and some brands are better fit than others. Even changing out the head unit is quite simple because there is no separate amp on the non-hifi cars, and a standard harness adapter and antenna adapter allow the new radio to plug in cleanly without altering the car. (If installing your own unit, email me for installation instructions, there are a few things to be aware of including powering the antenna booster, and disconnecting a security lead that interfaces with the alarm, and it seems 03 and up have no switched ignition wire in the harness, but there is an orange wire at the ignition switch itself that will behave properly-that is, it remains energized until the key is actually removed from ignition-hooray!) The factory speakers, amp, and radio, are all in my opinion, poor quality stuff that is easily outperformed by even medium end aftermarket equipment. The Bose setups now include a subwoofer in the coupes (like the 02 TT in our shop right now, drool, drool...) with dual 6" drivers that despite their large ported enclosure still somehow fail to produce quality bass. The door speakers are ported, but seem to break up at anything but a low level. The Bose setup involves another, teeny tiny amplifier in the trunk. (All hifi cars have an amplifier in the trunk, a black square unit that claims 60 x 6, I believe). The Bose speakers are laid out the same, but they use their trademark triangular drivers. Good quality speakers, a quality amplifier, good sub setup (even 5" subs behind the rear side panels in the coupes sound great!), nice clean head unit with good response and at least 4 volts of preamp voltage, all make for one spectacular true 4-way system, which is very hard to describe. I'll sit in this TT when it's all done and waste a bunch of time that I can't afford to spend listening to it, just stunned 'Hopefully this car will be done tomorrow. 'sorry for rambling, I spent the weekend in Kentucky working on a 993 TT and an SC cab, I had a blast, but I need a day off, hehe. Anyways, that's my $.02. Questions are always welcome, my shop email is [email removed] the website is www.caraudioinnovations.com I can email some directions I have for the 996. I'm sorry they're not as fully developed yet and detailed as I have for the earlier cars. (I think I've only done audio upgrades on perhaps 50 996's compared a few hundred of the earlier cars, so I keep adding and updating, and taking more pictures.) Even if you're just looking at different options, you can email me what you're thinking and I can render my opinion. I've seen Reus systems mentioned, and I believe them to be very qualified and experienced, and I've heard from people who're happy with their setups. I met with Rick and I think he's a nice guy to boot. -Rod

Thank you Thank you - very nice post I have an 01 tt and I want to do some upgrades on it but I do not want to remake the wheel. It would be great to know the names and models of some speakers that will fit in the factory spots? I would think it would be best to have them all from the same co. Also since I have a tt -- I was told that they did not come with the basic system (I have door speakers) I do not have that "digital system" control in the dash - so I must have the hi-fi setup -- but I do not see any amp! I was just going to change out the head unit for a 'traffic pro' - but I wonder if it is going to be as bad as the unit I have now -- they look the same! The porsche unit is fine when a CD is playing but the FM system is just not very good. Also I did not know about any ant booster! Thank again - TAG

[insert shameless plug here]: I have the full Reus system in my Turbo and it is the best sounding car stereo I have ever heard. While I have not heard systems from Car Audio Innovations as mentioned above, IMHO it would be hard to imagine a better sounding system than my Reus. It would also be hard to imagine a more expensive system Finally, I would call Reus much more than qualified and experienced - I would call Rick Reus "The Master" of car audio. Since I do business with him regularly, I have occasion to visit his shop at least once a month and I am always amazed at the endless parade of Porsches, Ferraris, and Mercedes that run through Reus' shop.

