Sony XAV-AX5000, Seicane MOST installed in 987.2 with Bose

(affiliate links included) My 2011 987.2 came with the PCM 3.0 with Bose , Nav, USB, iPod connector, XM, CD, and Bluetooth. I hated it. -Nav system was outdated -Bose sounded mediocre -No backup camera capability -Bluetooth only worked for calls (not streaming) -No streaming through USB It had to go. I wanted something better, but most of the new aftermarket head units look like the illegitimate love child of Elton John and Optimus Prime. (How's that for a visual?) Sony offers a few conservatively-styled models - the XAV-AX100, AX200, and AX5000. AX100 - Has a VOLUME KNOB! Best thing ever. However no DVD/CD player, has a resistive touchscreen, and laggy at startup. AX200 - Similar to AX100. Same knob, but has a DVD player, XM ready, and upgraded in several other small ways. AX5000 - Has a physical toggle button for the volume (booo) but has a capacitive touchscreen and very little lag at startup. I chose the AX5000 because I read on the internet (so it must be true) that a capacitive screen has less issue with reflection glare - which is particularly important in a convertible. Plus I thought the startup lag on the AX100 would drive me nuts. I bought mine from Crutchfield. Excellent service, every time. Here are some supplies I used - American International POR911 faceplate kit in black - Fit, texture, and color were perfect for my 2011. There are four mounting tabs that hold the kit inside the dash once the radio is installed. BREAK OFF THE TOP TWO TABS before installing. Those two make it really hard to get the kit out if you ever need to pull the radio in the future. The kit comes with installation screws, but they did not fit my radio. The radio included its own screws though. Metra 40-EU10 antenna adapter - worked great. On my OEM radio, there were several plugs that were quite similar but different colors - blue, yellow, black. The black one was the radio antenna. Metra 70-9003 wiring harness - Worked great - See below for more info on wiring it up. Posi Products wire taps - Cool idea. I used these to tap into the illumination wire behind the dash. Solder-seal wire connectors - I just used a lighter to gently heat the solder and these worked really well. Very easy. Backup camera - Good picture, small, and easy to install. This model has two wires that can be cut to change the output. One wire causes the image to reverse. The other adds the guide lines for backing up. Since the AX5000 has both those features already, I left the wires alone. I installed the camera with the power coming from the ACC, so it is on anytime the car is on. I had to run a power wire back to the camera for this. I wired it that way because the AX5000 allows you to monitor the camera image even if the car is not in reverse. I also ran the video cable from the camera to the head unit, and it includes an integrated turn-on wire. This connected between the reverse lamps on the car and the camera turn-on wire of the head unit. Grand total cost for everything I needed was about $600. Since my car has Bose, I used a MOST adapter. I bought the Seicane adapter off AliExpress . Usually this means waiting a month for the item to be shipped over on the slow boat from China, but in this case Seicane had a US distribution point. I had it in less than a week for less than $100. Sweet. DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL BEFORE STARTING. You will want to read the CAI write-up on installing a radio in a 987. https://cai-store.com/pages/997-boxster-cayman-radio-installation Wiring is only mildly complicated and not difficult. FYI, the large black connector at the back of the OEM radio has a little bucket handle lever. You pull up on that and the connector will pop off the back of the radio. I started the install by running a heavy gauge wire from the fuse box using a fuse tap at position B9 . This means the radio will have power whenever the key is inserted. This will be the ACC wire, since the 987.2 does not already have one behind the radio, aside from the one mentioned in the CAI write-up. I preferred to run my own, but do whatever you like. Coming from the rear of the car, we have the power wire to the camera (connecting to ACC wire) and the video cable with integrated turn-on wire. The Seicane adapter has two RCA plugs that go into the back of the head unit. It also has wires for ACC, 12V constant, and Ground. ACC went to my newly-installed ACC wire, and the other two wires were connected to the Metra harness at the appropriate pins (just match the wire colors). There is also an input for the two fiber optic cables. Easy. I used double sided tape to attach the MOST adapter under the head unit. The AX5000 wiring harness has a bunch of speaker outputs I did not use. It also has 12V constant and Ground, which get connected to the Metra harness at the same place the Seicane adapter connected. ACC wire goes to the ACC wire I installed. So far, this doesn't require any thought. The AX5000 also has other wires - Parking brake wire - This is to prevent you from screwing around with things on the radio while driving. You're supposed to connect it to the parking brake wiring, but I just grounded it to the Metra harness ground wire. Problem solved, and I'm free to be as distracted as I would like while driving. Illumination wire - This tells the unit to dim the display when the car's lights are on. If you pull out the HVAC panel (as seen about 2/3 down the CAI write up) you'll see an electrical connector at the back of the cubby that has a grey/red wire. Use the Posi Products Wire tap to tap into that wire. You don't need to unplug it like the CAI write-up says if you use this wire tap. Back-up camera turn-on wire - Attaches to the red wire integrated inside the backup video cable. Get ready, the next step is the only one where you may need to think. Remote turn-on - This turns on the antenna booster, and your radio reception will stink if you don't do this. From the AX5000, it is a blue wire with a white stripe. It will connect to the white wire at position A14 on the OEM harness. (See the diagram in the following post at ******** - https://********.com/forums/997-forum/960475-change-amplifier-ask-by-bose-system-2.html ) Study that diagram until this makes sense. You can use a Posi Products wire tap if you like, because the Metra harness does not have a pin at position A14. However, there is a better work-around. The Metra harness is full of unused wires for speakers, so you can transfer one of the unused wires over to position A14. Stick a tiny screwdriver or safety pin into the connector from the prong side to release the prong from the Metra adapter. Then use your fingernail to re-bend the little metal catch back into position, and then re-insert that wire into A14. If you succeeded in transferring the wire to the new position, you should use the same technique to remove all those other unused speaker wires. They'll only be in your way. FYI - I did not use any wires from the blue or green OEM harnesses. Double-check all your wiring, and then re-connect the battery. Get ready to cruise in style, dude! PROS - As for the AX5000, I'm very pleased. Android Auto works better than I thought it would. The system has minimal lag, boots up quickly, and is fairly intuitive. The white backlighting is an excellent match for the dash lighting in my 987.2. The screen is quite responsive. The MOST adapter works well and is seamless. It has a double-DIN screen but offers single-DIN volume behind the dash to stash all the wiring. The sound is noticeably more crisp than the OEM radio. CONS - NO CUSTOMIZED BACKGROUND. (Sony, you have lost your damned mind.) The AX100 and AX200 have that, but the AX5000 does not. In fact, you won't find much at all in terms of customization, other than being able to change your reverse camera backup guide lines in about 15 different ways. The microphone is mediocre. I mounted mine on the underside of the rearview mirror, pointing at my face. It sounds like it is a hundred miles away. The AX5000 has two USB cables coming out the back. One is for USB flash drives only and the other is for flash drives or smartphone use. I bought a flush-mount dual USB connector so I could have a couple USB ports on the dash - instead of having actual USB cables hanging about. Great idea, since the USB port will PERFECTLY fit in the hole left by the 12V outlet in the passenger footwell. No modification necessary. However, in my case the extension port would not work with Android Auto, even though some reviewers on Amazon said it worked for them. I plan to replace it with a single port and just use that for the USB flash drive. I'll just run a cable from behind the dash for the smartphone. I hope this is useful to someone.

