Old news: 996 Speakers

Hi all, Okay I know speaker/sound system threads are all over the place here. However I just can't wrap my head around them. Can someone please tell me what size and type speaker I would need for the front 2 on the dash, the 2 on the doors, and the two on each side of the rear seats. Car is an '01 C2. I just want to know the sizes and applications for each set (doors=this, dash=this, rears=this) so I can order something on Amazon because not for nothing, the factory speakers are just horrid. And just to clarify, is it a simple install ie. swap out the speakers and use the existing oem 2 speaker wires to hook up to the new ones? All help and advice as well as speaker recommendations would truly be appreciated. Thanks in advance guys

I guess it depends on your level of hearing ability. Me? I am deaf and a stone when it comes to car audio. So if I think it sucks well it is pretty bad. I am not totally thrilled with my 2001 C4 speakers nor than damn infernal confusing radio. Might be just as easy to go to a reputable car audio place and they should be able to quickly tell you what speakers will fit and then let you listen to all the different brands to compare

Measure them yourself you may already have aftermarket speakers in there. Plug and play you don't have a fiber optic bus. You can't go wrong with JL audio speakers.

These These from Amazon fit in the dash and rear in my '99 cab. Not sure of the measurements needed but I know that they need to be relatively shallow, especially in the back. I put these in the doors: Tang Band W5-1138SM 5-1/4" Neodymium Subwoofer (from Parts Express). The combination sounds great but the door speaker boxes have to be slightly modded. Electrically, they just drop in. No wiring changes needed.

I have the Bose (buy other stereo equipment) system in my car and it's terrible. Am I correct that can't just drop in new speakers to improve sound, but that the Bose amp also has to be removed?

I installed Alpine SPS-410s in my dash like others on here have done. Obviously I had to modify the speaker cradle a bit, but otherwise they worked well. If you buy from Crutchfield, they will throw in the wire adapter so that the factory harness will hook right up to the new speakers.

My opinion, which is based on ~5 years of tinkering with the audio in a 986 and a 996: Installing higher-end speakers may help incrementally. A do-over (new head, new amp, new speakers) will help moderately. It will probably never sound amazing because a 911 just isn't an ideal environment.

The Tang Band's really helped out with the low end. They are really low-mid range range speakers but are good enough on the low end that I don't feel like I need a subwoofer.

It's never easy modifying the sound system in a 911. It's easier in a pre-2003 car because you don't have to deal with the MOST fiber optic ring. I believe that the speakers are the weak link in terms of sound quality. Upgrading them will help. If you really want good sound quality, then you need to upgrade the head unit and amp too. I went with a Kenwood head unit, Focal speakers and a Focal amp. I was very pleased with the outcome, but the conversion wasn't cheap.

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Thanks for the links! How hard was getting the Tang Band's in the door? I've seen a few youtube videos of people cutting wood and making whole new housings for the speakers. Was that the case? Ordered the Amazon ones, thanks for the rescue! Are you happy with the overall outcome?

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It was pretty easy to mod the existing housings. I used a drill to widen the opening on the front of the housings - a dremel would work better. On the back of the housing I used a large drill bit to drill a home in the plastic that was large enough for the speaker magnet to fit into. The back of the speaker is slightly too long and needed a bit more room. It's all really easy... Just gradually removing plastic and can be done out of the car making it that much easier. IF you go the Tang route, also get some speaker baffling material to put between the magnet and the hole you drill in the housing.

Never ever listen to music in my 996 - to busy enjoying driving it......

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Nice, so I'll be expecting to encounter a fair amount of plastic then! Are you happy with the sound now?

Very happy with the sound. I'm amazed how much bass comes out of such small speakers without any distortion. My car is a cab so I sometimes need to turn it up fairly loud to hear over the wind noise. I am also using the stock radio and amp which makes it even more impressive. I installed an external bluetooth module connected to the aux input of the Becker and stream music etc. from my smartphone. BTW here is the writeup I used for the speaker install: http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/9...-speakers.html

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Wow great write up, I wonder what mine will sound like as I have a Kenwood 2 din GPS unit in there. Thanks for the tips, and for letting me steal your speaker setup!

I could give speaker dimensions but that would answer the OP's question.

Glad I could be of help! Feel free to PM if you run into any issues along the way. I bet it will make a huge improvement in sound quality. When I took out my old front dash speakers the speaker material crumbled away to my touch. I think the sun is really hard on them, even through the grill and my car has spent most of its life in a garage.

