996 Speaker audio upgrade

I'm looking to improve the speakers in my 996.1 C2. Currently there are dash mounted, 1 in each door and the rear speakers. I'm assuming that they are standard original items. The head unit is Alpine along with a separate amp under the bonnet care of the PO. Sound is ok, but just a bit average. Any ideas on the best way to go? Possibly starting with the door speakers. Cheers all. Mark

the door speakers are actually good quality, but you have to send the right frequency range to them (they are woofers, not subs) If they are driven by a dedicated amp, set it to LF/LPF for low frequency. Dash and rear speakers - Alpine SPG-10C2 is a popular upgrade - you will have to do some work to get them to fit (or indeed any replacement speaker) Or Hertz if you're feeling flush. Then add a slimline sub under the passenger seat (as there's nowhere else to put one.) Sorted!

I replaced my speakers with Alpine ones, you're limited for choice due to the tight space in the dash. Can't remember the model but a search on here should show plenty of posts.

There's a good video on YouTube too about cutting the carrier to fit your new dash speakers

The amp is 4 channel so as it stands, 2 channels power the dash and door speakers and 2 channels power the back speakers. Is there any benefit in replacing the doors with Bose?

I'm thinking of doing the same, have a look here, straight swap I believe and a popular choice: http://www.jmgshop.com/9xx---porsch...ker-upgrade-kit-with-alpine-speakers-62-p.asp

I changed mine to the Alpines mentioned above and in the JMG link for both the dashboard and rear speakers. Yes they sound better / fuller than the originals (mine had the Bose system FWIW which isn't a lot IMHO!). They are only 4" ish in size and not in a great place so don't expect much bass just a better quality sound over the originals A worthwhile upgrade i think as they aren't very expensive The biggest improvement was ditching the the totally cr@p CDR-23 head unit and replacing it with the AVIC F20BT and a Pioneer amp which sits neatly under the plastic cowling in the frunk. These now power all of the speakers plus the original Bose sub which my son opened up and lined with Dynamat and loose fill fibre and have made a huge difference. Very effective and cheap upgrade IMO He also Dynamatted/filled behind the rear speakers as the backing is pretty flimsy The only speakers that are original in mine are those inside the Bose sub unit and the Bose door speakers which are probabaly the weakest link now and next to be replaced It won't win any competitions but is a 1000% better than original! HTH :thumbs: The Bose system in a 996T really wasn't their finest hour - but that's ok as the engine was

I am in the process of swapping out all 4 upper speakers from the old Nokia ones to Hertz DCX 100.3's. O chose these as they give a much broader frequency response compared to the Alpines and others. Theyre also made by the same people who make Audison (and are pretty much the same thing ) but for less money. The kit suggested is great but *very* expensive. The Hertz are not a perfect fit however, and you'll also want to get some VM speaker connectors. I am not (yet) swapping head unit, amp or door woofers as they are still good enough. I'll post photos soon of the process if you are patient, or feel free ot DM me with questions.

I wasn't sure where best to post this, so thought I'd reply to this old thread for anyone else who stumbles across it. Hope this helps anyone else looking for a cheaper alternative to the JMG kit. I bought: 2 sets of the Alpine speakers from Amazon (£39-45 per pair) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002XCNPMS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 1 set of JMG spacers & cables. https://www.jmgshop.com/9xx---dashboard-speaker-fitting-kit-without-speakers-355-p.asp I appreciate JMG will have had some R&D costs to recover, but having seen what you get for your money, I couldn't bring myself to pay the asking price for a 2nd set. After a little hunting around I found adaptor leads on Amazon for under £2 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KQG3MK2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 These seem slightly better quality than the JMG ones, as they have thicker gauge cables & the plastic connector was a better fit. The Amazon ad doesn't list Porsche for compatibility, but I can confirm they are a perfect fit. I made up a 2nd set of spacers with the help of some Thermomorph (£16) https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThermoMorp...?srs=4057927031&ie=UTF8&qid=1539511322&sr=8-1 1 tub of Thermomorph would probably be enough for 2 sets of spacers, so for £20 you could get a tub & 2 sets of leads which should be enough to upgrade both front & rear speakers.

Never heard of Thermomorph but a quick search and it looks like very handy stuff that has loats of uses :thumb: thats todays lesson for me :thumb:

Isn't there a danger that the ThermoMorph will deform on a hot day?

I don't think so, they advise you need to immerse it in water boiled to 150degrees to mould it. Having said that I just boiled the kettle. It probably wasn't 150, but did the job & they've been in the car for several weeks now. Having said that I probably wouldn't use it in a hot engine bay or for safety critical components. Like Sugru it does seem to have many uses. Sugru once cured has a more rubbery/soft texture, by contrast Thermomorph is rock hard.

Were you down a deep mine?

That would have to be a pretty deep mine! The deepest mines only add about 5deg or that sort of order of magnitude, you're better off with a pressure cooker, you'd get 120 no problem. Think it must be farenheit, but 150 is only 62c so reference boiling is a bit odd..

My mistake... I hadn't spotted the "f" suffix after the reference to 150 degrees in the manufacturers instructions.

Slight thread hijack here but pretty relevant... Does the Favtory CD-R-22 have preouts/RCA's to supply a signal to an amp? If not is there a way to do it? I'm happy with my cdr22 and I use a cigarette lighter Bluetooth dongle to steam my iPhone music to it. I do however want to swap my dash and rear quarter 4" speakers (no door speakers in mine) and add an active amplified all in one slimline sub thing. Can I do this and keep my CD-R-22? Has anyone done it and can recommend the pre-amped sub? Cheers. :thumb: PS. I never usually bother with audio in a 911 and just wear my iPod on long motorway slogs but we are off to Europe possibly twice next year so I want some music. :wink:

The CD-R-22 does not have preouts/RCA but. Most amps can use speaker level inputs, so you don't need RCA jacks.. BUT!!! The wiring in the 996 uses a common ground for the speaker wires. which most amps won't like... Check the amp's specification before buying :thumb: (or install a new 8 wire speaker loom)

Would that common ground be why having a charger in the lighter socket makes a "shurf/shurf/shurf" noise come through the speakers sometimes?

Thanks Halycon, sounds like hassle. I'll swap the 4 speakers for good stuff first then weigh up the sub. Nothing's ever easy with these is it? I thought I'd get off lightly being pre-MOST. :grin:

150°F (66°C) isn't very hot although probably ideal for moulding where you might touch it. I would worry that it might deform on a hot day abroad with outside temps hitting 40°C and dash temps being quite a bit higher. Sounds like a useful material though and I do plan to try it for other applications.

Cdr22 does not have RCA outputs, but all the outputs are there on the mini iso plugs at the back if you want to run an amp, also switched live, aux in and all those handy things

Thanks Asterix, that sounds promising. Have you done this? If so is there a specific loom/adaptor I can buy? I've done a bit of digging online but nothing comes up. If I can get a feed to an all in one amplified slimline sub, I'm guessing I can then just swap my 4x 4" speakers retaining the original wiring? Or is that common earth thing gonna be a pain? Halycon have you redone all yours using a Porsche headunit? Mine actually lost a pixel over winter last year so debating whether to keep it in there at all? I do like the factory look though. One more thing, can I just add a resistor to my 4" speakers to filter the bass out once I have a sub? I used to do that in the past I think. It's been 15-20 years since I was really into car audio. Anyway cheers. :thumb: PS If anyone has a cdr22 faceplate with fully working screen I'd be interested. Alternatively if anyone is getting rid of a Becker or Continental with corrrect orange display and amplifier ready connections let me know. Thanks. Again apologies for the hijack OP but I'm sure it's relevant.

Hi Marky, It's usual l to use a mix of capacitors and inductors to filter out low/high frequencies as used in crossover units within loudspeakers. A resistor would simply reduce the volume. You would also need a high power resistor (or inductors/capacitors) as loudspeakers run at low voltage, high current. Mike

Hi Mike, I must be thinking of a capacitor then. I remember adding subs and fitting something inline on the full range speakers to limit the bass they had to deal with. Was 20 years ago though. :? In other news I've just bought a good used face plate for my cdr22, with all pixels working. Fingers crossed it's as mint as mine cosmetically. Next stage will be 4 new speakers and see if that will suffice. If not I'll have to fit a sub. I hope I don't though, as it's more weight and I can't be ar$ed. :grin:

Personally, I don't really see the point of a sub in a car. It's fine for kids with their thump thump sound but a car isn't really a large enough space to get decent bass and a 4" speaker can probably give all you really need. Try it first....

The pins are not exactly the same as the diagram I think, I had to do a bit of detective work with a multi meter, the plug adaptor off eBay you chop off the big red one to leave a set of wires to tap, the multi colored plug splits into three and those are your mini iso; the long block at the bottom divided with the dots on the diagram. you may have one of the blocks already in use for your CD changer if you have one or the loom may have it or others on. The mini iso plugs clip together to make the one multicolor plug which fits in the back of the cdr22. I think it's the block on the bottom right of the diagram you want to tap, that's got the 4 line level outputs and a switch on signal for your amp.

