Advice needed: Speaker / Amp upgrade on 987.1 Boxster

Newbie here looking for advice on upgrading speakers and amplification in my 2005 987.1 Boxster S . My car originally had the CDR24 and stock speakers, nothing special here, no SPP ASK or BOSE . It's since had a Pioneer AVH-Z9200DAB head unit installed a couple of years ago by a previous owner, but the original speakers are, well, y'all know how they are - they're eighteen years old, the cones have perished and they sound like a stack of pebbles in a tin can! I'm willing to pay a bit of money for upgrade - I like my music loud and crisp but listen to everything from heavy rock to techno, electronica, jazz, hip hop, and classical.... I just like it to sound good. I think I've got some options and wonder if you have any opinions on these or can think of any more?: Replace just the speakers with new ones (OEM or aftermarket upgrade) Replace t he speakers and the amp (OEM or aftermarket upgrade) Upgrade the system with OEM Sound Package Plus which gets the extra speakers into the car and an improved amp Upgrade the system with OEM BOSE set, including upgraded anmp and that lovely looking bass woofer behind the seats And then the other question come!... Are those options even possible? Are there any recommendations for good aftermarket alternatives for speaker and amp upgrades? Is buying second hand OEM systems off eBay a good idea? I'm not going to be able to DIY this so I'm either going to be getting a local (South East UK) audio fitter to do it for me with new upgraded after market kit like the head unit... or I can buy genuine Porsche part number speakers like the BOSE off eBay and ask them to fit them in - any thoughts on this choice? Is there anything that won't fit in the car I've got? Is there anything else I need to look out for? Im interested in what the cheapest options might be to get a half decent loud and crisp sound. I've got a bit of money aside for this but I ain't rich! Loads of Qs there - hope some folks can help Thanks in advance

Just my opinion - I would do 1 or 2 only. I don't think there is too much value in going back to factory bits, besides which getting all that coded and wired up (with factory harnesses) in the car will likely be a nightmare. For #2, you mention replacing the "amp"... what amp are you talking about? The one in the HU (head unit)? If that's the one, then I wouldn't bother replacing that unless you want some specific features from a newer/different unit. The amps inside the HU aren't really great anyway, so don't believe the hyped up wattage values on the boxes. If you plan to ADD an amp, then that would be fine. The key is, you want to pick speakers suited to the power you are delivering. For example, I often see people buy high power speakers, and then are disappointed when these are plugged into the HU's amp... which may not have enough power to really get them moving. Basically, you want to size the speakers (power-wise) to the power you plan to deliver. Beyond that, it's all about cost and work. If you plan to do this yourself, keep in mind this is a small car.. you'll need to consider where the amp will fit, how you're going to get wires sent around, etc. So just be prepared for that. If you go to a shop, they should consider all this (including the speaker power) for you.

hey thanks so much for this reply. I had been assuming that all sound systems had a separate amp just because I’d been seeing pictures of them as part of Bose systems and maybe ASK systems? But tbh I think I’ve not understood the situation. So, I’m pretty sure then, that it’s just the head unit in there providing amplification and I think that the Sony one in there is probably pretty good - but the original speakers are the things letting the sound quality down. I’m now talking to a couple of local audio specialists about what they can do to upgrade the speakers and maybe add some more, but I think I’m going to start small and lower cost, and just replace the stock speakers in there with better ones and see how I get on. Helpful to hear about the potential nightmare of trying to upgrade to something like Bose as that seems fraught with wiring and coding and also incredibly costly. Someone quoted me £3k / $3.6k to do that! Not my kind of money 💰

Well, there are some HUs that have no amps inside, but most do. Check the specs - if it has speaker outputs, then it has an amp of course. You could download the manual and see what it has for specs (sorry, I'm being lazy and not doing it for you, haha). Unless you're planning to do some sort of restoration, going factory at this point is kinda pointless. Besides which, if restored, the original VIN lookup will still not show your addons, which probably won't make sense from a "restoration" plan anyway. So, yeah, I think you're on the right path - go with the audio shop, see what they say. I'm happy to look at their quote with you, if you're interested... I would be curious to see what they offer, regardless!