There are a few shops down your way, I hear good things about Paris Audio in I think Bevery Hills? Also, Eric at Speakerworks in Orange is one of the pioneers of many things that are now common in competitions. I've heard from a few happy Reus customers, and people being happy with their stereo is what it's all about. Rock on. On your 996TT, your factory amp is under that small black "grill" on the passenger side of your trunk, right next to the gas tank. The grill is a vent for the amplifier, and is held in with one phillips screw. Remove that black vent and you'll see your 60x6 amp (I think that's a max rating, personally!). This amp is more obvious on the C2 because it's located behind the spare on the back wall of the trunk. The Hifi package includes a door speaker location, the non-hifi cars have an open map pocket there instead. I think I ranted in my previous message about the different speaker locations and how the car is equipped from the factory. For the dash and door location, I like to use the Focal Polyglass 3 way set, which isn't even their top speaker, but a 3 way set has inherent advantages, and if you run separate subs in one configuration or another, then you'll have a true 4-way system, which just has to be heard to be believed. After doing a couple of dozen of these, it still floors me. I hear a lot of nice setups and get to compare equipment A/B style. I've likely done a few hundred 911 installs altogether, and when done properly, it's self-evident. The Focal 3-way set is something that we do with a couple differences over the standard 165v3 set, we substitute the 5.25" midwoofer from another Polyglass set (with Focal's blessings, of course, since we ran it by them first), and we have a specific way we mount them and perform additional level matching to achieve the proper balance with the 3 drivers. We include the parts, instructions and details with this set, $599.95/set. Since we're authorized Focal dealers, they come with a 3 year warranty, and we perform advance replacement coverage for that period for our mail order customers. We can also ship out replacments to those whom we visit on an "installation trip" to southern Calif, or wherever I go to install on a Porsche (this last weekend I flew to Lexington, then Louisville Kentucky for installation work on a 97 993TT and 83SC cab, see the 993 boards for details-what a job!). (Beware of the Focal stuff you see online with defaced serial numbers!) For many systems, to save guys money, we'll just put the Focal coaxial 4" in back at $159.95/pair, and they're plenty for rear "fill", and can even be driven off head unit power, saving amp dollars. There are subwoofer enclosures that we build for the 996, and pictures are shown on our website, www.caraudioinnovations.com, on the Porsche sub enclosure page. One configuration for the coupe is a dual 10 or dual 8" enclosure that sits on the lower shelf behind the rear seats, extends into the area behind it, and is wrapped in vinyl, with "Carrera" or "Turbo", your choice embossed on the back, facing the rear window. This is the grey enclosure towards the bottom of the enclosure info page for the 996, and is also shown in "Porsche Installations" in a 2001 C2 coupe. It ranges from $1200 with dual 8" subs to $1499 with dual Focal 11" Polyglass subs. Heck, if it was my car, I'd do the Polykevlar 11" subs at $2600, hehe. Another sub option is our cabriolet style enclosures, which have shallow 8" subs, one on each rear floor, also shown on the Porsche 996 enclosure page. These sit low on the rear floor, but do consume the floor. $949 for a pair. One nice, subtle, and perhaps mild option is a 5" Focal Utopia sub behind each rear side panel $189 each for Utopia, $239 each for Polykevlar, in some adapter plates and panels that we make. These don't produce bass with the authority of larger subs in a large enclosure, but they do produce great low frequencies. We have an '02 TT in our shop now, and we've built one of our wood enclosures, a 5" Focal Utopia in a transmission line style enclosure ($649) which produces a great quantity of pretty smooth bass, like a larger driver. Plus we're doing the 5" subs in the rear sides for midbass, and the Focal 3-way system up front. This is going to make up a 5-way system in this car, and it will be done on Saturday, in case any SF Bay Area or Sacramento area 996 owners want to hear it-let me know! I know I've thrown out too many subwoofer options now. So here's another: You can run 5" subwoofers in the two rear side locations as well as the doors, for a total of 4 5" subs, and do Focal's higher end Polykevlar 4" component set it the dash (100kp) for some of the smoothest highs you've ever heard. On the head unit, I don't recommend the Traffic Pro. I think the Becker stuff is noticeably inferior in clean signal and flat musical response, as well as bandwidth. It's tough to try to "eq" a setup that has such dull sound with poor clarity like those Beckers, and their tuners seem to be weak. Any aftermarket head unit with at least 4 volts of preamp signal will be superior. I like a number of brands, and I'm proud to be an authorized dealer for Eclipse, Pioneer, and Kenwood Excelon. My favorite for the 996 dash has to be the Nakamichi stuff, for which I'm also a dealer. The CD400 is a great unit, $449.95, clean sound, a ****, auxiliary input, 3 pairs of preamp outputs, 4 volts each, sub level control, and a 24 bit D/A converter which makes for CD playback that's just superior. (Kenwood, Pioneer, and Eclipse have 24 bit on some of their nicer units, and it just makes for more clean sound and some more headroom). I've got squirreled away a couple of the Nakamichi MB100 units, which are plain looking, have buttons for volume, amber display also, 24 bit D/A, and 6 disc indash. Preamp outputs are 5 volts, but only front and rear. (You can add a nice bass **** to some of the better amps, which can be handy in either case). $999.95 each, 'kinda pricey but nice. I might keep one of them for myself, they've stopped making them and who knows when the MB10, the replacement, will be out. Pioneer has a new headunit this year that I think will simply dominate the market for such. Their new AVIC-N1 indash motorized LCD touchscreen includes navigation, DVD player, AM/FM/CD, tuner, at $1999.95. Just a year ago, you had to pay $2k for just the navigation, to add to the $1800 indash screen unit! We've done a few of these, and they're nice, including back up camera input, 24 bit D/A, just a great unit with friendly navigation features. For amplifiers, I'm really big on the Audison stuff. The VRX stuff can be pretty pricey, but that's what I'm putting in my personal car. (I'm between 911's, sorry, so cruising a 528i for now). Amps can run anywhere from $439 for the small SRX4 4 channel to $599 for their beefy 3 channel (one of my favorites), they have an LRX line with more power at $700-900 depending on 4 or 5 channels. On the C2, these amps will all fit on the rear wall where the factory amp goes-which I think is a big bonus. The factory changer or any other changer won't fit in it's usual spot, though, since the Audison amps are longer than the factory amp. Well, there I think I've laid it out, hopefully clearly. Once I understand someone's needs and budget, I can usually help weed through the options to figure out what will best serve. In my opinion, the downside of the 996 is that there really isn't anything from the factory stereo that is worth keeping, even with the Bose setup, which can make any worthwhile upgrades expensive (I'd say our average install on a 996 runs about $3700-4800 or so without doing the large sub enclosure or navigation/video.) On the up side, if one installs speakers properly (kind of a tricky mount to get a rigid, airtight fit to the factory grills), sets levels properly and crossovers (we set all this before shipping product out for the do-it-myself guys), man, it's a really nice setup. Be cautious what speakers you put in the dash, and settings. Bright or harsh speakers seem to just plain cause fatigue when you're driving at speed with the tunes up to compensate for road/wind noise. I hope this helps! Questions, comments, feedback are always welcome. -Rod

Rod - great info!!! I am still "strategizing" on my audio upgrade (99 cab). So far I have the Focal 165K3 3-ways (polykevlars not polyglass) and a soundstream VGA 4x125w amp. I wanted to use the 3-ways upfront (sound stage) then use ch3&4 to drive the subs (TBD). Already have 2 issues with the Focals: fitting the 4" mids in the dash and the 6.5" in the door pods (magnets are too big in both cases). Would I be better off just going with 5.25s and splitting them (tweets in dash and mids in the door - read you should keep them together)? Then putting subs in back?. Have you ever counted a "big magnet" 6.5 in the door of a 996? Thanks!!