They aren't line level, they are amplified speaker level, and as you can see, it has a common ground It's a bit of a faff to upgrade, but not impossible with some time and patience. I replaced everything in mine because the factory 6ch harmon kardon amp gave up the ghost. So replacement head unit RCA phono leads from the H/U to the new amp (OEM frunk location) 8-wire speaker loom from the H/U to the amp location (to pick up the original speaker wiring) new 4" Alpines (Dash & rear) driven by the H/U via new loom Door speakers driven by new amp via RCAs (set to L/F output) Focal slimline sub connected to the S/W RCA output of the H/U Oh, i don't think the interference is caused the 5 wire setup (Whoever mentioned that!) :thumb:

Simply not true. The main iso plug B carries the amplified signal, the mini iso the line levels, yes it has a common ground. Edit: also found a pre wired mini iso plug on eBay so save faffing around wiring up RCA sockets, if the pin assignments are different they are relatively easy to swop round

Thanks both. Good info. I'm going to fit 4 new speakers using existing wiring/setup and try and live with it. Failing that I'll add a slimline amplified sub, the easiest way possible, which I'll have to figure out at the time. I like good hifi, but I'm more bothered in my daily as that's what I do most of my mileage in and it's generally boring mileage. Ironically my ancient Volvo has a cracking sound system as standard. It must have been even more impressive 20 years ago. My wife's old Lexus had great stuff too. 911s just seem to suck for some reason. Anyway, as long as I can hear my music on my road trip that'll do. I will add a slimline sub if possible as 4" speakers simply cannot produce decent bass. I'll fit my 4" speakers though and report back. Mike, I agree regards Max Power style systems but you can get a great sound with a properly setup set of mids, tweeters and a sub. It has to be balanced though or the bass is overpowering, like you say. :thumb: Asterix I completely missed your last post. That's great. I'll keep that in my watch list and buy one if I go down that route. Thanks very much. :thumb:

The stereo strikes me as a good winter project, and i've been somewhat spoiled by the system in my C55 which (to me) seems very good - and the sub in the boot works very well to give a range that the 996 simply can't replicate. The cab apparently could be ordered with a sub that fits into the passenger footwell: 996 645 567 00 Which looks like this: If I can find one in blue (or, at a push, black) that's pleasingly invisible. What are the odds on being able to plug that into the setup I already have - which is the pre-MOST Nokia system?

Do these fit into the JMG adapters?

Looking at the wiring diagram for my Becker I have a sub line out (pin 6) on the C1 connector: Could this line be run directly to the amp for the Bose sub, along with power etc?

I bought one of the Bose subs that go in the footwell, now I need to understand how to wire it - and my knowledge of things electronic is frankly dreadful. How does this look, to go to the sub's amp, from the back of my Becker? Socket C1, pin 6, rear sub + Socket C1, pin 3, line out ground Socket A, pin 17, switched live Socket A, pin 8, ground Socket A, pin 4, permanent live

That should work OK, but you may be better using the remote on control out of socket A rather than the switched live, it's only a minor point, but means the sub would turn on when the head unit was on rather than all the time the car was running. Big amps to drive subs generally get a feed direct off the battery with some decent gauge wire, how nessisary this is I can't say, I imagine a little one to drive a footwell sub won't need industrial power feeds and the run is pretty short as is

Socket A pin 5 for the remote on? And therefore: Socket C1, pin 6, rear sub + Socket C1, pin 3, line out ground Socket A, pin 5, remote on Socket A, pin 8, ground Socket A, pin 4, permanent live (If I'm incredibly lucky there's some loom in there for the sub already, but I suspect I'm not going to be incredibly lucky!)

Don't know Neil but Porsche are odd with their wiring, I still can't understand why the wiring for things like cruise are only present when the option is fitted as standard and wiring has to be updated when it is retro-fitted. Must make their harness options complicated.

Only one way to find out! Should not be too hard to DIY, hopefully, and an educational project for me. Trick is to do it without cutting any factory wires, so I suspect I'll be getting friendly with car audio connector catalogues. Can anyone recommend a decent set of tools for pinning/de-pinning, and a decent soldering iron for a ham-fisted beginner?

You do need a decent power iron for heavier car wiring, my neat little electronics iron really doesn't cut it so I bought a cheap, large iron from Machine Mart for the replacement resistors on the radiators. There are good arguments for crimping rather than soldering pins. Soldering makes the joint brittle and the cable cores can fail. Crimping is less good where corrosion can be a problem. Having said that, I soldered the new pins for my cruise control.

I gave my standard Becker unit a boost by adding the following components, I wouldn't say it's now awesome but for a relatively small outlaw it does sound much better, looks standard and is way louder with decent bass: Alpine SPG-10C2 speakers x4 £80 Alpine KTP-445U Power pack mini amp 4x 45w RMS £130 Kenwood KSC-SW11 150w Subwoofer £95 Becker 4 channel pre-amp and sub output lead CT29BK01 £9 Ebay mini-phono lead to connect phone £5 3m Phono leads £6 Mounted the amp under the passenger side dash and fixed the subwoofer on the rear shelf both with double sided carpet tape. I set the amp to 50% gain and routed as much bass as possible to the subwoofer to give the other speakers an easy time.

...I have the Bose system in my 996.2 and it's either pretty awful or these cars are just so damn noisy that any system in them is a waste of time? I have Naim at home so meet my audio needs this way not in the Porsche!

The glass is half full! I'm going to proceed on the basis that you can have a decent stereo in a 996, anyway.

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Can anyone recommend a decent six channel amp?

Or, coming at this from a slightly different angle, why should I not buy this one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/XD600-Audio-6-Channel-Class-Amplifier/dp/B004E9QK3E

Overkill?

I agree that's massive overkill. Above 70mph you won't tell the difference between this and some ACME no make from China. Get two Pioneer GM-D1004 amps. use one to power the main speakers, the other to drive the door speakers. That will do you. and they would both fit in the old OEM amp location :thumb:

I had not thought of using two smaller amps. Would the JL 6 channel not fit in the stock location? I am (possibly wrongly) assuming that it's easier to fit one amp rather than two?

Ohhh, I just remembered, this is project ridiculous! No, that amp is absolutely fine for the job! Yes it's total overkill and you will barely use 20% of its power but I can see the attraction of it from project ridiculous point of view plus all the fiddling you can do on the amp controls..

What's the view on the door speakers - good enough, or would they benefit from being changed? Regarding the degree to which this particular project should be judged ridiculous, I'd rather rein it in somewhat - two smaller amps may well make more sense here, as that appears to be a significantly cheaper option than one larger one.

In previous installs in other cars I generally used a 4 channel to drive the main 4 speakers and a 2 channel bridged to drive a 12inch boxed sub as they can munch up some power, plus back then there were not many 5/6 channel amps around. no more difficult to wire up two than one amp as you Daisy chain the power.

Revelling in my almost total ignorance of these things I've found the Hertz EV 130.5 - good woofer for the doors, or insane and ridiculous?

Oh, you have door speakers, that complicates it a bit. I think the door speakers are woofers/mids, where they get the frequency filtered I don't know. Potentially yes if you're upgrading everything else then those too, but how they are wired is another question

you not going to go far wrong with those if they fit, yes insane and ridiculous of course..

That's why I was looking at the 6 channel amp: 2x mids+tweeters on dash (Hertz 100.3) 2x woofers in doors (Hertz 130.5) 2x mids+tweeters (?) rear (100.3 again?) 1x Bose sub (has own amp) Idea was to feed the three pairs from the amp, and the sub direct from the HU

Those Pioneer amps are tiny - i have one driving the door speakers in LF mode and I think it sounds much bigger than its size suggests. But the H/U drives the little 4" speaks - again, they aren't big speakers so it seems pointless to overpower it. The door speakers are very good quality (better than the dash ones) and worth keeping. You'll struggle to replace them without cutting / modifications as you'll never find 5 1/2" replacements, so you'll have to use 6 1/2" And I have a slim sub under the seat (Actually way better than I thought it would be) But even after all that, it all gets into a losing battle with the tyre / wind noise... (But mine is a soft top)

Trial fit of the sub today as I have the car back - it's close, I suspect it could be finessed, but it clearly wants a lower centre console to be next too, and I don't have one. I think, therefore, that either a sub-seat sub is the way to go, or rely on the door speakers for bass. If anyone (who has a centre console, or is fearless when it comes to cutting up carpets) wants a sub please let me know.

You might find a pair of slimline subs fit behind the seats on the back window like the Boxster has would work better I'd take the sub off your hands but I'm too far away to collect!

What under seat subs are people using? I have an active Pioneer slim line that won't fit under mine...

I have the Focal iBus25 but you're right - underseat is inaccurate - it's more like "rear foot-well" :?:

How have you stopped it battering about back there - velcro'd it to the carpet or similar?

Just for group knowledge, here's the Nokia M490 Amp, cabrio specific version: Dimensions are 20cm wide, 16.5cm high and 4cm deep. = It's quite a small amp. I have been wondering about using the bracket that the CD Changer used to live in for a different amp - the changer being physically larger than the Nokia amp, it gives you more options I think.

the size and weight stop it rattling around - just a fortunate coincidence that it fits exactly!! I was going to use velcro, but didn't need to.

I'm digging around for the photos.. but you can remove the amp from the bracket and EASILY fit a pair of those Pioneer amps in that location using the original mounting bracket (or JBL do a similar sized one) You can also use the power supply to that old amp, the signal feed, speaker wires etc. So it is the logical location as everything is there Edited - found image Link: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak7OTAfmTrHxv3hPyCUe8oyIDlxT Ignore the rather messy wiring - this was mid fitting. https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak7OTAfmTrHxv3hPyCUe8oyIDlxT

They are appealingly tiny, but would I not need three?

why not six?! But honesty? no. 1 in 4ch mode to drive the dash and rears, the other in 2ch mode to drive the doors Hint / Tip: Drive the door speakers with the RCA / phono front channel pre-out and set the amp to LF mode. and NOT from the sub out - it will sound better like that. Then drive the slim sub from the sub out

Halcyon - did you cut the speaker harness or buy an adapter?

Installed a new speaker loom. Necessitated by the common ground system used by Porsche. But spliced back into the original loom, post the amp in the frunk as that's all "normal" wiring.

This may be a really stupid question, apologies in advance! - are you saying that the speakers only have a live running to them from the amp, and are grounded through the chassis?