Thanks for the great write-up - it'll be very helpful for me this winter when I replace my stock Bose system . Kevin

Great write-up. The Sony was on my shortlist of head units when I installed one recently, I ended up going with the Kenwood DMX905S which is really similar. How do you like the stock Bose system overall? I wasn't a huge fan of it so I ended up replacing everything rather than just the head unit.

For me, sound quality was not the primary motivator for the swap. It was functionality. My main goals were to get the back-up camera, to use phone-based Nav, and the ability to stream music/podcasts/audiobooks from my Android phone. I'm somewhere in the middle between luddite and audiophile. I can't stand the sound of satellite radio or non-HD FM, but I also don't need anything fancy or high end. I thought the Bose sounded okay before the change - not great, but certainly good enough. After the new head unit, it sounds better to my ear but not orders of magnitude different. Installing the MOST adapter, instead of swapping out the amp and speakers, is a compromise. For the $100 cost of the adapter, it was a compromise I was willing to make.

Great write up! Think this installation would work in a 987.1 with Bose ?

I think the vast majority of the info will apply, but the wiring plugs at the back of the radio are different on the 987.1 . This means the wiring harness adapter will be different. Check with Crutchfield for the correct wiring adapter and faceplate adapter for your car. The only only other thing I can think of that will be different will be the reference to the antenna booster wire at pin A14. Obviously it won't be at A14 on your car, since the plug is different. I think it may be A-5 for the 987.1 , based on this diagram: http://www.tehnomagazin.com/Auto-radio-car-connector/PORSCHE-Car-Radio-Wiring-Connector.htm And here's another write-up specific to a 987.1: https://www.planet-9.com/987-cayman...lpine-ilx-107-wireless-apple-carplay-install-using-longate-most-stock-bose.html

By the way, as a 3 week update - I still like the XAV-AX5000. Screen glare is a non-issue, even in direct sunlight. The microphone isn't as bad as I originally thought. Android Auto works well on the head unit, although AA is still a little bit buggy on the phone side of things. I do find myself longing for a volume knob, as I've noticed that I need to adjust the volume often with the top down and the Sport Exhaust enabled, but I'm getting more used to the rocker switch as time goes by. The head unit is responsive and theback-up camera works great.

Thanks for the write up. I’m currently considering the XAV-AX100 as a replacement for the non- BOSE CDR30 in my 2010 987.2C. I’m trying to avoid running an external microphone though. Is there a reason you didn’t wire the car’s built in microphone up to the AX5000? Not sure on the PCM 3.0 , but it looks like pins C8 & C9 on the CDR30 https://www.planet-9.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=321

The only reason I didn't wire it up to the original microphone was that I didn't know it was possible. If someone can provide a how-to, I'll happily follow that route.

I’m by no means an expert, but I can’t see why this wouldn’t work... If I go ahead and purchase the unit and get this working I’ll provide a write up.

Are there a third party volume controls that can be hiddenly installed somewhere near the steering wheel?

If you have a CD changer in a swap like this what do you do with it? Do you leave it in or disconnect everything and remove it? It has a fiber optic connection too so I don't know if removing it screws anything up.

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I realize that this post is a few years old and I am hoping to resurrect it in order to ask a few questions. First, I would like to thank you for taking the time to write this up with great detail and to provide some very helpful links. I am considering doing the same installation in my 987.2. I had a few questions that I am hoping you might address: 1. My car is set up with Bluetooth for the phone. Is the current Bluetooth part of the PCM3 unit, or is this something that you had to bypass so as not to create a conflict with the Bluetooth on the Sony unit? 2. Did you lose any functionality with any of the features of the computer toggled by the lever on the steering column? 3. Did you plug the RCA jacks on the MOST unit into the front outputs on the Sony unit? 4. Did you set fader control to center and volume control at approx. 50% before removing PCM3 (I have seen some posts that indicate this)? 5. Have you encountered any long-term problems as a result of breaking off top tabs on installation kit (looseness, rattles...etc.)? Thanks for any time that you might take to address these questions or share any additional insights. This is a great write-up and I am gaining confidence that I might be able to take this project on