Hey Rod-good to hear form you, man! For those who don't know, Rod is the NorCal version of Jamie at Paris Audio, and saves us the need to drive all the way to Beverly Hills for decent tunes. There may be a couple of Porsche sound guys who are as good, but I can't imagine anyone better. Or more honest. Or easier to deal with. Or more professional. And anyone who says you can't get decent sound in a convertible needs to go for a ride in the Ruf

hey, more responses, coolness. On wet996's equipment, hmm, I don't know how to get those speakers in your car. It sounds like you've got the previous Polykevlar series 3 way set. I think that 4" will fit in the dash location, but I'm not sure how to securely mount it. I think with the dash grill removed, it drops right into the opening. securing it, well, I haven't tried to get that big stout 4" into the dash, it's not something that can be mounted to the grill like we do with the other Focal 4" mids. I'd keep the mid and tweeter together in the dash. You might be able to get that 6.5" midwoofer from the same set into the door with an adapter plate. The critical thing here is to achieve an airtight seal/fit to the door enclosure. We cut some ABS adapter rings for some drivers and actually use ABS glue to attach them to the door enclosure. Some trimming on the back side of the door panel is done for necessary clearance. An easier fit would be the same generation Polykevlar 5.25" midwoofer, which just about drops in, and needs just a minor spacer ring to seal up airtight. I don't know how hard it would be to find this driver, since the new Polykevlar power series revamped speaker sets have been out for about a year now. The new Polykevlar K3P set includes a 6.5" woofer, 6.5" mid and the phenomenal new TN52 tweeter. 'Great set, but not a good fit for the 996 which is ready for a 5.25, 4" and tweeter. The Soundstream amp will be okay if it's an older model, but if it's something built in the last two years, then it's actually built by Power Acoustik, a low end brand that bought Soundstream. This saddened us, and we dropped the Soundstream brand. In the 996, a quality amp and proper interconnects, wire routing, etc is critical, as well as a head unit with at least 4 volts of preamp signal. Otherwise, noise will likely result, especially alternator whine. If you don't use the right kind of speaker wire (the factory stuff works fine, and you can use twisted style aftermarket wire with good results) you can even have noise with the system off.(!) A low quality amplifier will simply be noisy, with no way to get rid of the noise short of replacing with a better quality amplifier. Hey, Jay, thanks for the kind words! You rule. I trust that your Ruf is still rockin'! Jamie is no longer at Paris Audio, apparently they let him go. (I found out through a Boxster owner who was trying to get help redoing some stuff he wasn't happy with). I think he finally was taken care of by the owners, but for some reason had stuff swapped out at another shop. questions, comments, feedback always welcome. I can email instructions to 996 owners on installing stuff, and we ship out "do it yourself" setups all over the U.S every week. (I've even got an order for our 993 subwoofer enclosure panels from Italy to ship out right now!) I'm always looking to organize a trip to install equipment too. Sometimes it can be pretty cost effective if I can organize a few cars in the same general area. So far I've traveled to Washington state, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, NY, NJ, and MD for installation work, as well as about 5 trips to So Cal including a couple trips to Palm Springs. 'hope this helps! -Rod

Rod was gracious enough to answer most, if not all, of the same questions posed above when I called him out of the blue about a year and a half ago. He didn't know me from a hole in the wall but did everything he could to answer all of my questions about upgrading the stereo in my 996, which I did, including the use of his custom subwoofer enclosure with twin 8" image dynamics. Thanks for all your input Rod.....The subs sound great BTW! Mike A.

Hey Rod - Thanks for the great info (wish I was closer to your shop)!!! I heard about your soundstream comment elsewhere (post purchase of course). I am switching to Phoenix Gold Titanium (hopefully ebay the SS VGA). As for the Focals - the 4" is tight only on the driver side. There is a metal brace thats in the way of the magnet I am still working on it though. As for the door mount - I found a pair of Porsche 5.5 litre sealed enclosures (my 99 came with smaller vented pods) on ebay and was going to use them (the 6.5" will require some modification to fit). Question is - how will a 5.25 or 6.5 sound in a sealed box? If you have pics of the direct door panel mount - would love to see them. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge !!

Hey MLA911 - I live in Delray too. What audio mods did you do (besides the subs)? Where did you get it done (if not yourself)? Thanks!

I just ordered a bunch of stuff from Rod and I'm going to install it next weekend. I'm a little nervous, so if anyone else in Western Washington is thinking of upgrading perhaps we could get hime up here.