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Ah, ok - my boundless ignorance in play once more. So you ran an entire new loom, or only three more earths? It looked to me, earlier today, that it would be a ***** getting new wires through alongside the existing ones:

8 wires with a standard ISO plug at the head unit end. I ran the wires through the bulkhead on the driver's side (along with the RCA leads) as it was much much easier to get through that way :thumb:

Would you mind sharing a pic of your Focal in situ? & have you been happy with it? I'm mulling over the Focal ibus20 (only need the active sub, not the extra 2 ch amp) or a kenwood ksc-sw11.

Here's a link to how I installed some Hertx DCX 100.3's in the stock grills: http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?p=1447088#1447088 I've ordered a pair of Hertz 130.5's for the doors as a winter project, which does mean that the amp will need to change, so much studying of wiring diagrams and headscratching to come. I'd also be interested in a sub-seat-sub that could actually fit under the seat, if anyone knows of one?

That Focal is 36cm*8cm*26cm (all rounded to the nearest cm). I guess the first thing to do would be to make a mock-up from some cardboard and see if it fits in the space you have.

Trying to gather information in one place. Two plugs that go into the Nokia amp, large blue plug and small black plug as so: And in the large blue plug I believe we have: Pin #10 - yellow - (left dash +) Pin # 20 - yellow brown - (left dash -) Pin # 9 - red - (right dash +) Pin #19 - red brown - (right dash -) Pin #18 - Green - (left door +) Pin #8 - Green Brown -( left door -) Pin #17 - Purple - (right door +) Pin #7 - Purple Brown - (right door -) Pin#16 - White Brown (Rear Left - ) Pin#6 - White (Rear Left + ) Pin#15 - Blue Brown (Rear Right - ) Pin#5 - Blue (Rear Right +) Pin # 2 - RED BLUE - Power Pin #1 - BROWN - Earth or Ground With the pins in this arrangement: Which suggests that the inputs are in the small black plug.

And based on what Halcyon said, we're likely to have 5 wires (four live, one shared ground) in the small black plug, leaving us needing to run three more grounds to make up each pair correctly. Have I understood this correctly Halcyon?

Replacement pins are 999 652 568 22 Does anyone know what tool is used for removing/inserting these?

Hi Neil, I retrofitted cruise and the extra pins I needed for that were simply pushed in. They had a small tang that can be pushed in to remove them.

Ah- interesting. I might pick up an old amp and steal the connectors, Boxster units are 20-30 quid. This kit (for an Alfa) looks to contain two Hertz 130.5's, am I going mad? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282903648852

Coming back to this again, is what you are talking about represented on this diagram in the section between the radio and the amp, where on the left hand of the connecting wires we see one ground being used to create four?

At the top left of the amplifier you will see that there are four connections, RR-, RL-, FR- and FL-. These are the four - outputs from the amplifier. As stated they all connect together at ground point 157, and to the - connection on the stereo. I suspect that these are the inputs to the amplifier, connectes this way as the stereo has a common ground. Are you changing the stereo for one which doesn't have a common ground on the speaker outputs? It looks to me that the outputs are at the bottom of the diagram. How are these wired? MC

I called JL Audio this morning, as I was going round in circles on this. Q - Will signal quality suffer if the line-out signals share a common ground? A - No Q - Is it better to use line-out or speaker-out? A - Speaker out for preference as the higher input voltage is better for the amp Q - Any caveats? A - Maximum input voltage on the speaker-in for the JL amp is 8v, so if the speaker-out is above that, no-go

I'm going to stick with line-out as: a) They're already there b) The Becker is 4x18w RMS, which (a friend informs me) is 8.49v Which means that what I need to do, I believe, is build a small harness that goes from the plugs on the factory wiring in the boot to the amp.

So this happened:

looks like you need a bigger car...... :floor:

It is quite heavy, but I have a separate project that should take care of power-to-weight concerns. This unit was discounted quite heavily - pretty close to the cost of two of the pioneer units recommended earlier, and I think that using a single unit has to be more efficient. It is, of course, massively over-specified for my application, but that's part of the fun. I've ordered an old Nokia amp from a breaker, I'll pull the connectors out of that and will create a harness that runs from the chassis wiring, via the new connectors to the amp, so no new cables (hopefully!) required, and no cutting/messing around with the existing cables. I'll end up with the 600/6v2 running 4 Hertz DCX 100.3's and two Hertz 130.5's, I'll take stock at that point and work out if I think the system needs a sub. Means I need to pull the door cards off and work out how to mount the 130.5's where the 2 ohm Nokia woofers are.

wow! Lot's has happened! I turn my back for two minutes and now look what you've done!! :hand: First off, that answer from JBL is inaccurate! Speaker level inputs will have added inherent distortion from the head-unit's own amp. if you like your music with added 5% THD then you probably like very heavy metal! Anyhoo!! Common Ground: The reason i didn't use a common ground is because: I lost fader & balance. Simple as that! After checking my Pioneer manual, it does actually say about not using common ground, so I didn't. Your mileage may differ in your installation. Keeping the socket: I did consider this: but after much thought, I decided to cut the wires. One: the amp-side socket - once you remove that from the amp, you have no shroud, no cable management - so nothing to secure the cables and make them look tidy. Two: Do you need to disconnect / reconnect the speaker wires? If you don't (and you don't! lol) Then you're better off cutting, extending, soldering, heat-wrapping etc to the new amp location. If you must have a connector - use a SCART male & female connector. That'll give you the cable management & neatness as well as having plenty of capacity, pin-wise. Door speakers: The OEM ones are actually pretty good quality and they are retained in my set up. BUT - i use them as bass / woofers, NOT subs. Because once you get them down to sub levels, your door and everything around it will buzz and rattle and drive you insane!! The speakers can get low and dirty, but their environment can't.. at least, in my experience. You'll need to do some cutting to get the larger Hertz into the doors (Door card removal is pretty straight forward) This is what the enclosure looks like: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak7OTAfmTrHxxEhFAVgg9ARV6sML (I can't post images.. rubbish, i know) And this is the back of the speaker - it has a substantial magnet https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak7OTAfmTrHxxEDgTIeKAaY_m9rF Either way, the Hertz will be better quality as "Speakers" but the aren't subs, so don't drive then as subs How / where are you going to fit that new amp? :worship:

I'm intending on putting the amp where the CD player used to be as it's roughly the same size. I was going to re-purpose the CD player bracket. The door speakers I was going to drive as woofers rather than subs, as that is what they are designed for - I don't want to shake the doors off as you say.

I keep an oil container in that space - but it would be perfect for the amp. How are you going to drive the door speakers from the amp? As in, what channel are you going to use? Front, rear or sub? you could use the line-out rear for the doors and use the amp's EQ to only put out lower frequencies, then use the speaker level input on channels 5 & 6 to drive the actual rear speakers? Or another way entirely? :?:

Now that's a good question. There are six inputs on the amp, and obviously six outputs. I had assumed that I'd be able to use four inputs (which is what I have, discounting the sub) to drive the six channels. The existing system does this. I was going to set the channels for the doors to be low frequency and the channels for the front and rear speakers to be higher frequency. Re-examining this, I may not be able to do this, of course- if amp requires a more one-in/one-out approach. Time to read the manual!

"If you wish to feed all six channels by using only four channels of input, set the 'Input Mode" switch in the to '4 Ch." and use only the inputs to channels 1, 2, 3 & 4. In this mode, channels 5 & 6 will operate with a sum of the 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 input signals, respectively" So channels 5&6 would be the woofers, I'd say.

That's brilliant! The amp will do all the hard work for you! You can adjust the amp EQ to suit on channels 5 & 6 How much was it? I can only find it for quite a bit more than a pair of those Pioneers! :dont know:

Ah, having checked it looks like I was lying to myself- those Pioneers are £85: https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-pioneer-gm-d1004_p-32858.htm I paid £385 for the JL, so more accurately 4.5 of those Pioneer amps. In my defence I'd got a figure of £150 per unit in my head, which is clearly not true now that I come to look.

Perfect example of man-maths :floor: But the JL is vastly superior, and was still a bargain :thumb:

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That's the back of the plug in the scrap amp I bought, I'm debating whether to cut through the PCB to leave a narrow strip with the plugs on and solder onto the pads on the reverse, or cut the pins from the board and bend them up, then attach the wires too them - unsure whether crimping or soldering would be better here, as I'm hugely ignorant in these matters.

Here's the small connector: https://uk.farnell.com/amp-te-connectivity/1-963539-1/rectangular-conn-hdr-r-a-18pos/dp/2575729 Unfortunately I could not find a connector-to-cable version, but I can solder onto the pins I think, once I bend them up. The Porsche amp shares the same plug as the Logic 7/Harmonn Kardon systems used in a large number of BMW's, which means (I hope!) that I can use this harness, designed to replace the factory amp in a BMW: https://technicpnp.com/product/logi...hardware-kit-for-most-converter-applications/ I thought I'd get these as, being new to these things, I'd likely melt the connectors on the board, now that doesn't matter.

This is what I think is in the small plug: Pin 2 Rear Right -, Brown/blue (0.35mm2) Pin 10 Rear Right +, Red/black (0.35mm2) Pin 3 Rear Left -, Brown/yellow (0.35mm2) Pin 11 Rear Left +, Yellow/red (0.35mm2) Pin 4 Front Right -,Brown/violet (0.35mm2) Pin 12 Front Right +,Violet/red (0.35mm2) Pin 5 Front Left -, Brown/green (0.35mm2) Pin 13 Front Left+, Green/Red (0.35mm2) Pin 15 Tel-mute, Yellow/black (0.35mm2) Pin 16 Speed signal, Green/pink (0.35mm2) Pin 7 12v+ switched, Black/red (0.5mm2)

How are you getting on with the connectors? Much chin scratching and questioning the worthiness of the amount of faff involved? :-D

Not yet! Connecting the amp to the battery - I need terminal connectors, the wire, and an inline fuse. What size terminal connectors do I need?

