Amp replacement

I suspect my Becker amp has let me down in my 2004 996. (non bose, cdr23) and I will would like to take the opportunity to replace it with a better straightforward solution. I have already replace the speakers years ago and made a great difference, so now it's time for an after market radio and after market amp. I have read that the Alpine PDX 5 fits nicely in the existing bracket in the boot so that would be great. But is there a harness adaptor that would make the swap straightforward? I am a complete novice when it comes to wiring and radio etc and I don't want to mess with wiring ideally. If there are any other straightforward solution amp wise out there am opened to suggestion!

Do you need an amp?

Good question, I just assume I did....

As Alex says, most decent HU’s will have a powerful enough Amp inbuilt for a 996 cabin. That and better speakers will be a decent improvement in sound & connectivity. More Bass = bigger speaker/subwoofer required. I kept the standard HU (not very powerful) and fitted a mini Amp above the passenger footwelll out of site (Alpine KTP-445U), upgraded the speakers (4x Alpine SPG-10C2) and later fitted a small Subwoofer on the parcel shelf (Kenwood KSC-SW11 150w) for a bit more thump. It’s not Audiophile quality, for that you need to turn the music off, open the windows, rag the car and listen to the sports exhaust at full chat.

I guess the question is that if I don't need the amp, how do I bypass it?

Just bridge the amp connector. Although you need to then make sure that the feed to the amp from your new head unit are speaker outs and not line outs.

I used one of these Connects2 CT53-PO01 - Porsche 911 Boxster Active System Amplifier Adaptor Porsche CT53-PO01 Connects2 CT53-PO01 - Porsche 911 Boxster Active System Amplifier Adaptor - This adapter allows an aftermarket head unit to be installed, whilst bypassing the factory fitted amplified system. www.dynamicsounds.co.uk When i fitted a new headunit, went with a Blaupunkt Hamburg and replaced the speakers (apart from the subs in the doors).

Guessing this does not work with MOST right?

I believe they also do an option for MOST on that same site.

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I saw that but I believe this is to keep the amp while I need to bypass mine as it's faulty

I think am gonna replace the optical amp with a standard one. A lot of people seems to recommend a 4 channel amp however the 996 has 6 speakers (2 dash, 2 rear and the subs in the door). So why not 6 channel? Do people put the dash and the rear speakers on the same channel? Also, what is the after market radio only one 2 rca outputs (left and right) + sub which seems to be the case on many aftermarket...? Anyone could shed some light to an idiot?

I went through all this myself so feel your pain. My set up like this: Blaupunkt head unit Vibe 6 channel DSP amp Used the 2sets of RCA outputs straight to the amp in the frunk (ran the RCA cables from the new headunit through bulkhead into frunk) then the amp does its stuff and outputs it via the 6 channels to each speaker. Mine wasn't the optical amp however, so didn't need to rewire the speakers themselves, just cut the "output" loom going from the old amp to the speakers and connected this to the new amp. Using a 4 channel amp you could do the front left dash and front left door sub on one channel and the same for the right side, then the two rear speakers on their own channel each. The front left/right dash and sub channels would need a crossover between the dash speaker and sub in the door. Or a 5 channel amp and then just use the 5th channel for both of the door subs - no crossovers needed then. Apologise if thats just a stream of consciousness! https://cai-store.com/pages/996-c4-amplifier-installation - that site was also really useful just for info!

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Thanks that does help, sheds some lights on the all channel and crossover thing. Does your Vibe 6 channel fits in the existing amp bracket? I would like to find something that could fit in there so it looks oem. I did see this video where it manage to stick 2 small Alpine 4 channel amp in the bracket. The optical is only from the headunit to the amp, so the output loom from the amp to the spear should be similar to use (at least that's my understanding).

Not a problem! It fits in the same space but not to the actual bracket. I ended up drilling some holes and bolting it direct to the bulkhead. Had I taken more time I probably could have got it to fit the existing bracket. Depending on how handy you are, a gentleman on Rennlist has provided the cad for a backet he designed for an amp replacement, this could be modified to suit whatever amp you end up choosing. GitHub - pitcrewdev/996-frunk-amplifier-bracket Contribute to pitcrewdev/996-frunk-amplifier-bracket development by creating an account on GitHub. github.com

IMHO you always need an AMP, whilst head units have become more powerful, there is no substitute for a proper amp Thread '996 Radio Cdr23 Wiring' 10 Feb 2025 Hi sorry another wiring question, can anyone tell me what the black plug wires are, thanks. StewB33r Replies: 8 Forum: Porsche 911 996 (1997-2005)