Rod - above you mention an adaptor plate for the door. Is this to replace the 6x9 stock grill? I guess you remove the 5-1/4" speaker pods. Does the airspace behind the door pannel and infront of the foam bearier provide enough air space and sound isolation? If you have/make this adaptor I would am interested in buying them. Thanks!!

oh my, this is becoming a lively discussion. 'careful everyone, I get really excited about this stuff. I'll try to take a deep breath and stay on track: A trip to Washington state would be fine! Rob's here too. wild man. On the door speaker adapter plate mentioned by wet996, here's the lowdown on the door speaker in the 996 and Boxster. Only the cars with the hifi option have the door speaker location, non-hifi cars have just an open map pocket on that forward corner of the door panel. When equipped with door speakers, the mount is a bit unusual, but becoming more common on BMWs and Porsches. The 5.25" (standard frame "woofer", 2 ohm I think), speaker doesn't mount to the door itself, but is mounted to an ABS plastic housing that is fastened to the door with 4 screws. This speaker enclosure has some good air volume to it, and it's ported. I have relatively small hands, and I can reach into this enclosure through the speaker opening (this unit is kind of flat in shape, just deep enough for the speaker to mount, and fits sort of into a groove on the interior surface of the door, behind the door panel) and I can stuff at least a 1/4 pound of Acousta-Stuf into the enclosure. The factory speaker grills built into the door are fine as they are, but on the back sides of the grills, with a dremel, you sometimes need to trim some protruding plastic so that it clears the speaker/sub when the door panel is mounted. The adapter plates that I mentioned we ship with the equipment, they're basically ABS rings that are cut with a circle jig and provide a nice seal/mount for the driver, depending on which driver you're installing in the doors. We do everything in these doors from a 5.25" standard basket, (like in the Focal Polyglass set in our modified 3-way setup that we supply), to a 6.5" version of the Polyglass midwoofer, which we can usually adapt in, and the other option mentioned with Focal 5" door subs (5 3/8" drivers, also sealing up/mounting with the proper adapter plates/rings). The odd thing is that over the few years of the 996 and Boxster, I've seen about 4 different versions of these door enclosures, all with the same "subs" from the factory, but slightly different shapes and volumes, which makes it hard to tell how a speaker will fit until we do some test fitting. The Bose system is similar, they just use those funky sort of triangle shaped drivers. 'still greatly compromised system, IMHO, and not nearly as nice as even a modest aftermarket setup. On door speaker response in a ported versus sealed enclosure, I think either should sound fine, but both enclosures seem to benefit from stuffing. On the sealed, it helps response and increases air volume, on the ported it helps dampen the air movement through the port. for pics of the door speaker mounts (I *think* I have some on the PC at the shop) please email me there, [email removed] so that I can reply and attach pics and instructions. These instructions are available to all Rennlist members for no charge. When ordering, Rennlist members get a couple free demo CD's, and make sure to ask for your free T shirt (M, L, XL)so's I don't forget to include it. More questions welcome, 'bring 'em on! -Rod

Does anyone know how easy it is to add the door speaker enclosures? I'm guessing it is fairly easy to do this.

Rod - I do have the "hi-fi" option. My 99 came with the smaller ported "pods" but I found the larger sealed "pods" on ebay and intend to use them. Thanks again for the info. Mattmarsden - your 996 needs to come with this "hi-fi" audio option. The door pannels are different, they extend into the car to accomodate the speaker enclosures.

Who is this masked man, Rod. I just want to say " thank you" to Rod for answering all our questions and for very nicely replying to my e mail request with a detailed 6 page stereo installation guide. I had just committed to having a system installed by my local shop but I really wish I was near Rod or heard of his shop first. Please, guys, buy some stuff from this guy. I would imagine he has plenty of business but everyone could always use more. Thanks again, Rod. PS. I am having a system installed as I type. Wish me luck.

Wet996, could I not change the door cards?

Not sure what a door card is. I was describing the interior door panel. Its one piece - though if you remove it, the lower section (with the carpet) looks like it can be separated from the top section. I am sure you could order new panels - but I would imagine that is pricy. There may be a solution for the doors w/o the hi-fi option, but I will leave that to the experts... Rod

hey all, adding the door speaker location can be tricky. Not only do the hifi equipped cars come with the door speaker enclosure on each door, but the door panel is different-not just because the hifi door panel has a grill attached to it, it also has the clearance for the speaker enclosure. I forgot to mention this in my last post, JayM's car came without a door speaker location, as did a couple of other 996's shown on our website under "Porsche installations", so there's Jay's Ruf Turbo, and a couple of '99 coupes where I did the conversion. Here's what I do: I pick up a pair of the enclosures from a local dealer, (that's $250 right there!), then I remove the existing open map pocket from the door panel from the back of the door panel. Once that's removed, I'll mount the speaker enclosure on the door and start checking fit with the door panel, trimming the (former map pocket) opening to fit with the enclosure in place. This involves trimming that opening larger, but just big enough, since next I cover the opening with a handmade grill. The grill is a bit tricky, I have a jig for a piece of ABS plastic, flat 3/16" thick, that has a speaker opening in it, and has something of an elliptical shape (to match the interior). I hand-form this ABS piece with a heat gun until I get it the way I like it, then I wrap this grill piece with black grill cloth, and attach it to the door panel from behind with a bunch of short screws and washers. This is hard to describe, but the results are on the website. The end result, IMHO, looks good and stands up to use and wear, which I think is very important. I think many shops can modify the doors to accept speakers, but the important things are achieving a good airtight seal with some air volume behind the driver, clearance for the front of the speaker, a rigid mount for the speaker and grill, and oem wear properties, making sure that the whole setup will hold up over time. -Rod

'another quick post about the door panels. The lower section does look removable from the front of the panel, but I examined these closely in hopes that I could simply swap the lower section for a hifi on the first set I converted, uh, it's like one big piece of plastic. doh! I checked with the dealer initially, and they said $900 each for door panels. A salvage yard can likely do better, but still probably not cheap. A set of hifi door panels and the enclosures would be a simply, abeit expensive route. -Rod

wet996, click on the "check it out" link and it will show you everything I've had done. Drop me a PM if you want to try and hook up in DB. Mike.

