Hi all,
Can I have a few question to the car audio experts here?
I have a 2007
Boxster
987.1
Base with SPP. It's original head unit was replaced by the first owner to a newer - but now seriously outdated - double-DIN
Kenwood HU
which I want to replace with a modern one. Until yesterday I could not hear any sound coming from the passenger side door speakers (both subwoofer and mid-range), so I took it to a car audio shop to see if it was the speakers or the ASK amp. When disconnecting the amp connector and putting a small
battery
to the wires, I could hear crackling from both subwoofers AND also there were wires that made the mid-range door speakers crackling. Am I right that this is strange since originally the mid range speakers should be powered by the head unit and not the Amp. Also, when reconnected the amp connector, the so-far silent door speakers worked again. I think I can hear sound from the tweeters but probably not from the center dash speaker.
1. How could I make sure which speaker is connected to where? OK, I remove the HU but probably there will wires and connectors everywhere...
2. Is it possible that the current head unit is re-wired that it sends both subwoofer and mid-range outputs to the ASK amp and the tweeters are coming directly from the HU? Maybe sacrificing the middle dash speaker?
3. I plan to replace the current HU with a new one, probalby a
Kenwood
DMX7722DABS or maybe the ebay android type. Can I leave the current - presumed - setup as it is now? Can the head units split the preouts, whether they are connected to an amp or directly to the tweeter?
Sorry, if any/all of the questions are dumb
Tamás
In my experience, many aftermarket installs end up doing crazy things that may not make much sense. In other words, there's really no way to know what was already done, and how it was installed, without just going in there and figuring it out wire by wire.
Before you jump in, though, you can see if changing the fader and balance settings work properly - in other words, set it to full-front, then move it left/right - see if that tracks correctly from left to right. While there, you can see if all the speakers are working properly as well. Basically, isolate the speakers to the 4 quadrants to see what happens.
From there, you'll get an idea of what was wired properly or not. Once you get behind the HU, you can use this info to identify which speakers are connected where, using the original HU manual and color coding. You may get lucky and see a proper adapter used, preserving the original
Porsche
connector. Or, as I usually see, someone cut off the
Porsche
connector and you're going to have to wire manually. You never know what you'll find.
I have a
Pioneer
in my
987.2
with
Bose
. I can see the copper wires peeking out from the side of the center console in a few places, so I can only imagine what they did back there. I have left it alone, to-date, because I expect a mess back there. Mine is functioning well enough so I didn't want to make a big project of that yet (I have other projects to tend to!)
Feel free to take pictures and show us what you find... we may be able to help better that way...
Good advice. Also, it might be useful to have the
987.1 wiring diagrams
(pdf file). I found it around here somewhere years ago. If it can't be found I can upload a copy. That will help sort out the original wiring if they cut and spliced on the previous install. Might also help to have the
Kenwood
installation manual to understand the wiring.
BTW,it is common for the center speaker to be abandoned when installing after market head units since most don't support it in the mixer/fader.
Speaking of aftermarket installs, here's a perfect example of the type of stuff I have seen, as well:
https://www.planet-9.com/threads/ever-think-you-should-leave-well-enough-alone.255714/
This is why I left my Pioneer aftermarket alone, as I mentioned. I totally expect to see something like what that thread shows behind my dashboard as well. My car came with a Bose system, but its clear they did not use the Bose amp for the main speakers because I can see the speaker wires peeking out... so who knows what's back there.
My stereo works well enough... so I left it alone so far. Maybe I'll get back in there and see what I can clean up, but it's not a priority since it's all working reasonably well...
In your case, if you can get another HU that's the same brand and has the same connector on the back, that might be your best bet, because you probably can unplug the old one, and plug in the new one. However, this doesn't always pan out, since newer radios may not keep the same plug... but it's worth a shot.
As for the speaker not working, I would expect to see wire nuts and electrical tape like in the example above, which may have come loose. Bottom line, you're not supposed to see that mess when installing a car stereo...