Heyyyyy sorry took me ages to come back! yeah I went to the audio shop in the end, very decent place not far from me called Road Radio in the UK. I got a pair of Focal Access 165AC speakers fitted in the doors and that was that. I am honestly not sure if I got ripped off on price, I was in such a hurry to get it sorted as I was driving a long trip and probably paid for the privilege - £300 fitted for the pair (the guys at Road Radio said their hourly rate for work is £78 sooo... not exactly cheap). Anyway - sounding pretty good. Nowhere near as good as my last car which was a 2007 BMW Z4 2.5si which had the most beautiful sound pack as standard... I miss it. But it does the job - I'm happy with it, and I'm not losing sleep over the money! ;-)

Well, considering the Focals cost $269 (about 209 pound-sterling per Google) on Amazon here, and you got installation for 91 pound, that's not bad at all. Certainly, prices vary as well, but I'd say you're in the ballpark at least. I've heard good things about Focals, so that's good too. Congrats, and thanks for reporting back!

Thank you! Yeah they're pretty good sounding, decent amount of range and the bass is possible to get through, particularly with the Pioneer HU I've got in there which seems to do a good job and has really well customisable EQ and Loudness settings.

I am also thinking about trashing my stock speakers with blown out surrounds. As the original poster of this thread was. I am growy weary of hearing the edges of the speaker cone fray against the foam surrounds after years of listening to this. I think I will try option #1 first. Inexpensive six and a half inch coaxial speakers. The Original head unit seems to make enough juice flow through the speaker tubes for my tastes. Hopefully this will remain true with the new speakers. I was thinking about upgrading to 8" by modifying the plastic risers coming off of the door. What stopped me from considering this was the lack of 8" speaker options.

Are the lower 6.5" speakers even fed high frequencies? Or are those fed only to a smaller speaker above? This is the point I am not clear on.

Hi - the most basic upgrade worked out well for me, replacing the 6.5s - I'm happy with it. The guy in the shop suggested starting small and seeing whether it did enough, rather than investing more money and more complicated solutons straight off. Seemed sensible.

Thank you. I think I am to try that first and see how it does.

That depends. What audio system you have? What model 987 do you have (Boxster, Cayman) and what series .1 or .2 987 do you have? It's a bit complex since in certain years, although Bose cost more, it wasn't actually superior to the SPP system. I'd need that information to give a knowledgeable answer. The simplest answer is - if you have the very basic system, the two door speakers are wired in parallel and both receive a full range signal. Although the diagrams don't show it - there is a filtering capacitor that filters out high frequency signal from the larger speaker, and one that filters out low frequency signals to the small speaker. There are no dash speakers, or center channel or rear. This is the simplest system, and assuming you move the capacitor from the existing low frequency speaker to the new speaker - it should work OK and there is no need for a coaxial or separate tweeter setup on the larger speaker. It's working strictly as a mid-low-woofer. Using single capacitors as a crossover means it's a very gradual crossover, not sharp as would be seen in a real audio system (with chokes, etc..) The ASK and Bose systems do it a bit differently. The crossovers are built into the amplifiers. The dash speaker and small door speaker are wired in parallel, with the door speaker probably having a capacitor sized to remove the very highest frequencies - which will be handled by the dash speaker. The low frequencies are filtered at the input to the amplifier and a single channel powers a single speaker - the big one. That's in the case of the .2 (2009+) cars. On the earlier cars, the ASK amplifier didn't have a channel for the low frequency signal to the woofer - the woofer was powered directly from the amplifier channel built into the PCM. I believe that may also be the case with the Bose systems (I don't have a diagram for the earlier Bose system.) In this case - if any capacitor is found on the old speaker, it needs to move to the new speaker, wired in the same way (typically parallel to the speaker.) In both the ASK and Bose systems - the Cayman got yet another channel - the speakers on the bar behind the seats at the front of the rear cargo area. These speakers each had their own channel and were fed a full-range signal. On the Boxster - the same could be done with an option Porsche had for speakers mounted in the storage binny right behind the headrests. This was later discontinued, and couldn't be used if the Bose subwoofer replaced the storage binny. On the earlier cars, a Bose subwoofer was available, it went in the passenger's footwell taking up already limited footroom.. Mine was an .2 ask system. We could go into details on how I routed signals to the different speakers by retaining the ASK amp and crossovers on the speakers, and then added another channel for a retrofit kit for the rear binny speakers - but that's the topic of another post or two that I wrote up when I added those speakers. Suncoast has a kit for around $300 (not a bad price since it uses quality speakers and a comprehensive kit). Used as I use them now - full range (as was intended with the original system) but with the gain adjustable they make a significant difference in the sound in a good way. So the answer to your question - it depends. When the amp does the filtering (Bose and ASK) then the larger speaker only gets lower frequencies. If you have the simplest audio system - then it gets a full-range signal that uses a primitive capacitive filter to feed it only low frequencies.