hey, that looks like a sub enclosure that I built! (Especially with the elliptical grill listed Image Dynamics 8" subs.) We still build boxes like this (recently an experimental transmission line in an '02 TT, that I think is failing the real-world test, so may revert back to multiple sealed drivers, but no more of the 8" subs, it just seems to make it too tough to get the rear upper seatbacks in their upper locked position. (In the photo, the carpet color looks like one color and the interior carpet another, like spice grey and metropol, or graphite grey and spice. Let me know if you want a piece of matching carpet cut to the correct dimensions. I'm guessing it was ordered for a different car originally? The front bottom edge of that box (I'm assuming it's one I built because it looks exactly the same) should have enough of a flap of carpet hanging off the front edge to tuck behind the rear seat backs and there shouldn't be any visible seams at all. It appears that this flap of carpet simply tucked under the front edge of the box. I don't know if this makes sense.) The 8's really require more front to back depth. 5" or 6.5" no problem, or our upright dual 10" enclosure which will house either dual 8's, dual 10's or dual 11's (Focal's are metric, but really close to 10's. I'd say about an inch difference). This enclosure is vinyl wrapped and can have Turbo or Carrera embossed in the back, as we did in this one '01 coupe. I'll include a shot of the front view. On our website at http://www.caraudioinnovations.com/porsche.htm under "Our Sub Enclosures for the 1999-present Porsche 911 (996) and Boxster (986)" is another picture of the rear with Carrera embossed. I don't think it's so high that it blocks rear view, but I think that's entirely subjective, so some may be comfortable with, some not. This is my favorite setup, with dual Focal 11's, of course. The Porsche crest shaped part on the front of this was designed to duplicate look good at the same time it hides the vinyl seam. I'm not sure if I like it. It might need a big color crest decal. I guess I'll need to change the heading of that page to 1999-2004 Porsche 996, eh? I need to find out now what fits in the 997. Any willing participants in the Sacramento, Roseville, SF Bay Area 'have one on order? I'm dying to see what they're doing for speaker locations. On the dual 8" subwoofer enclosures that I've sold in the past, if anyone should have one and not be happy with latching their seatbacks easily, I'll take care of you with a newer version trading your setup in at no charge. It'll be a multiple JL Audio 6W0 subs. The Image subs are really nice, but not too hard to blow, and the newest versions are really deep and seem less reliable still. I'll still warranty all Image subs for 2 years with outright replacement of some JL Audio 8W3's or equivalent, which are a bit more money than the Image subs were. If you've got some that are older than that, I'm sure we can work something out to take care of you. Thank you everyone for being patient with me building and shipping enclosures and shipping equipment out. We've been just slammed with biz at the shop and via "mail order", short one man (until next Wednesday! haha!), that trip to Kentucky put me behind, and tonight at 5:45 pm my son was born. There's a bit of a stretch, my daughter is now 9, but we wanted her to have a brother or sister and not regret it. The kids are what it's all about for me. I can make a living doing what I love and support my family. If Car Audio Innovations keeps doing as well as the last few months, then I think my wife can refrain from going back to her full time job after her 2 months maternity deal is up. Thanks to all our wonderful customers (we're especially grateful to our Rennlist members who've helped by spreading the word!), there is a good possibility that she may only need to go back to work part-time, or not at all! And I get to employ people and go home in the evenings away from work, unlike the first 8 years of this biz, doing it all from home. I'll celebrate the 4th year of the retail store in June. The store was possible because of Rennlist members (and formerly Porschefans members, and Porshelist members...). Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'll stop now. -Rod

sorry Mike, I just re-read an earlier post of yours, and duh, you did order the sub enclosure from me. I didn't connect that with the website where your car is featured. doh! sorry man. If I screwed up on that carpet match, let me know and I'll rewrap it for you, no charge. hey, your car looks great! Those Image Dynamics subs (if you don't over-drive them) play smooth and low. We've got a RTA for a 996 coupe with dual Image 8's doing a bunch of energy at 20 Hz. They're incredible. I wish they still made those V.2's. doh! This is a good opportunity to show the back of that vinyl wrapped enclosure I mentioned in a previous post. I had to reduce the size of the photo (like the front shot on my previous post) to qualify for less than 150KB filesize. But this should still do it justice. This puppy is expensive because it's labor intensive, all custom fiberglass work, vinyl wrapped, and this cat went for the $150 embossed Carrera script option. I really like how it came out. I've got this custom guy Geoff working with me, and he's a craftsman with many different materials. Mike, the warranty on the box and subs applies to you too buddy. If you find that the box just isn't doing the job you'd hoped, I can swap you for another one that fits better and matches, no charge. -Rod

duh, after all that I forgot to attach another picture of the larger, more expensive sub enclosure compared to the style in Mike's car, which is all wood. (1/2" MDF, glued and screw, lined and braced, stuffed and wrapped in factory carpet). questions, comments, feedback always welcome, [email removed] -Rod

That is very cool work Rod, no wonder you have so much work and great info regarding the different options. Here is another box (2x10" sealed) Other views: http://members.rennlist.com/raptor/subinside1.jpg http://members.rennlist.com/raptor/subskyview1.jpg http://members.rennlist.com/raptor/subtop1.jpg