Can't remember, sorry.. They were yellow? Does that help? :-D

I bought mine with loads of Hertz components. Sounds good though. These are behind the seats.

Sadly I've got spring loaded roll-over/roll-hoops behind the seats that (I'm guessing here) would be upset about sharing the same space as some speakers. In related news, I put the 100.3's in today and, frankly, can't tell the difference between them and the Nokia's.

No.... seriously? :nooo: That's gotta hertz... There must be some difference, surely? Maybe not night and day... but some clarity at least? Do you still have the stock head unit? is the new amp in yet?

I think the higher notes are clearer, and the speakers themselves have more volume. I need to work through the Becker menu's to make sure that it's not doing any signal processing I think. It's got a huge number of sub-menu's with regards to this stuff. I've only changed the front speakers at the moment, the amp I am just looking at for ideas as to where to fit it. Almost! The JL is actually much closer in size to the Nokia than I had thought: So I think I may try to put it in the stock location, rather than where the CD player went, but I need to do some bracket design/cable routing before I make a final decision.

I have a large differential in that location.. https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak7OTAfmTrHxv1zootjs14hAVazu You can see the original amp to one side of centre. The CD changer was against the nearside wing. Sounds like you need to reset everything audio-wise. Start flat and go from there... Where are you? Wondering if it's worth a show and tell and compare "soundz"

After fitting all 4 off my Alpine SPG-10C2 speakers in my car (before installing the sub & amp) there was a noticeable improvement in sound with the standard Becker head unit. I think the rear speakers contributed the most.

That's interesting- I have only swapped the ones in the dash so far. I'll do the rears, have a listen, then do the doors and amp (as I'm slowly accumulating the parts over time). Has anyone fairly local got a 4 AWG cable cutter, and a crimping tool suitable for such cable? Or can recommend such tools?

B*gger: One more fitted:

That's very neat! Good work fella! :thumb:

And they came with these things, which I'm struggling with, frankly:

I can't see how they fit into those "shrouds" :dont know: But more importantly, how well do the speakers fit into the housing in the door?

The shrouds are going to be recycled I suspect, I cannot see how the speaker would make use of them to mount to anything, but I'll keep them until that's been proven empirically. I don't know when i'm going to get the time to have the door cards off, possibly the weekend - I *may* have everything I need to install the amp by then which would be great.

I'm really intrigued to how these go. I've never found anything suitable that would be a significant improvement over the OEMs that's worth the faff to change them!? lol Door card removal isn't too bad a job. As long as you have trim tools..

I'll need to put the amp in first, thinking about it - the new speakers are 4 ohms whereas the amp is expecting 2 ohm speakers.

The amp can drive 6x 4Ohm as standard - why would it be expecting 2Ohm? http://www.jlaudio.co.uk/xd600-6-car-audio-xd-amplifiers-98262

The existing amp is expecting 2 Ohm door speakers, which these are not.

Ahhh, get you. 2Ohm nominal - it'll still drive 4Ohm, but at reduced power / volume. Worst case scenario is a damaged amp, which you're replacing anyway..?

You shouldn't damage the amp as Halcyon says, you'll just get less power out. You're only likely to damage the amp by lower impedance which may then draw too much current. Given the existing speakers are only 2 Ohms, you'll only really damage it by shorting out the connections and many amps have protection against this.

For what it is worth my recent experience of upgrading the stereo in our Boxster led me, in utter frustration after changing out head unit and all speakers, to try an under-seat subwoofer. In terms of bang for bucks and obvious improvement it was miles more obvious an improvement over everything else and left me wishing I had tried it out first. Here is a link to a recent review https://www.10tenmag.com/under-seat-subwoofer/

Which one did you get?

I bought #2 for mine - Kenwood KSC-SW11 Compact Subwoofer. Hugely improved the sound from the Head unit, I fitted a mini amp and upgraded the speakers previously but there was never enough bass and was never going to be with 4x 4" speakers, the subwoofer changed that. It's not going to give you gut thumping bass but I'm happy with the sound. I transfer as much of the lower freqs as possible (using the separate hand control) to the subwoofer so the other speakers don't distort at higher volumes. I couldn't get it to fit under the pax seat though so I used double sided carpet tape to stick it to the rear shelf.

we went for the Kenwood, very slim, so a doddle to squeeze under the seat.

Do you chaps have different seats from one another?

I've got the standard seats, it was a while ago but I seem to recall that I couldn't lower the seat with a sub under it, maybe it fits at full height though.

I have standard seats and my Focal slimline sub doesn't fit under the seat. But it fits nicely in the rear footwell.

Did any of you chaps pull the seat out to fit the sub, or did you slide it in with the seat in place?

Slid it in.. suits you sir.... Here a link to a photo.. the flash highlights a multitude of sins (my seats really aren't in that bad a condition!) Blue wire heads off to the battery (via a fuse) there's a signal wire and the RCA / phono leads that all go to the head unit. I can't been seen from outside of the car, but I put the rear floor mat on top at 45 deg so it's completely hidden without muffling it. https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak7OTAfmTrHxykGP_COWHuO19_KN

Thanks for the photo. I was just wondering about power- the chassis harness/loom has connections under the seats, for seat motors and heated seat elements- are none of these suitable to tap for power?

I didn't know what amps the seats used, but I guess it's quite a few! Up to you - I had an easy route to the battery and that's how you'd normally hook up amps, so that's that's the route I took!

I was just thinking that the shorter the run the better really, otherwise I could run up the central tunnel, or under the covers by the left hand sill, up into the dash, over to the drivers side kick panel and then through the bulkhead grommet into the front/battery area. Versus connect to (say) the seat power underneath the seat. Of course, if that then lead to fuses blowing if adjusting the seat whilst listening to Radio 4 that would be sub-optimal.

I've ordered the Focal sub so we shall see

I think you'll be pleased - it's good for it's size

Todays episode of "tools I never thought I'd need to own" brings you the hydraulic cable crimper:

I have also ordered a sheet metal brake to make the bracket. #allthetools

The male plug for the amp, that you would need if you wanted to make a short harness from the existing loom to the amp, is (I believe) this: BMW part number 61 13 1 383 502, and it's £7.32. And you'll need some pins - which I believe are these ones: BMW part number 61 13 1 376 193, which are £1.10/pin Pins for the other plug are 61 13 1 376 204 at £0.65/pin.

Are you working on fitting the amp this weekend? I'm really looking forward to seeing the results - you're putting an awesome amount of work into this!

I'll be making a start, but the metal plate didn't turn up so can't make the bracket, therefore I can't run the wires at their final length. But I'd hope to be making musical noises by Sunday.

Just taken the Focal out of its box, it came with a wiring harness which is handy. I want to use the sub-output on the Becker, which is a line-level output. The sub supports line-out, but wants both left and right channels - looks like it's expecting to take the lower frequencies from both and combine. Can I just connect my sub-line-out to one of these, and it'll be fine? Halcyon - what did you do?

Also, I popped into BMW:

I think you can just use the right input if you only have a single output for the sub? I had a stereo output, so I used both, But you can fit a Y splitter such as this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20cm-RCA...h=item5458476f56:g:fqQAAOSwEoxamr0J:rk:6:pf:0

As it wasn't tipping it down today I got a bit of work done. The Focal will absolutely not fit under the seat, it's now in the rear passenger footwell, with a mat over the top of it. I'll have to see if my OCD can cope with that. I got the rear speakers in, they have different mounts from the fronts as there is much less space to put speaker in. I labelled up everything behind the dash before taking it apart - a lack of courage maybe, but I'm now confident that I won't lock all the doors when intending on turning the traction control off. The handbrake/gear-lever unit needs to come out tomorrow, then I can put in my newly slimmed down harness. From this: To this (changed to line-out rather than speaker-out): I'm also putting a bluetooth receiver in the sub-elbow storage bin that my phone can connect to. The bluetooth receiver connects to the radio and presents as "AUX", this way I don't have to have a cable visible anywhere. Tomorrow I need to get the door cards off to install the woofers, finish the cabling in the cabin, then it's onto mounting the amp and plugging everything into it.

I love all this stuff!! But I bet there are a lot of people have kittens just looking at what you've done! :worship: I did say that the focal wouldn't fit under the seat....

This is not a thread i have followed or indeed read all the posts but as i understand it you have the amp on your back seat ?? Ok a slightly better place but the wiring will need to be extended .. Cab roof in service position .. remove the carpet there and fit it by the dme or in that area .. remove a rear quarter panel trim and run the wiring behind it . I would have thought an amp would fit under the passenger seat with it in the raised position but if not i dont see many options . Behind the rear seat .. hmm .. your not going to like that long term i feel .. it feels wrong to me anyways . Rear cubby hole .. ie the storgage over the rear seats you have mentioned and that would work fine .

Amp is going to be in the standard location.

Ok .. change amp to focal on my post ... the biggest space is by the dme . Im trying to help here .. honest

I can't pretend that I'm happy about the Focal situation, however - to even get it under the seat I'd need to move the DME, and that's something I don't want to do. Putting it behind the rear seats, on the shelf that the roof stows into would require the amp bolting down - its heavy, with sharp edges. It's a shame that the Porsche Bose sub didn't seem to want to fit, as (location-wise) that's a good call.