Appreciate your sharing your wisdom. Its a super poverty spec 2008 coupe with no options. I will try to pull the OEM crossover components out. I think I may end up adding a pair of four inch co-ax's if the door cards allow it. I guess if there are no rear outputs I could wire them in series with the 6.5 co-ax's. Maybe some caps on the fours to roll them off at 100hz. Thirty years back I used to roll my own home speakers but I don't remember much.

So the 2008 "ultra base model" boxster coupe 987.1 had blanked out four inch spots. I was expecting the four inch spots to be directly above the larger spots with grill area, but no. They are to the rear and above the other spots, with no grill covering them. Solid plastic and pleather over the round plastic pucks. I was tempted to cut them out and wire the fours in series for 8 ohms total to the head unit, but was able to resist the saw. For now. I would only seriously consider it if I found some good looking low profile grills. The factory six point fives had dissolved surrounds, per the usual. I dropped in the new inexpensive pair. After some listening tests I yanked out the dash tweeters and tossed them in a bin. It sounds much better without them. Truth, I was driving around with the CDR24 treble turned to minus nine for years. I do not know if it is possible to blow out the factory tweeters, but I would almost swear mine were blown out. In any case they sounded horrible to my ears, and are now gone. I did not remove any factory 6db low pass cap deal from the six point fives if any are in there. In any case I can hear cymbals and high frequency sounds fine, so I suspect there are none in there. The sound while much better is still not perfect. The radio wave FM reception seems really bad. Even the CD player, it doesn't sound that good. Just marginally better than the FM. I think I'm on the slippery mole hill to replacing the radio now. In my opinion the dash will look dumber with a non factory radio. But I do not really care. As long as it sounds good. I will likely just get a inexpensive double din dumb touchscreen off brand something or other.

It's tough to know what to call the larger speakers. As far as I know (and it may just be a lack of knowledge on my part) there is no drop-in replacement. That's very odd about the location for the missing mid-range speaker location.. it means they made a completely different inner panel for the poverty audio system, and a different door card. I can't say I've ever seen anything other than the standard 987 door card

My 987.1 had the changer CD thing in it. It's not the Bose setup. Mine rattled at any volume, so I pulled the panels off and replaced the 8" factory speakers with some 6.5 inch two ways. They sell adapter rings so you can mount a 6.5" in an 8" hole. The two way aspect was robably unnecessary, but it was during the pandemic and they were like $60. I also swapped out the 4" door speakers with some small Pioneers. I haven't messed with any of the tweeters. Found the problem. I have the rear storage compartment, so I bought the rear speaker kit from Suncoast and installed it. That really made it easier to hear it when top down at cough highway speeds. The speakers are alright, I guess, a couple of 4" speakers on each side, if memory serves, but they're really there for their ability to move the sound up and out of the footwells. And finally, I put a Kicker 150W 8" sub under my wife's seat. My Android head unit has a sub output, so I just plugged it into that. It's robust enough that I have terrific bass at cough highway speeds. I play all manner of hip hop and modern R&B, so a big full bass is important. It's all invisible and lives under the passenger seat. But one of the first things I did when enhancing the stereo was to buy some Siles sound deadener. I put it inside the door panels, inside the rear fender liners, behind the carpet behind the seat. I also bought some foam plugs to put into the wells the woofers fit into. It effectively limits the sound coming out of the screen to just the speaker output, not booming sounds out of the door panel. I paid like $50 or something for a roll that will probably do two Boxsters. Total weight is less than 3 or 4 pounds but it really makes the cockpit more civilized and the sound system more effective. Good luck with finding your solution. If there's any interest, I can share links to the the foam rings and stuff. Also: Hey, Don. Let me know if these picture formats are cool here. For the inside of the door card, mine looked like this. I added some sound deadener in a few spots. That foam ring on the door card was pretty well croaked, so I bought some foam speaker rings from Amazon for a few bucks and used those. They included the center section of the ring, so the ring went on the door card and the center piece went in behind the woofer. I didn't put any deadener up where the airbag would deploy. After this photo, I added some more around the 4" door speaker. I just cut it with some big shears and it was peel and stick. If you have your door panels off, I can't recommend the sound deadener enough. I'd go with something thicker than the thin stuff I used. @nine ate seven does your door panel have a wiring lead for the 4"? If so, a few minutes with a dremel and you'd be good to go, I bet.