I like it, I like it! That's a nice look, and it integrates a crest-clever! And if someone wanted a more "low key" or stealth look, a grill could be made that wouldn't highlight the shape of the subs but look stock. I'll bet you've got 3/4 cubic feet of air volume per subwoofer. Nice. It looks like the subs have to be pretty shallow, especially because I can see the exhaust vent for the interior ventilation system in the corner, which is pretty much on the "deck" as I remember offhand. Did someone use the shallow neodymium type subs? Like the Planet Audio, or Illusion Audio? I've got a few of the Planet subs just for shallow applications, they're discontinued now (dumb company, flitting from one product to the next like a butterfly in a field of flowers). Light, stiff kevlar cones though, and pretty smooth response. I think 12's would work in that design if were raised just a bit more! I'll bet the response from that is amazing. I'm assuming that you've got sufficient mids and highs to keep up with some authoritative bass response. I'll bet those subs load to your interior very nicely. 'Much better bass response in such cars (and hatchbacks, and SUV's) because it's one contiguous space. You don't have a rear seat and wall/shelf to "contain" the subwoofer output. Some cars you just can't hear the bass without providing sufficient vent area, especially BMW's and Mercedes. 'Try comparing the setup in Carlos' car compared to someone whose put a subwoofer in the trunk (!) of their 911, especially a 964/993, and even more isolation (two walls and a void with gas tank and battery between trunk and cabin!) in the 996 and Boxster. Look at how tightly that trunk seals up. It's like listening to muted bass in someone else's car from a distance compared to the response in Carlos' car. The 911 of all years is a good candidate for subs (even 8's provide incredible and smooth response) in the interior space where you're seated. Oh man, potential for "knock your socks off" potential in sound quality. Mix one part Porsche 996 with one part well-designed system, install it properly, achieving good mounts, level matching, and a clean source unit (hehe, anything but Becker, IMHO) and you've got nirvana. thank you for the picture Carlos, that gives me some ideas on different layouts. -Rod

I can't believe that know one has said anything about the Ipod. CDs just don't cut it anymore. My question is very specific. Are there any real advantages to using a higher-end headunit if one is using an Ipod. If one is using the aux-out on the stock Becker, it's bypassing the "inferior" CD player. This also would also mean that you are bypassing the "great CD audio" on a Nakamichi head unit. So for those of us that have stopped using CDs long ago because we just had to many cases full of them, are there any real reasons to get a higher end unit??

I've installed a few auxiliary input cords on the Nak decks, and my feeling is that it's the best of both worlds. Small, portable music, extensive, albeit compressed a bit. And for true sound quality, put a CD in. I've driven a number of different 996's and 993's for short trips to/from the SF Bay Area to pick up and deliver cars. It seems that the tuners aren't nearly as strong as just about any aftermarket deck I've installed, stock antenna and booster (don't forget to connect that blue wire!). It seems like I've seen a good number if ones that simply died, but that seems true with most oem radios, GM, Honda, regardless of actual maker (Clarion, Alpine, Eclipse). For more music, my favorite choice is the Nakamichi MB100, 6 discs indash with tuner, 24 bit, however only front and rear preamp outputs (5 volts selectable though). It will be replaced by the MB10 when Nak gets around to it. For now the MB100 is discontinued. I've got a couple squirreled away. hehe. I might put one in my BMW. I currently have an Eclipse head unit (we became Eclipse dealers back in December) in my car with an Eclipse changer. The cool thing about the 8 disc Eclipse changer is digital out, which means my 24 bit DAC deck (8053 has digital in) processes the signal for noticeably cleaner sound. The bummer of this changer is that it doesn't support CD text, only titling (lame!) and I've got text burned into all my CDR's (slowly duplicating my store-bought collection for car and work use) so that I can read the title info when I play them. Here's this Eclipse piece with a digital out, and no CD text! yikes! I called them, they said that they kick it around as an option at meetings occasionally. Kenwood makes the Music Keg with a 20GB cartridge, and you can buy additional ones. It's got 24 bit processing. All of the Kenwood Excelon CD head units this year have 24 bit and they sound nice. (I've got one in my El Camino, hehe, with Sirius satellite radio, the flipping MASK face style).

You are absolutely right Rod, the bass response this way is incredible and much more integrated with the rest of the frequencies of the other speakers I found compared to other cars I've had with the box in the trunk, it just blends in really nicely if the system is tweaked correctly. Also much more efficient bass output result out so just like you said, you need to have adequate mids and highs in doors and dash to match nicely. The rear coaxials are just run of the dash's output since just for fill, and you save amp for the sub and speakers like you also mentioned. The best part is that the deck behind the seats is actually stair-stepped so you don't need shallow subs, since the magnet can fit if oriented towards in the lower step next to the seat backs With shallow subs you could maybe get 12" in but that would probably make you loose a couple of tooth fillings if you raised the volume too much Also two 8" subs could look very stealth back there, but I like 10" subs for my taste in particular (and sealed enclosures). BTW that carrera logo on the back of the sub is brilliant :chhers:

Carlos you've got a really nice setup buddy. The enclosure is a great match. I took another look at the photos a while ago and saw how they tilted the subs so the magnet portion is in the lower "step" there. Coolness. Fiberglass makes for so many more possibilities. The vinyl finish is nice, I think vinyl looks classy, and even oem. I'm doing some vinyl wrapping in my daily driver (not a 911-sorry!), and I think I will paint the enclosure itself. We recently painted a pair of enclosures on a Scion XB (Toyota's funky boxy generation X/Y vehicle). I love that kind of finish, especially when it's color-matched to the exterior and a high quality, flawless finish. We did some funky vinyl and neon too. There's also a 2001 996 on our site under "Porsche installations" ( www.caraudioinnovations.com ) with some black mesh, vinyl, neon and a nice big plexi red Focal logo in the trunk. (And the spare is easily removable!). I've got this sweet custom guy Geoff, he did most the work on both of those vehicles, with me doing the paintwork on the Scion enclosures. (Those days back in the early and mid 80's where I worked in autobody have really paid off-it's like my automotive career has some full circle. I remember what the body shop owners (colorful guys, the Lamperti Bros. in SSF, CA, and Custom House Auto in San Mateo (Jag specialists) after that. It's all in the prep, and laying down the material smooth and wet without runs. It used to be lacquer in the old days, now we've got hvlp guns and much more work with high solids urethane clears, that can be tricky to spray without a good quality gun. (I, as we say, invested, first in a $300 gun, every nice piece, then another, this time I think $480 for one with a digital regulator built into the handle)(!) I too think 12's would be overwhelming, and might require more stout midbass drivers than the doors will usually accomodate. The Focal Utopia 5" subs really rock in the doors, and we've run them as midbass drivers and in some cars as the main subs. 'Not a bunch of volume or authority, but good low extension, and a little bit of quantity that sometimes surprises you. A pair of 10's or 8's are my way to go, and I'm still making sure that I've got good midbass drivers in the doors or floor. In my personal, non-911 car, I'm running a 5.25" and tweeter in each door (Focal Polykevlar (incredible speakers!) now, but I might try Dynaudio or Morel soon) and 6.5" dedicated midbass driver in a fiberglass enclosure on the floor just ahead of the front seats, aimed slightly at the dash. I might paint these too. Back on the subject of Ipods and hard drives versus CD's, a few companies make indash units with a hard drive, but I think most are 10 GB. Pioneer's I think is $2k, but might have come down. It also takes a memory stick for music which I think you can transfer back and forth to the hard drive. Sony has one, but I know anything about it except that we no longer sell Sony. Eclipse has a hard drive unit, and I think it's 20 GB, and it's a double din unit, which might work very well in a 996 dash. I don't know about reliability yet, but we'll stand behind it and if it fails we'll swap for same or same price paid toward any other brand we have, Pioneer, Eclipse, Nakamichi, or Kenwood Excelon. I don't sell Alpine, but I believe they still build some quality units. I don't care for the appearance of most, but I'll bet I could get used to most of them. They have at least one headunit in their line that has an actual interface of some type with the Ipod, displaying titles and I think controlling possibly through the Alpine head unit, which has to be neat. My advice on decks is buy something that you like the looks of, and make sure the performance is there, as well as reliability. 24 bit DAC is a big plus, and IMHO affordable now. I've got a Kenwood deck that's $229 and it's got 24 DAC. All the units above it have 24 bit and 5 volt preamp outputs. They're nice decks. Pioneer has chosen to do 24 bit with their new "all in one" AVIC-N1 indash AM/FM/CD/DVD/Navigation (pant, pant), at the ridiculously low price of $1999.95. We've sold a few of these in a short period of time and Pioneer is "double backordered" on these units, which are just about half the price of a comparable setup last year. And 24 bit! Pioneer's DEHP8600 is very nice, and has a color display, their Organice OEL display that's blue/black on the less expensive units, $499 and built in 13 band EQ. Lot's of these features cost a bunch more money last year, it's like trickle down electronics. Eclipse is nice, you've got to be okay with flourescent and blue display, silver on the face, like most decks these days. Their quality doesn't seem to be quite as solid as the Pioneer and Kenwood, hell, even the Nakamichi stuff is solid these days, especially the CD400 at $449. (24 bit!) The older Nakamichi MB75's would jam on people because their 6 disc mechanism in that unit is finicky and packed in with the onboard amp and DA converter. The MB100 is really solid, I only had one jam and it was because of a CD with rough edges. I understand that the Eclipse 6 disc units were the same as the MB75, and that's why they're discontinued. I really like the features of the Eclipse units, 24 bit (sorry) but the one in my car has needed to be reset 3 times, where I lose the clock and presets-again! No CD text recognition with their changer, which makes them perhaps the only major brand not to have that. I've had a couple of other units stolen from customer's cars because they have the "ESN" feature intead of a detachable face. I think if a thief doesn't go to Eclipse Thief University, he may not know that the deck won't work once it's unplugged if it's been encoded. He's probably got a date with a crack dealer. I get nervous walking away from my car with this Eclipse unit in plain sight in my car. Fearing damage to my car more than a missing radio. I'm leaning towards one of my secretly stashed Nakamichi MB100's in my car. I might just yank the Eclipse, do the MB100 with a detachable face and 6 discs where I can change them more easily and often. There I go rambling again. I get going and can't stop. -Rod

Thanks for all the info Rod. I have seen painted boxes matching the exterior, they look very good. Seems we agree on speakers too, I loved thos Focal Polykevlar speakers and I picked them for my wifes car that was done a few months ago.

Just put my deposit down on my 01 996tt. I can't wait to get started on stuff like this. Crazy what I'm spending on a depreciating asset. I can't wait to drive it home. Thanks for all the helpful info Rod (I'm sure I'll email you directly as you don't check Rennlist often).

right arm! Have fun with the Twin. Let me know if you want me to make a mobile trip. I just made one such trip for a fellow with an '02 996TT in Vegas, 'flew down from Sacramento(SFO actually) with my older brother who was picking up an old Suburban he won on ebay from someone meeting us at the Vegas airport. Then we took care of my customer Dave in town there (Dave had previously driven his C4 cab to me in Roseville/Sacramento from Vegas!!!), then we drove my brother's "new" (early 70's, but all fresh drivetrain and interior!) Suburban back. Road trip! It was actually exhausting. My customer mentioned he has a cabin southern Utah, I'll bet that's nice. I think you've got a bunch of very scenic areas out there! I'm always here for questions too! -Rod