Under the passenger seat on your car is the alarm Control unit .. not really possible to move with out an awfull lot of work .. The only option i can think of is behind the roll bars .. so you need to remove the rear carpet under the hood .. there is space but its not huge .. i dont know how big this focal is but its all i can think of .. For sound though its in the right place . Carpet out and you can see the " hole " im thinking of . You may be able to bolt it to the floor in that place but it would be a case of slowly lowering the roof to see if it would fit under the roof when opening it ... im not sure there with out looking but i dont think so .. roof would squash it . Other than that its behind one of the seats .. there simply is no room anywhere else .

Interesting - didn't know there was an area under the carpet. Focal dimensions: Height: 71.5mm (2.8") Length: 344mm (13.5") Width: 250mm (9,8") Problem is I have a glass rear window, and I don't want to risk breaking that. Do the roll hoops and their attendant mechanisms totally fill the area just behind the seats?

All i can suggest is to remove the rear carpet at the back and look at what access you have .. from the dimensions then you may be able to shoe horn it in there .. carpet removal is a couple of plastic bungs and pushing the carpet down and out of the side fixings . I cant see what you are doing but thats the only space i can think of .. it takes 5 mins R&R to remove the carpet so worth a look as i have no other ideas Its not a huge space but its all i can come up with im afraid .. i try my best.

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out tomorrow (if it's not raining).

Re: Sub location, I used a modified box of Shreddies to mock up the sub & check possible locations. I've been considering: Focal ibus20 Kenwood Ksc-psw8 / JVC CW-DRA8 (same parent company & essentially the same product specs) Unfortunately none of these will fit under my seats. The best compromise I've found seems to be mounted on its edge in the passenger footwell & tucked up on the right against the tunnel/HVAC/cubby holes. This should also facilitate using shorter RCA leads & make the wiring a little easier. Covering the unit with some acoustic carpet attached with velcro should help to make it more discreet. You might want to check how that works for you vs rear footwell.

Hi Iain / DeMort I'm not sure if you are aware, but the Focal is a powered, slimline, sub-woofer. So a bass speaker - and as such, it really needs to be inside the cabin to be effective. Under the roof space would be an intriguing place for (just) an amp though - thought it would involve routing new speaker wires.. and stuff! :thumb:

Photographs later as I am on my phone now- got all the behind dash wiring done, ran the wires for the sub, plugged the Cascade Pro in to have a listen- would not turn on. Went to the garage, got a new/boxed Continental radio, plugged it in- works at once. *****. Just on my way back from dropping the Becker off with a bloke who will see if it's dead, or can be brought back to life. Very annoying! Does anyone know of a radio that has line-out for all speaker channels and sub, that would look ok in a 996, should the Becker be beyond repair?

I did think it was an amp at first but now realise its a sub. Dammits car is a Cab so the rear section with the roof closed is inside the car .. a bit further back than would be a good position but as i understand it its a bass speaker and can be balenced to give a louder output or is it just wired to rear speakers ? .. (i follow instructions with things like this im afraid ) . Either way you balence more to the rear and get the desired effect . There are so few places to fit hings like this hence i suggested the only place i could think of . Carpet out is a 5 min job so pretty quick to see if it will fit in that space .. other than that your kinda stuck with behind the rear seats .. which is not central and i think would annoy even me . Btw .. Iain is fine The Becker has died .. dam im sorry .. i seem to remember that it wasnt cheap .

I had this before I converted to double DIN The orange (you can change all of the illuminations) matches the Porsche dash colours Sounds very good and has loads of features I still have it in the cupboard

I will have to have a look at that over the holidays - the head unit can adjust the sub output and if there's room back there, I think that would be a great place for it! Out of the way and as long as it's still audible, it might be a great compromise!

Im afraid i cant say if it will actually fit but its the best place i can think of . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVbKYqIYAes

Only similar in look to becker is continental/vdo http://www.vdoshop.co.uk/acatalog/CDD7418UB-OR.html Has same mini iso blocks I believe not phono outs Otherwise something like this pioneer DEHX7800 has 3 sets of phono outs and you can change the display colour http://caraudiosecurity.com/deh-x7800dab-cd-mp3-tuner-usb-dab-iphone-android-ready

Thanks for the links, however I have spent some time now preparing the cars wiring for the Becker (including dismantling and re-constructing the brand new loom I got with the Focal), complete with its line-level/pre-amp outputs. = I'd like to stick with a Becker of some kind. I've actually got one of those Continentals in the garage - it's what I tested the wiring with when the Becker would not boot. I could use that, if I spend some time reverting all the wiring to amplified outputs.

Sounds like it's time to double check all the power & vehicle signal wires It worked before you took it out, I take it? you've checked the obvious 12V, IGN and GND feeds I take it.. I'm not sure what else the Becker needs... Wiring diagram?

The Becker worked this morning, I then attached a wire to the subwoofer pin in the mini-iso connector and connected another ground to the shared ground, again in the mini-iso connector. I then plugged in the Focal piggy-back harness, which replicates all original wiring whilst tapping into switched power, remote start and ground. I plugged the Becker back in to check that it all worked, and the Becker would not power up. No changes were made to power, ground or switched power, other than plugging in the piggyback harness. I unplugged the piggy-back harness, the Becker still would not power up when connected to the original wiring, from which it powered up this morning. I then plugged the (brand new, up until that point in it's box) Continental in, and that powered straight up. I then checked the piggy-back harness with the Conti, and it powered straight up with that also.

The fuse on the rear of the Becker unit? :?:

This is the point where I huff and puff and go for a beer. That's really irritating the Becker won't play ball, are you sure the pin outs are the same from Becker to the continental¿? It's not something simple like it's popped it's fuse¿?

I checked the fuse in the back of the Becker, and the fuses in the fuse panel, then I swapped them even though to the eye they were fine. I made no changes to the factory wiring apart from connecting to the subwoofer line-out and shared ground, so even if I made a mistake in the piggy-back harness and swapped two wires over, when I unplugged that and plugged the Becker into the factory wiring literally nothing was different from a power perspective/plug A perspective.

Can anyone make sense of the last post on this page? https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=230&t=1673566 Is it saying that pin 6 on socket C1 is the remote start signal for the factory supplied radio, and that this is what wakes the amp? As that's the only way I can make sense of what is being suggested here - and when I look at the pictures that I took today I can see that my remote start cable has another cable spliced into it which may well be the one mentioned.

I only have the wiring diagrams up to 2000 initially, I thought "No way" as it looks like you would be introducing a 12V feed to an line level output.. But on my wiring diagram: Yellow Plug C1 Pin 6 is clearly marked "Plus Switched" and goes to V7 12+ on the amp so it's not a sub out at all? also, to confuse you, it's black & red, not black & brown. The blue wire from my head unit splices into that to send the "switch on" signal to my amp, in the funk.

in fact, according to the diagram, there is no sub output from the head unit on "Audio Option Pack M490" which is what i believe we both had originally. (6 speaker HK / Nokia system) The only "Deep range" output is available as speaker lever at the amp.

Ok, that makes sense then - the tape deck that I had in the car when I got it can't have had a subwoofer output, but rather had the remote start on that pin.

Wiring diagram

Cheers, that's the one that I have used to wire my short harness so I hope it is correct! I don't see anything there that would explain why the Cascade Pro has stopped working though.

The amp takes 2 votlages - one is a 12v signal from the headunit that does power-on/off/sounds and the other ise the actual 12v power that feeds it to apmplify. The 12v remote-start should be asupplied from the back of the headunit, and on the OEM unit was just a 'remote start' to turn on the amp, with audio coming from the left/right outputs. In your new one, you'll need to bridge the output to a 12v source as per the PH diagram, otherwise your amp wont turn on due to a 'normal' line-level sub out being 2-3v

That's done, had to be when I swapped to the Becker. Speaking of which, the Becker lives! Mixed score for BMW- correct pins, wrong plug:

What was the issue??

Chap reckons I plugged it in with the ignition on, which is probably true. He's not the most communicative, but my assumption is that he replaced something that 'saw too much currant", although why the fuse didn't blow is a question.

Dammit, As my hertz 100.3s arrived, pulled out my front speaker housing to compare them (before Santa takes them to give them back to me) and measure the impedance. First off, the OEM Bose units are decent enough quality, albeit 19 year old design and mine are physically nearly 17 years old. They have a standardish 4 screw pattern and at held in place with a plastic adapter - almost identical to the one you recycled from the Nokia speaker. Therefore one option for you is to find a scrapped 996 with Bose and salvage them rather than making them. There is a Bose stamp on it and no Porsche P/N. I will have to elongate the hertz mount holes a little and possibly trim the end of the mounting tabs, but a simple job. I didn't have my phone to take photos, but I'll do than after Christmas when. I'm swapping them and do a write up like yours. Also, not relevant to you job, but as I'm typing, the main speaker is circa 1.8 ohm per my multi meter. The separate tweeter has some sort of resistor or capacitor frequency thingy, so can't measure resistance upstream of that. Bypassing the thingy, I get 4 ohms. So to sum up, I have no clue what that means in reality, so I will stick in my 4 ohm hertz composite speakers and let the results speak for themselves ... :dont know:

I updated my "conversion" technique, dropping the Dremel and utilising a pair of tin-snips. The new technique results in the 100.3 being mounted in around 30 seconds to the tear-drop shaped cover. Apparently my Logic7 harness is at Heathrow currently, so hopefully it will make it's way here shortly - it's been at Heathrow for 3 days so far it appears. My alloy sheet (for making the mount) is currently "location unknown", as the courier has done something mysterious with it. I don't think I'm going to get this all finalised before NY now, and I'm in California and then Colorado in January so it might be Feb before it's all back together.

Plugging away still:

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very neat.. Makes mine look a bit of mess! But with a cat like attitude to ignoring things i can't see... It is all covered up by the plastic covers! :thumb:

On that note- I'm going to see if I can install the sub in the passenger footwell, specifically in the lower section of the dash where the 996.2 cars have the glovebox. That way it'll be behind the plastic cover, yet still accessible if needs be, and won't affect seat position/movement. I need to strip the dash back a bit to see if this will work, which I have not found time for yet.