The dash speakers are the weakest link. If you had to replace one set, the dash should be the first.

I give up trying to compete with wind and road noise from other cars when the top is down. However, and my standards aren't really high or anything, the stock setup in my 2001 isn't really all that bad. Sure it could be better, but for me it wouldn't be worth the investment - and with my luck I'd get a decent system in and then forget to put the top up someday when it's raning. As far as sizes, did a quick google search and they had 4 inch speakers all around - didn't mention a sub. I'd honestly just take things apart and see what's there, measure, and see what will fit.

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Wow good idea, never thought of it. Taking them apart and running them to best buy may be the best bet actually. Good man! Thank you

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Thanks for the tips and I sure will. Should be a week or two as I have to go to Phoenix for a week courtesy of the corporate world...but hey it pays off for the goodies, does it not?!

i have a pioneer NEX 8100 in my 2004 c4s with morel tempo ultra speakers - needed an amp install...but the sound is incredible...i have a cab and even with the top down the sound is great!

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It better be if you have Morel. However I'm a bit peeved that all those boutique companies raised their prices across the board once they started becoming really mainstream(Focal, Dynaudio, Morel, etc).

Sound quality is great on Morel for the price imo - maybe it was lower in the past but $700 for full speaker install was good bargain

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LOL, I've been in the speaker industry since 1985 so yes they were lower but to any newcomer, I don't expect them to be sticker shocked. If the three I've mentioned never hit mainstream, I'd be willing to bet they would still be anywhere from 30-50% lower.

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Well and I can see how my reply could have been a bit snarky and it wasn't meant to be at all. Crutchfield didn't really have anything listed that would fit in our cars, and then I guess you have to worry about depth and stuff. So it could be easier to see what things are like apart and then source what's needed or find out what can be modded. Not like a person can't live without a stereo for a little bit if needed. For instance on the Jeep I had a 6 or so inch speaker that fit, replaced it with another 6 inch one and it didn't fit... fwiw, and I'm not a big car stereo guy or audiophile, but I'd leave the speaker wire as is - they speakers aren't big and I doubt the wire is going to make a big difference. Also, after having put 3 amps and a eq in the Jeep 10 years ago, its' such a pain in the butt sometimes to run wires and make things neat that in my older age (33) I just can't see how it's worth it anymore - for me.

updated to a double din receiver found that when using one of the adapter kits that most double din receivers will fit? Has anyone found a double din that hasn't fit in the upper opening? I am planning on a total upgrade and am starting the process of looking for components. Thanks for your help!

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I updated to a kenwood, and in that process i tried all 3 of the double din adapter kits..the one on pelican/ebay, the one by metra, and the one by car audio innovations. My advice would be to not waste your time on the first 2...the cai one was far and away superior to the others. Not even close. Plus, Rod was amazingly helpful and responsive throughout. Just awesome to work with. Just my 2 cents... Also, he makes adapter rings to fit aftermarket speakers in dash/back.

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Awesome feedback....many thanks...

if you are good with making some simple wood covers for the doors 6.5 speakers are the way to go. i am still playing with my system but i have some no name 6.5 drivers in the doors and they move quite a bit of air. there are two different speaker enclosures for the 996. one is 3 liters and the other is 5 liters. i picked up a 5 liter set on ebay and modified them. i also picked up a 996 Bose sub enclosure that fits in the passenger footwell and modified it for a 8" pioneer sub. the dash is pretty lousy for imaging but with a little work mine came pit pretty good.

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Can you give dimensions please? Fronts, doors, rear

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Thx for the detailed info.... Just finished this tonight.... Changed head unit as well to alpine HD radio ... Sound is huge improvement over stock... I only did sps-410 in dash and tangs in doors.... Rear speakers are stock and it still sounds good. Bass is finally coming through and not bad for a 5.25 inch set of drivers... It plays louder and cleaner than before.... My car came with the digital sound package controls and that also gives me huge adjustability... I'm wondering if there is a 6 channel amp that I can swap out so as t use existing wiring and see how the setup does with a bit more power... Although I'm tempted to stop right here cause the objective has been achieved for me... I'm going to try and unplug the stock rear speakers and run the front four in an effort to determine if having two less speakers will let me drive everything else harder.... When I fade to full rear the stock speakers sound like crap in comparison to the sps-410 in front... What a difference..!!. Will play around with it I'm glad I have a PSE switch to turn off my exhaust so I can enjoy the new found clarity here...