Rod: Can you post/provide instruction for a 993 w/ the hifi option? I have replaced the in-dash tuner w/ a nice Blaupunkt that looks "factory" but am still using the factory amp set up under the pass seat. I want to remove this from the system entirely and run direct from in dash unit to spkrs. Can the existing wiring be used to avoid having to run new wires? Also interested in your recomendations for door spkr & rear deck spkr replacements

hello evvrjb, The installation instructions are about 3 pages long for the radio installation, the same for the speaker installation, and the amp installation, about 9 pages total, with pictures. You can email me at work at [email removed] and I can reply back by attaching all three documents in .doc format, as can any Rennlist member, for free. On 993's with the hifi option (factory Nokia amp under the passenger seat, 3 way components in the doors, 2 way components on the rear shelf in the coupes), there's no simple way to bypass the amp because you're basically driving 10 speakers off a head unit designed to run 4. Component separates, even the non-hifi setup with 2-ways in the doors (separate midwoofer and tweeter) really require amplifier power, head units just don't provide enough clean power. They advertise 50x4 or whatever, but that's max power (20 or so continuous) at 10% distortion. A real, offboard amplifier can provide the minimum 50 or so continuous watts required. On your car, the speaker wiring is somewhat simplified for an aftermarket amp installation because the wire already terminates at the factory amp. I lean towards yanking out the crappy Nokia speakers in the doors and replacing them with a quality 6.5" component 2-way set. A compact amp will fit under your passenger seat, though you'll need to run a power wire for the amp to the battery with a fuse, but this is all covered in the installation instructions. I like the Focal speakers for their quality, value, and fit. There are several price options available, but I'd caution against buying them online at the super discount sources, lest you end up with defaced serial numbers and product without a 3 year manufacturer warranty. (Plus, you can help keep the "little guy" shops in business, which makes it worthwhile for them to provide advice based on real experience....) I like the Audison amplifiers, they're compact, powerful and clean and fit under your passenger seat. www.audison-america.com and www.focal-america.com For rear speakers, on the cabriolets w/hifi, 4" coax's do the job, I like the $159.95/pair Focals. On the coupes with hifi, you can adapt these into the factory speaker mounts, but it's a project. I've actually left the stock rear speakers off of deck power in several of these cars, upgrading the door speakers (money is better spent there and the door location has more potential to sound good too). You can even upgrade the rears with a 4" component set on the hifi cars, but it's even more of a project. let me know if this helps, and questions are always welcome! -Rod

oh, sorry, another note. That factory Nokia amplifier is a 6 channel amplifier, making it hard to interface just a head unit to drive the speakers. It could be done, parallel wiring, but your head unit would likely overheat from the load and fail eventually, sounding poorly on the way. I haven't actually tried it, but I think that's where you'd be. A basic set of coax's in the doors and rear would be easy for head unit power, but even that crappy factory Nokia amp puts out more power than any head unit, so a head unit instead would be a downgrade that I think wouldn't prove wise. 'hope this helps! -Rod

Kick Panels are the best way to go for the best imaging. I have 8 " subs mounted in the doors. It sounds very clean and accurate but not ghetto. I got mine done at Speaker Works in Orange California. They are some of the best around no matter what anyone says. They even used factory Porsche connectors sourced from the dealer to install my radio. Instead of using ugly cheap wire loom they used Porsche loom. It looks bone stock but sounds like a rock concert!

Hey there Rod you seem to be the Oracle of all things Audio and Porsche! Off topic somewhat so apologies but I've had a look and can't find a posting... Oh wise one, can you please tell me how I can stop my alarm from chirping after I had a shop fit an aftermarket head unit to my '99 Cab? Should I leave a sacrificial offering somewhere ;-) Rob

I can help with that one....there is a spade plug that need to be removed from the factory radio cage in the dash. It tells the car when the radio has been removed, but since your aftermarket radio doesnt talk to the alarm, the car thinks the radio has been stolen. Its on the left side of the radio, I THINK its a blue wire....I found this out by accident...I was looking for a ground issue, saw a wire just dangling and plugged it in...then got ALL KINDS of false alarms...then saw this mentioned and removed it.....

It's ironic that so many people want this result and here you are trying to get rid of it ; -) -td

yeah except mine had a ton of false alarms and no way to tell if the car was locked properly......

this **** is so complex! i wish there were clear upgrade packages. like a stage i, 2, 3 power upgrade kit or whateveron those audi b5 S4s back in the day.

Rod, Thanks for the informative posting. Having recently moved from the Bay Area, there is a lack of quality, innovative installers in San Diego.

Nice thread, but hey its like 3 years old 2004

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Yeah, but I'm sure the technology hasn't changed at all in 4 years.

Isnt this thread illegal for plugging companies? He was not a sponsor.

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I think he was. It was so long ago I could be wrong though. Plus Rod gave a ton of free advice. He's a good guy. Ben, Rod will help you out. Just tell him how much you're willing to spend

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Thats cool, I am sure he meant no harm.

I can attest to what Rob says... I bought his recommended setup using Focal speakers and the Audison amps for my 996 and it rocks!! I did the install myself with numerous phone calls to Rob... he was awesome. I was so impressed that a year later I called him and asked him to build me a system using the stock headunit in my Mercedes G500. Using the cleansweep, Focal speakers, Audison amps, and JBL subwoofers has produced an amazing system while keeping the "stock" look in both cars. I love the look on peoples faces when I turn the music up....