My big decision is to go for stock PCM or aftermarket installation. I was originally going to for aftermarket after learning PCM seems to leave a lot to be desired, but have not beem impressed with the bezel/finish of the aftermarket installations I have seen here.
Does the PCM have preouts to hook to an amp? Can the nav be updated or will it be out of date in a few years? It looks nicer though.
It does not have preouts. Only line level for front and rear. It would need eqaulizing with something like the the JL Audio cleansweep.
You should be able to update these nav systems for at least a couple of years after they move to a new version of PCM. Nobody has made any guarantees however.
For the money they charge for the DVD map updates, i m sure they will continue to make it, as the cost is minimal to produce.
Hozer,
I caution you about the Porsche sounds systems. They stink. If mobile HiFi is important to you, a Porsche may not be the car. You are
in
the car with the engine - strike one. The best place for speaker placement is occupied by the engine -- strike two. Porsche has not designed an aftermarket friendly system -- strike three. I scratch my head in wonderment at the hundreds of dollars guys are spending to improve their Cayman's sound system. If you can hear clean fidelity over the engine note, you have your volume too loud and you are damaging your ears. The base system or the Bose will allow you to play music, hear it, recognize it, but not enjoy it as you would at home. Believe me, I used to be one of those guys. I had the first CD player head unit Alpine ever made, It was the bane of my existence until my shop replaced it with a next gen unit. I had custom enclosures made for my Mustang, amps, equalizers, Boston Acoustic seperates. I had a mobile frickin' night club. In the end, I traded my Mustang in less than 2 years for a Bronco. I put in an even badder system that could crank out enough for a beach party when I had the top removed. Sold that Bronco a few years later and bought a Prelude. When I got out my car stereo folder and added up all I had spent on this "stuff" on the previous two cars that I didn't even have any more (sold for pennnies on the dollar), I was sick. There is no radio delete option on a Porsche. If you want nav., get PCM (better yet get a Nuvi), if not the CDR-24 works. Listen to another Cayman with a system in it that you want with the engine revving at 4 or 5 grand. I think you will see that you can' beat the real soundtrack that you paid all that money for in the first place.:soapbox: And now I can enjoy the weekend.
Dave
I love the sound of the engine and most of the time that will be fine.
But occassionally I want some pretty good sound too. The problem with the PCM is its so limited. Does not even play MP3 on cd...how lame. So I have to add a Denison I guess. Now am up to 4500 for the upgrade.
You are right though, very difficult to aftermarket this car with something good. I am VERY concerned about the look of many of these aftermarket systems, especially the bezel for them. The more I look, the more I dislike it and want something cleaner looking.
THe cdr-24...seems OK, but it makes it look a little cheap. A nice LCD screen seems to give it that touch that you did not spare an expense (which I am not). Wish they would have done the same setup as the 911...I dont like how these things make the cayman look cheaper.
As far as your comment about porsche systems...is the one in the 911 better? Porsche website seems to suggest it would be more powerful.
This is absolutely incorrect. The PCM will indeed play both MP3 and WMA encoded files. I use Media Monkey to create MP3 CDs all the time, get about 90 tracks on a CD at 320K bit rate. Using WMP11, I can create WMA CDs with over 200 tracks by down converting the bit rate to 192K. Both work great and obviate the need for a CD changer. I also have the Dension gateway so it's my iPOD that gets all the work now.
You are right. I was watching a video on the porsche website and it said it could play MP3. I got my info from the dealer who was obviously incorrect. The PCM is starting to look a little more attractive now. THe lack of preouts kind of scares me though.
+1. There's never been a Porsche w/a decent factory sound system. They all suck. Obviously, that's not been a priority. Heck, it's only in recent years that Porsche engineers were arm twisted by marketing to design cup holders. That act was blasphemy for many Porschephiles, but welcomed by my wife.:kiss: Still, I'd like to be able to install an aftermarket head unit to play MP3s for the few times I turn on the radio, but if that's a trade-offs to drive this, I can live w/it .
Different strokes.
The last thing I want to see in my sports car is a TV screen. I dislike the look & the wasted space. With just a few, no added weight concessions, if it wouldn't make the car perform better or enhance driver control it didn't get checked on my option list.
Have you noticed on the Porsche site that the option for Boes on 911 is about $1400 and also states a 350W or something like this? I think it may be a higher power system. I would opt for this in the Cayman, but I think the Bose is going to leave me wanting more. THe nice thing about aftermarket is you have room to expand if your needs are not met.
I really dislike how Bose makes things proprietary and difficult to work with after the fact. I could understand it if they were using some great technology or something, but their stuff is average.
Aftermarket wise there awre inline converters that will do the job of preout. I have the PCM (wouldn't have ordered it, but bought the car used)mI ended up spending about 4k on sound system upgrades (mind you almost 3k of this was on labor...no non-factory holes, all wires braided, metal brakets for amp, etc)
I should probably post some pics of this system....it didn't cross my mind to do it until now.