I've been in the US for the past couple of weeks, dropped the car off with Precision just before I went as working outside is, frankly, no fun at this time of year.

Have you looked to see if the 986 or Cayman subwoofer fits behind the rear seats? https://thumbsnap.com/s/VpJXfEos.jpg?0125

Just got off the phone with Precision, their view is that I might be happy with just the woofers, I'll pop down tomorrow morning for a listen.

Very neat. And yes think of the weight adding more speakers. :hand: You'll need your 3.7 just to counter the weight of the stereo installation. :wink:

I'll need the new speakers to hear the music over the ITB's howling on the 3.7!

Ha, very true. 8)

Didn't drive the car, so from a stationary perspective the system does sound good - very clear, no distortion, but listening to Smack my bitch up back-to-back with the C55 does show that a sub fills in a significant section of the music which is missing in the Porsche. Holsts Mars and Jupiter are about equal, and Radio 4 was much better than it was - trying to listen to the News Quiz with the roof down on B roads was quite hard before, but there's much more volume available now. I dropped off the Porsche Bose-Subwoofer, more for them to see if it would fit than any expectation that it could be used as-is (it's a very small speaker for something that needs to output a low-frequency), also wondering if the shell might be able to be re-purposed (it goes in the passenger footwell).

Another possible option each side at the rear ..

That is very neat!

I've been quite happy with the combination of the 4 replacement Alpine speakers, & the addition of a focal ibus20 active subwoofer. However for anyone who feels the need to turn it up to "11", then www.jehnert.de have a range of cab or coupe specific custom panels that cater for larger speakers in the front doors, or rear side panels. eg https://www.jehnert.de/en/shop/door...vertible-rearboards-with-2-way-soundsystem-r/

Where on earth do you fit an ibus20 on a 996 cab ? I looked everywhere and there was no where i could find .. behind the dash and it seems to have space but it would be a whole world of problems trying to make brackets for it .. let alone the vibration issue of that location .

It occurs to me that my previous post wasn't 100% clear, so an update: I'm not disappointed - I think that the quality and clarity of the sound is a huge step up, and as an upgrade to the existing six speaker system it's a clear winner. Purely from the perspective of volume (without any distortion), which in a cab is important, the new setup is on a new level - driving to Brands Hatch last summer I really struggled to hear the afternoon play on Radio 4, that won't be a problem this year. I think that the soundscape would gain from the addition of a sub, based on listening to the same tracks back-to-back in the C55 (HK Logic7) and the 996. That's not to say I'm unhappy with what I've now got in the 911, far from it. The installation looks (and feels, I did give the amp bracket a tug!) very high quality, and critically it's an install that (if you didn't know these cars) you'd think was stock, which is a big thing for me, and my OEM+ obsession. I was amazed at the difference toggling on and off "Becker Surround" made, which means that there's a huge scope for adjustment to the sound by playing with the settings on amp I suspect - shakedown, testing and setup needed there. Currently there's no adjustments on the output of the amp. Would I be happier if there had been a convenient place for the sub? Yes, but there isn't, so that's that. It's important to me for the sub (a big, very heavy and sharp edged metal box) to be permanently physically attached to the main chassis of the car. I'm not turning into Paddock Hill bend to discover I just killed my passenger with a speaker. I did leave the Porsche-Bose-Cab sub with Precision, which I could not see how would fit given I have no lower centre-console, but it's entirely possible that I was wrong on that when I shoved it in the footwell, so we'll see what happens there.

Mine's in the passenger side rear footwell. And despite Dammit's worries, it hasn't decapitated anyone... yet

It is a rather large sub , in that position its not hidden which was the main purpose trying to be achieved here .. i think it would reduce the rear position of that seat as well but i didnt really check that . I can tell you all the positions it doesnt fit though lol . I did actually measure under the drivers seat , passengers and you have a control unit there so thats out ... I make it about 5.5 cm depth , theres a stupid bent bar for the seat rails which reduces the clearence by about 3 cm .. if you could have the seat in a fixed position then its fine .. but thats never going to happen . .. the standard type of sub would fit width and length but most seem to be 7cm depth .. thats too much . After extensive checking i now feel the rear section under the cab roof rear carpet .. it would be a struggle to fit any sub there .. there is room but even the standard sub seems pretty dam close to the cab roof in the open position hitting it ... i would need another sub of standard size to confirm but thats my opinion so far from measureing it . Standard size to me is 280 x 200 x 7 cm .

You can see it within the car, but my side windows are tinted and you can't see it from the outside. It's not the best place as it makes the rear foot well unusable for, well... feet. But the bass needs a boost that the door speakers can't give, there's a mighty battle going on between car / road noise and the stereo so the order of the day for me is "Compromise"

Yup i totally understand . My remit was about hiding it .. and i failed miserably im afraid .. i tryed but without a huge cost i coulden,t find a place to hide it ... trust me i half stripped the car trying to find a place . I would have loved to have found an answer and posted it here .. but im afraid i couldn,t . This particular sub wil not fit anywere in the rear cab roof section ..even moving other components .. i tryed and measured it .. not possible .

Rca 90 degree angle connections fitted today .. i think it finishes the look of the amp far better than the straight in connections ... no bonnet fouling either . For me .. the look is about as good as i can get ... sound can be tweaked from the amp so try that first along with the Becker settings . You also have the option of switching outputs to balence it differently .. i think i have it right but time is a problem so i didnt go too far there . I had thought loudness on was better but we each have our opinions and you have plenty to play with i think . A sub .. well i posted above .. even a standard one would be a challenge in a cab im afraid . over all .. im pleased with the end result .. i hope you are as well Roof flaps tommorrow !

So, I've finally got myself a pair of Alpine speakers to replace both dash and rear originals. Slight issue though. Someone has already put some replacements in the rear. The originals are long gone with the "new" speakers held in with a combination of screws and gaffer tape.... I'm therefore looking for a pair of old speakers to be able to mount the Alpines properly. Anyone got some? Also, what was the verdict on replacing the door speakers? Worthwhile or not? Cheers mark

Can't help with the old speakers, but I have a Conntinental DAB headunit with the Alpines front and rear, original door speakers. I think it's pretty decent - loads better than stock. Not sure I'd bother going any further as my car is pretty noisy, so little real benefit.

Mr Damnmit, Did they supply the wrong plug or was it the wrong part ordered ?

Both- their parts guy pointed to the correct plug on his diagram and confidently entered the wrong part number in his order system.

I should probably update this thread. I swapped out the Hertz speakers in the dash for Morel Virtus 402 midrange and separate tweeter units - silk dome rather than the butyl of the Hertz was one of the things that the audio chap mentioned. I also had the Focal sub fitted, it's under the dash on the passenger side. Very happy with how it all sounds now - but still a bit frustrated at the radio reception of the Becker, which is excellent at playing CD's, but seems to struggle to hold onto Radio 4.

Dammit, Did you use the BMW sourced socket ultimately? If so can you provide the definitive part numbers for the shell and pins please. With regards to your radio reception, the aerial on the 996 are amplified and need to be powered, does the aerial adaptor you're using provide power to it? Also it isn't unknown for the aerial amplifier to stop working, someone with access to the parts catalogue can help with the numbers. Was it worth swapping to the Morel speakers? The 996 is quite noisy.

The antenna amplifier is new, was changed as part of the troubleshooting process. Are you saying that the amplifier is powered from the stereo? I can't recall where I got the socket from in the end (unless I mentioned it in this thread?), I might have a spare - will have a look. The parts are available, is the good news. I like the Morels - and bear in mind that my car has no roof, so however noisy yours is, I suspect mine might be worse!

You probably used something similar to this : The blue wire needs to be connected to +ve ignition on or the electric aerial connection on your HU. It powers the active aerial bit (aerial amplifier) I don't intend spending lots of money on the audio on my 911, it just needs to sound reasonable, at the moment it isn't, I may have to go down the road of taking the Bose stuff out, the amplifier, the sub and the speakers in the dash. If I can avoid it I will. I don't like altering the original wiring loom so would like to buy or make my own adaptor harness.

Mine is a 2001 996.2 C2 & like the OP's is also pre MOST. However mine left the factory without Bose. I've upgraded bits in several stages. The 1st was to replace the Becker with a Pioneer carplay unit. The Pioneer's internal amp driving the standard speakers made a significant improvement. The next upgrade entailed replacing the standard speakers with Alpine's, still driven by the internal amp in the headunit. This was a further improvement, but perhaps not as big a leap as replacing the Becker. Last but not least, I added a focal active sub, & some dynamat type stuff in the cavity behind the rear speakers. To my ears, it now sounds as good if not better than some "high end" systems I've heard from other vendors (bose, harmon kardon, mark levinson to name a few). Based on my experience, I suspect the internal amp in your Alpine headunit will adequately drive 2 pairs of speakers. You may want to consider disconnecting the existing speakers from the bose amp, & running some cables to join to these. If you're still not happy with the results, then it would be easy to revert or you could consider replacing the amp, & won't have wasted much beyond some extra cables & your time. If you have a 3rd pair of speakers (eg lower doors) or bose sub(not sure if this is active or passive?), then you'll obviously need another amp if you want to retain the use of these. Another option is an active sub like the Focal. They sell two versions (ibus 20 & ibus 2.1). The ibus20 is an active sub. As the name implies the ibus 2.1 is effectively the same unit with an additional internal amp that can be used to drive another pair of speakers. This might be a simple option to allow you to add an active sub, & drive a pair of door speakers, while driving the dash & rear speakers from the headunit. hth

Can anyone point me in the direction of a thread explaining how to replace the door speakers? both of mine have blown so desperate to get them sorted out!

