Hello! I just bought my first
Porsche
last week, a 2005
Boxster S
with the
Bose stereo
and 6 disc CD changer. I am quite happy with the stereo especially once I discovered you could turn surround on high. But I kind of need Bluetooth/
CarPlay
in my life, currently rocking the FM/Bluetooth receiver.
I did a little research and found some things about getting the adapter along with a modern head unit, but I was wondering if its possible to retain the quality of surround sound/multiple channels?
Are there any other features/capabilities or settings I may lose by replacing the head unit?
Hi. I know this is an old post, but wondering if you ever found an answer to this? The
cdr24
/
Bose system
sounds like crap without the surround on and don't want to loose it, but want to replace my head unit...
@AndyCaman06 Yes I did, I added a Rennkit Bluetooth retrofit kit to the system and retained the stock head unit with surround sound. I found absolutely nothing over the last year about retaining surround while adding a new head unit. My approach also happened to be the cheapest solution.
Check out my
post detailing the process
Great. Will look into that. Thanks!
The only other option is to rip out the entire
Bose system
and replace all of the speakers/amp along with the head unit.
Your choice is the retrofit bluetooth kit from rennkit, or a full audio and speaker replacement from the car, to retain surround sound. You do have a middle of the road option with replacing the head unit, and losing rear speakers (not losing much with this, honestly), but still gaining significant improvement in sound quality, plus
apple carplay
and a whole host of other modern features.
to be honest with you, the stock system sounded awful, and maybe bluetooth will somehow alleviate that for you, but even without surround sound, a replacement head unit has significantly increased sound quality in the car for me (even radio broadcast), to the point of I would not consider going back to the factory
Bose system
, ever.
Interesting that a new head unit improved sound quality that much despite loosing the rear speakers. Must just be because of the processing of the audio? I agree that the
Bose system
is definitely underwhelming in this car. I've replaced the entire system in previous cars, but would rather not spend that much money on the
Cayman
. It's not a daily driver and half the time I'd rather listen to the engine anyway.
I'm a bit unclear on what the "surround sound" option is on the
cdr24
, but it seems to be something
Bose
developed that works in tandem with their amp and speakers? Whatever it does, it certainly sounds better than with it off.
I ended up getting one of these Mr12v adapters.
MOST Bluetooth Handsfree Adapter for Porsche PCM 2.0 / 2.1 CDR 23 / 24
. I've only had it in for a few days, but seems to work well, and definitely sounds better than the Bluetooth to FM transmitter I was using. For 180 dollars, I think it's a good solution for now at least, but would be nice to have a new head unit with Android or Apple carplay.
Thanks for all the replies.
I think you're spot on regarding the processing, keep in mind, swapping out a 15+ year old
bose
head unit, with a modern
pioneer
unit. I was of the same thought process originally but really didnt want to sacrifice
apple carplay
Does the Mr12v adapter allow you to make/receive phone calls and hear
Waze
navigation through the stereo while listening to FM stations also? Or does it have to be set to aux (or other) input for you to use the phone features?
See here.......
https://********.com/forums/987-forum/1279373-radio-problems.html#post17818261
Everything you need, keeping Bose speakers & amp........w/new head unit......
GN