Here is the wiring diagram for your ASK SPP (
987.1
specific) system with amplifier/headunit connections:
If the ASK amplifier isn't working, or not getting an input signal from the headunit - the low frequency door speakers and the center dash speaker will not work. The midrange door speakers and the outer dash speakers should work because they get their signals directly from the headunit. The "rear" speakers are in the Cayman. They don't exist on the Boxster unless you have a very special package that converted the rear storage housing into a speaker housnig (still available from Suncoast Porsche.)
So it's very puzzling to me (1) why your midrange speakers in the doors aren't working (2) where you found the connector for the midrange speaker on the ASK amplifier (unless Porsche just brought it to that connector for convenience..) to connect your battery to (that is a valid test - sparking the a 1.5-9V battery across the speaker connections should cause noise from the speaker if the wiring is good and the speaker voice coil is good.)
In your case - the ASK amplifier is located in the FRUNK behind the fuzzy panel and inflator stuff mounted to the front of the fuel tank bulkhead. On the 987.2 - the amp does much more (powers ALL speakers) and was moved to under the passenger's seat.
Note - that the signal from the headunit to the ASK amp is a full-range speaker level output. The ASK amp input is designed for that signal level. The ASK amp has a frequency filter in it to block audio above the range the larger door speaker works best with. The smaller door speaker has a simple capacitor used as a high-pass filter to keep low frequency signals from those speakers (which can't reasonably handle them at any significant level.) The dash speakers are midrange-tweeters and again, use a simple capacitive filter.
You may want to skim through:
https://www.planet-9.com/threads/di...adunit-to-replace-the-standard-cd30-radio-and-probably-the-pcm3.253949/#replies
- it's long - but it has a LOT of info in one place on how the cars are wired up, with each different system (and the system wiring does change in 2009 987.2, just like the engine and PDK..)
Let is know what you find out...
Tamás - first - W
elcome to Planet-9, the Friendly Porsche Forum Where Even Dumb Questions Are Valued!
And an apology - in my reply above - I missed answering your carefully numbered questions. And I LOVE numbered questions.. so here we go (and none of them are dumb..)
Most aftermarket headunits have little tags on each wire indicating what it was used for - there will be ones labeled "Speaker, Right- Front" "Speaker, Right-Rear" - etc - something along those lines. One hopes that the installer connected them to the correct wires on the old wiring harness. IF you are really lucky - they didn't hack off the connectors to the original headunit - and in that case - we have info on what wires/pin numbers do what. The other thread I referenced has that info in it. If you buy the AliExpress unit described in the other thread - it comes with a plug-and-play (almost) harness that would hook to the original headunit connectors and no rewiring would be needed.
That's what we hope - chances of this happening are slim, but it's worth a look.
Anything is possible when someone else has done work in the system - but I don't think that's the case since you said when you reconnected the ASK amp the door speakers - all of them - started working again. If you reference the wiring diagram. Unfortunately - my AllDataDIY subscription is for the 987.2 - and the audio wiring is different, so I can't tell you color codes too easily so you can check it. I think you'll have to go by the battery test - in this case - with the ASK amp powered on - try using the battery on the inputs to it and see what speakers respond. If wired as above - the low-frequency speakers and the center dash should respond (I hesitate to call a 7.5" speaker a "subwoofer" - it goes down to about 100Hz and is very not effective below that. Subwoofers generally start at 100Hz and go down to around 20Hz.)
That question is difficult to answer since we don't know how things are now wired up, or what the capabilities of your replacement unit are and what outputs it has. Again - the AliExpress is easy IF the wiring harness connectors haven't been hacked off - disconnect all the crappola that's now connecting to the harnesses - and plug the AliExpress in (you have to possibly make one manual connection to power on the ASK amp - or maybe not - see the long other thread..)
I'm sure if you bought and took the AliExpress unit to an aftermarket audio shop after purchasing it on line they'll refuse to do anything with it. They don't want to warranty their work on a unit they're unfamiliar with, and they'd miss the roughly 100% markup they make on selling you a new headunit (besides the charge to install it - ever wonder how BestBuy can install for "free" - it's not free, they're just taking it out of the markup.)
Hope that helps. Let us know what you find behind your current headunit - we can hope it's a not too damaged stock wiring harness/connectors.
THank you for the thorough reply, you are very kind.