The Bose sub has its own amp located within the unit. It can be driven directly by an aftermarket head unit with an adapted lead.

I have a spare OEM Bose sub if anyone wants it.

this should help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaFL3bXh3gw

I'm clueless with audio install, but do love good sound (especially a bit of bass). Does anyone know an audio place in London that knows 996 that can sort me out? I have a 2001 996 C4, with dash and rear speakers. No door speakers or under seat sub (that I know of).

I recently used Auto Audio in Park Royal and was impressed.

Great, thanks for the tip. I'll check them out.

I also have spare a rear BOSE subwoofer, i dont have an amplifier in mine. In my old 996 I used the Pioneer head unit to drive the sub. The Pioneer had a genuine sub output by bridging the rear speaker outputs. I replaced the speakers in the sub to get the correct 2 Ohm impedance required by the headunit.. It actually worked very well.. The Sub is currently sat on a shelf in my garage..

I spent a little time at the weekend tinkering with the ICE in my C2. Dash and rear speakers have now been replaced with Alpine units a little while ago and are an improvement. The PO had installed a rather nice 4 channel Alpine amp . 2 channels drive the rear speakers and 2 channels drive the dash and door speakers. The problem is that the dash speakers can't take much abuse and distort at high volume. Due to my own incompetence I ended up buying another identical amp about a year ago so now have the ability to drive front and rear speakers with 1 amp and the door speakers with the other. A bit of testing proved successful and reducing the low frequencies to the dash/rear speakers and channel lower stuff to the doors made a big difference. So the problem I now have is finding a location for the second amp. It looks possible under the drivers seat or I'm wondering how much space is under the dash on the passenger side? I ran out of time and so didn't get a chance to have a look. Any ideas? Cheers

You can see the edge of the powered Focal sub, which is hung under the dash on the passenger side in this photo (with a leather strip on it to make it blend in):

Not sure on the size of your amp but I've got one of these mini amps attached with double sided carpet tape under the pax side footwell (left hand side and up a bit) it's been there years and hasn't moved. I don't have door speakers and bias it to provide more output to the rear speakers. I also have a Kenwood KSC-SW11 150w Sub on the rear shelf (more carpet tape) which handles the bass to give the F/R Alpine SPG-10C2 an easier time. Standard HU. Sounds pretty good and loud enough. The amp would happily drive much bigger speakers.

I have a Morel MPS 4.400 four channel amp in the stock location now, powering the separates in the dash and the Hertz woofers in the doors, with the sub connected directly to the head unit - so my rear speakers are unpowered. I have to admit that I can't find a negative to this setup at the moment, if I had to pick one thing it would be the performance of the hands-free microphone, which according to a friend I spoke to yesterday had a lot of background noise. Other than that the sound quality is excellent.

Could you direct me to the Hertz door speakers? Are the a direct fit? Ta

Struggling to recall, but I think I used the 130.5's, however I'm likely to swap them out toward the end of the year for Morel units, simply to get everything from the same make. In terms of install, make sure they're sealed into the enclosures properly, other than that I don't think there are any particular gotcha's.

Thanks. I'm assuming the Hertz were a worthwhile improvement of original?

Unfortunately it's hard to say because I changed so many things at once- it now sounds very good, so no part of it is bad, if that makes sense?

I fitted the hertz after reading Dammits thread. 2 on the dash and 2 in the rear seat side pods. Compared to the original Bose Cardboard pieces of crap, they are a huge improvement. Much nicer sound. Literally less card- boardie! I did the fronts first so I was able to compare them with the rear. Well worth the money

The head unit has 3 outputs. Front, rear and sub. Is there any reason that I couldn't use some coaxial speakers in the doors powered by amp number 2 using the sub output from the head unit? It works with the standard door speakers ok, but I'm wondering if the sub output from the head unit is only at lower frequencies and therefore it would be pointless, if that makes sense? :?:

So..... Having tinkered with have 2 amps running 3 pairs of speakers and ditched that idea due to lack of space for the second amp, I have decided to run the door and the dash speakers from 2 of the 4 channels and use a crossover. Low to the door speakers and high to the dash. I probably need a 3 way crossover otherwise I'm assuming the dash speakers would only receive very high frequencies rather than mid/high? Sound feasible?

Glad I didn't start a new thread. The speakers set up in the 996.2 are the basic none bose type and need changing. Is there a plug and play kit that anyone has found or are halfords audio capable in this regard? We don't want to spend big here as money on the suspension would be a preference.

Probably the easiest one stop shop option https://www.jmgshop.com/9x6-speaker...lpine-europe-speakers-with-speakers-607-p.asp I don't think Halfords would be a lot of use

Thanks Wellsy, they look like they will do the trick and I might even be able to do that myself. In regards to the rear speakers, I think this kit is just for the dash, do people leave the rears oem?

I can't speak for Wellsy, but I originally replaced both front & rears with Alpine spg10's. They're definitely a good improvement over the standard items. I later managed to snag a full set of Jehnert speakers from ebay, so the whole rear panels have been replaced. Consequently, I have set of the Alpines sitting in the original box. If you're interested, then pm me with an offer. & recycling some bits from one of my previous posts: btw you can get a set of Alpine replacements for about £40 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpine-SPG...pine+spg-10c2&qid=1565027487&s=gateway&sr=8-1 They'll sound much better. You'll need some connectors: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KQG3MK2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 & you can recycle the original speakers to make mounting brackets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0LPyCoq5k8 Alternatively a chap (superpaulie I think?) on here sells some speaker adapters on ebay that he 3d prints. I think they used to be about £20-30 ish

Spike that's helpful thank you, I had ordered the kit but the alpines you have, they fit in the rear too? I thought they were in the rear qtr panels and small but sounds like I'm wrong. The adapters on your link are out but think same are available elsewhere? Your spare set would fit the rear then if I adapt or buy the 3d prints?

Speaker adaptors are different front/rear. Super_paulie sells both front and rear separately or as a kit here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-996-Coupe-dash-AND-rear-side-speaker-adaptors/314198450531 I just ordered a set and am very impressed, great quality product, great communication.

They are the same Alpine spg-10c2 speakers. My set were used in the rear, so yes, they will fit if you have a suitable adaptor, or butcher the old OEM speakers to "convert" the plastic ring around the oem speakers into an adaptor. You can find some clips on Youtube, showing how to do this.

I upgraded the dash speakers for some quite nice Focal ISNs with neodynium magnets which are great for fitting into the limited space in the 996 dash. I used the brackets off ebay which are excellent. I kept the original bose/hifi tweeters due to fit and with some experimenting made a crossover for them with air core inductors and mundorf caps. I also have 6.5" JL C3 woofers in the doors using modified original enclosures. I think if I did it again I'd ditch the dash speakers altogether and just go 2 way components with the tweeter in the dash as I just don't think the dash location works. In the end I've ended up with the 6.5"s in the doors doing all midrange anyway (it's an active setup using a 4ch amp)- it sounds much better this way to just have high frequencies out of the dash. If anyone wants to make an offer on the focal dash speaker setup with the custom crossovers I would consider selling them. I also built some connectors up to allow use of a non-factory amp without cutting any of the factory wiring as discussed in this thread, some pics below.

:bandit: I'm super impressed with this!!! I was hoping to do something similar but expected it to be near impossible

All, I was inspired by this thread to replace the speakers in the dash and rear with some better more modern systems. I went with the Alpine SPG-10C2s and the 3d printed adaptor rings from Pauley on Ebay. I had thought it was going to be relatively straight forward but immediately ran into a problem with the driver's side dash, with the increased depth/width of the magnet fouling the loom and plastic shroud so the cover cannot be pressed down flat to the dash again. The picture shows the view into the hole. I managed to push some of the wires out of the way which cleared some space but I think now it is hitting the shroud judging by the circular witness marks on the top. Has anyone else run into this problem and managed to solve it? Everyone seems to be having no issues so I wonder if it is a gen 2 problem. I was considering trying to put a cut across the shroud with a dremel so it could fold downwards but am obviously very nervous of underlying wires.

Per super_paulie's eBay advert:

I have the same alpines in the dash on my 996.2 c2, but these were installed several years ago, before super Paulies mounts were available, so I'd used the jmg mounts. For the rears I'd made my own mounts for a set of alpines, but later replaced these with Jehnert components & custom housings. Taking another look at a pic of Paulies design they seem to fit between the speaker cover grill & alpine speaker, whereas the jmg ones fit over the alpine speaker to secure it to the grill, which probably gives more clearance. The other option to consider is the approach MC demonstrates in his video showing how to repurpose the OEM speaker to fashion a mount similar to the jmg design that fits over the alpine units. https://youtu.be/aIC-mP1hH50

Yes this is my problem, but also my point in that these speakers are at the top of his list of those that fit and appear from what I have read to be the most common fitment for the upgrade. I have ordered a pair of 90 degree cutters to try and trim back the shroud, I think this option has lesser chance of damaging the underlying loom than a dremel or soldering iron.

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Hi Tim, could you share the pin out to create the smaller connector adaptor loom you made in one of your photos please?

Ive scanned this excellent (but long the read!) and can't find an answer to the below Has any one replaced the bose door speakers and dash speakers with a a 'normal' 61/4 inc component set, main speakers in doors and tweeters in the dash location (cross over somewhere in between?!) I have a Bose equipped 996.2 coupe but the headunit has been replaced prior to my purchase with an Alpine single din (bright blue illumination, tiny buttons, bluetooth but no DAB, looks awful in the dash) which sounds awful, no base. The reason is on inspection/removal, the front speaker output is wired straight into the factory front speakers (so all 3 are working each side) but not via the amp. The amp isn't connected at all and the rear side speakers are directly wired to the head unit, so the sub is there but not wired in I am guessing the amp has blown and been by passed rather than fixed or replaced. I would like to upgrade to a single DIN for carplay and DAB (probably a mechless Pioneers) and ive thought of upgrading the speakers at the same time My plan would be: 5.25 in components in front - door and dash stock locations used 6.5 in components in rear. By modifying the bose box or building an MDF shelf to replace it (and selling it) and mounting the components in there (possibly with tweeters in the stock door locations) or even just some old school 6x9s! If i still need more base I will add an active sub either in my rear shelf location or under the passenger seat

I would focus on the front, the rears will not give you that much extra in my opinion. I have the non Bose system with door speakers and changed the speakers in dash and rear but kept the stock ones in the doors. Sound is much better, but will need a sub to improve further. I will try an active sub under the passenger seat. With my 991 seats it looks possible with a few mm washers under the mounts.

Even with 991 seats, I'd be surprised if you can squeeze an active sub under the seats. Other options: 1) I think the best compromise for mounting an active sub is either in the passenger footwell, or the rear footwell. For a while I had a focal active sub in my 996.2 mounted on it's side in the passenger footwell & braced against the centre console tunnel. Kind of similar to where the Bose sub is on convertible 996's. I know Neil (Dammit on here) has one mounted under the passenger side dash. You should find details for this in his long build thread on here. 2) Custom door build panels, to mount 20cm subs & tweeters in the rear quarter panels, & 2x 16.5cm in each front door. Jehnert offer these along with matching cross overs. They're a much neater option than active subs, don't significantly encroach into passenger/storage space, & sound better. I eventually replaced my focal active sub with a set of these. For details see: Porsche 911 (996) Coupé / GT2 / Targa - Rearboards with 2-way soundsystem Rearboards with 2-way-soundsystem 1x 200 mm (8″) JEHNERT flat line woofer with Neodymium drive per side… www.jehnert.de Porsche 911 (996) Coupé / GT2 / Targa - Standard Doorboards with 3-way soundsystem Double bass system 2x 165 mm (6,5″) JEHNERT »POWER WOOFER« per side… www.jehnert.de Their front door panels were also offered as part of a Porsche upgrade: https://www.design911.co.uk/p/sound-system-upgrade-porsche-986---996/ I believe https://caraudiosecurity.com/ are resellers in the UK, but Jehnert will also deal directly & supply you with complete packages or spare parts. 3) Alternatively you can build a custom enclosure in place of the Bose subs behind the rear seats, or try to repurpose a Bose sub enclosure with your own amp & speakers.

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The Pioneer unit is 70mm high and got 68-70mm when measuring the bottom of the tub up to the crossbar under the seat. So it doesnt look impossible... May have to massage the existing brackets for the OEM metal plate that is removed and move the ground wires to the mounting bolts for the seat.

Im happy with the parcel shelf space with the Bose fitted. They seem to bring decent money on ebay. So my plan is to use it as a template to build something the same size and shape out of mdf and either use this as a sub box with an amp mount or as a 'cover' for an active sub (I like the look and compact nature of the focal unit. Then sell the Bose unit. I might try that first with something more decent up front and worry about rear speakers if and when i need them at all. Willl all be a post Christmas winter project so will share results as and when The 996 is a small car so it doesn't need much stereo and i do like just listening to the engine too!

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I’ve just checked mine and they’re the original units, so I’d like a simple swap for the dash and rears (I’ve got a cab). Unfortunately the popular Alpines have been discontinued, so are there any alternatives that will go straight in? I’d prefer coaxials rather than components. Thanks.

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I’ve just fitted Audison AP4X coaxials. You can either use some 3D printed adapters or modify the surround from the original speakers to fit them

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Thanks. Have you got a cab? There’s less room in the rear apparently.

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There is a 10cm co-ax in the Alpine S series, which has exactly the same mounting depth dimensions as the old G series units (43mm). They’ve only recently been discontinued, you might find stock somewhere still, eBay etc.. Doors are the most important though, if you can nail them it’s a winner. Getting the bass and mid-range punch without rattling everything in the door is an art in these old cars!

Thanks gents. Anyone heard of Ground Zero speakers? These are really compact by the look of them.. Ground Zero GZRC 100NEO-IV - 4" 2-Way Component Speakers 240W Max Power #html-body [data-pb-style=EMG4PJ6]{justify-content:flex-start;display:flex;flex-direction:column;background-position:left top;background-size:cover;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-attachment:scroll}Specifications: 2-way component speaker system Coated paper cone Rubber surround Nomex... caraudiosecurity.com

Update. I’ve found some of the Alpines on eBay from Italy but with postage they are £175 a pair!!! Surely not worth it? Thanks I’m swaying towards trying the Ground Zeros

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Absolutely NOT worth it!!!

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I'm quite disappointed with my Alpine ones, the sound front and rear is still tinny and not very rich. It might be that I wired them back to front, which I'll try when the weather perks up, or it could be that my daily 955 Turbo has BOSE and is very rich, with loads of speakers and a sub and I'm expecting too much.

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Thanks. I’m not going to do pay £175 for them. I know what you mean, even my 20 year old SL55 came with a premium sound system and it would be difficult to replicate unless spending ££££££

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Hi RIchie, I have a 986 and just fitted these Rockford Fosgate R14X2 with the super paulie mounts in the front. Combined with a new head unit, it sounds good to me. I have door speakers as well. However, sound is fairly subjective. The guy who fitted my head unit said the speakers were fine but I wanted try them so did and to me, it sounds brighter and I am very pleased. If you are near Bromley, you are welcome to have a listen. You need some wiring adapters if you don't want to cut the factory wiring as well.

Thanks for your kind offer - I’m near Brands Hatch so not to far at all!! I have in fact just bitten the bullet and ordered some speakers. I decided the Ground Zeros were too much speaker unless I bought amps as well. So I looked for some high sensitivity (something I only just read about!), less powerful speakers. I’ve opted for Audison AP1, AP4 and APX4 ( for the rear). Half the cost of the Ground Zeros too. They were fitted by a dealer on a YouTube video so they must fit! I will post my findings.

Good luck with the new speakers. I am often down the Moat if you ever get down there?

Cheers. I haven’t been down there for years but if I do go I’ll look you up! It’s the Porsche club right? What days do they meet?

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I go with a group called TIPEC. They meet on the first Monday of the month at 18.30/19.00. Obviously, it’s busier in the summer and more chatting in the car park. They also go to a place in Ashford called the Dog House on a Sunday morning at 09.00. The next one is the 19th Jan.

My new speakers have arrived, just waiting for the famous adapters

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From the pic above....I assume your setup is AP4 and AP1 for the dash and the AP4X is for the rear speakers. Are you not changing / upgrading the woofers in the doors? I am also about to pull the plug with similar speaker upgrade for my 996 TT.

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Hi, yeah, that’s correct. I’m doing that first and then I’ll see if the doors need doing. Consensus seems to be the standard door speakers are fine - at least compared to the dash and rear.

The doors are probably the most important of all of the speakers to upgrade. Acoustic treatment and decent speakers will be the most noticeable aspect of the system. The rears are just for fill and the dash just needs to provide image.

All done and I’m very pleased with the results. I used some spacers found on eBay and modified the oe speaker mounts so only the outside grill was left. I think they look good.

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I’m really pleased with my new head unit and speakers. Now the door speakers are letting the side down - one of them appears to have blown. So now I’m researching replacements. I’ve narrowed it down to Blam components and I’ll just ditch the tweeters. Is this a good solution? Thoughts? BLAM BL-130RFS 130mm (5.25") Hi-efficiency 2ohm, 2-Way Component Car Audio Speakers (PAIR) BLAM BL-130RFS 130mm (5.25") Hi-efficiency 2ohm, 2-Way Component Car Audio Speakers (PAIR)Speakers BL-130RFS BLAM BL-130RFS 130mm (5.25") Hi-efficiency 2ohm, 2-Way Component Car Audio Speakers (PAIR) - The BLAM RELAX 130 RFS is the updated versi www.dynamicsounds.co.uk

I upgraded, or that is what it was meant to be, my dash and rear speakers to Alpine S2 S4C. So far not that impressed. Very sharp and no bass and poor tonality. I appreciate the limitations of a 4" speaker, but the Nokia's had a fuller sound and moved more air. This of course could be because the head unit is not really kicking out enough, as I suspect the Alpine's are far less efficient than they suggest. Plain paper cones are much easier to move than resin coated ones. I probably would have been better served with the cheapest in the range SXE 1025S, or another brand. I have to say I was disappointed. I have got a powered sub

Did you change your head unit? With a Pioneer HU and Audison speakers in the dash and rear, the difference is night and day. The Audisons are rated at 91dB sensitivity which is pretty high. What are your Alpines? Ive just checked and your Alpines are rated at 85dB which is low and requires more power to drive them. I never knew about speaker ohms and sensitivity until recently and it makes a big difference apparently.

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Yes head unit changed to Android capable job. Trying to get the exact RMS is not straight forward form it. The BS around car audio is staggering; 100 watts here, 1000 watts there, absolute nonsense. There is a maximum a car battery can turn into watts...it is physics. That aside there is mixed info on the web re these Alpine speakers. Some said 88db which I could live with, but when you actually receive them, open the box and the paper work, it is 85db. It was only after fitting them that I checked because of the sound. I might well look at the Audisons in due course.

My plans have now changed for the door speakers. I’ve now ordered (£70 shipped) some Audison AP5’s (93dB) These are 4ohm as when I took off the door panel I wasn’t expecting to find these:

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Surely you’re not getting anywhere near the best from those speakers with the huge gap between the driver and the mount…?