When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I know there is an events section but I've seen other local threads so hopefully this is okay. If not, just delete it. I've had a number of folks that live in the Portland area ask about my Kline exhaust or some other aspect of the Spyder they wanted to see. On Sunday, March 13th, I'll be down in Portland at Musicar having one of their reference upgrades installed. It is now part of an Avants club event where they are offering a facility tour, a closer look at some of their signature projects, etc.
If you live in the area, or close by, stop in to say hi. If you are one of the folks curious about some of the upgrades done, I'm happy to let you hear or see whatever you want on the car.
We had the event this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. I ended turning it into a weekend escape with my youngest Son. Avants did a great job creating the TechEd and the Musicar Northwest crew did a fantastic job of hosting and installing the system with a big audience watching them work. I put a full write up of the event on my car journal for anyone interested in more details - https://911maniac.com/2022/03/15/mus...-bye-bye-bose/
Most here are already familiar with these upgrade options but for those that aren't, Musicar offers 3 stages of upgrades for our cars. Stage 1 replaces the tweeters which can make a huge difference by themselves. Stage 2 replaces the tweeters and the underpowered Bose amp. It adds a more powerful amp, a digital signal processor (DSP) and sound deadening to the doors. Stage 3 replaces all of the speakers and uses a different amp appropriate for that setup. Nick and I both felt that for my use case, a convertible where the top is almost always down, Stage 2 would have the best bang for the buck.
The specific components in the Stage 2 kit are:
Morel Elate MT350 tweeters. Beautiful soft dome tweeters.
Audiotec-Fischer AMP/DSP with 10 channels and a total output of 580w.
The built in DSP allows Musicar to fine tune the system for each car and customer.
A MOST interface enables the clean integration with the Porsche PCM system.
Various sound deadening materials are applied inside the door, on the door and the door panel as well. I view this as a critical part of the kid and really transforms what those Bose speakers are capable of.
A custom lightweight mounting bracket for a clean installation.
While the system likely adds about 10-15 lbs of weight, I didn't really care about that. I've got a lightweight battery and honestly, I'm the biggest liability in terms of weight in the car.The installation was really straight forward and took less than two hours. The tweeters drop into the factory locations after removing the oem mounting. This is a somewhat destructive process so a bracket of some sort would be needed to revert back to Bose. The doors come apart easily, and the seat comes out with a few bolts. They needed to remove the 8″ driver in the door to install the sound deadening. They found some mistakes from Porsche (a grommet was not properly installed and some screws were loose), and everything went back together very easily. The AMP/DSP/MOST interface all get installed in the same oem location where the Bose amp lived, neatly tucked away under the passenger seat. It was fun to watch the guys work, and they did an incredible job. They took the time to protect the car and it was cleaner after the install than it was before. Nick has posted more detailed, step-by-step photos of similar install processes on Rennlist here and a Stage 3 install here but here are some photos that I took with many more on my blog.
Fueling up for the trip from Seattle to Portland
All the equipment about to go into the Spyder
Tuning station
Nick explaining the process
Time to install!
Sound deadening going inside the door, on the door and on the door panel. Rattle free deep bass.
Fixing some Porsche mistakes along the way
Thankfully Porsches go back together as well as they come apart.
Bose tweeter
Soft dome for the win, especially in a car where the glass makes things harsh already.
Morel is dropped in
The amp/dsp and the MOST interface packaged up in a custom bracket.
Tucked away neatly, never to be seen again. There is a USB cable for more tuning down the road.
I'm blown away by the transformation from this stage 2 kit. I had high hopes but was somewhat skeptical that it would be transformative...I thought maybe a nice incremental improvement. It's like they swapped the Bose for a totally custom system. So much more detail, better separation/soundstage, tight bass, deep bass and so much more volume. As we took turns in the drivers seat to demo the system, each person had this surprised joyful look on their face. The ROI on this upgrade for a music lover is easy to justify in my opinion. Before I left, Nick was able to create a custom tune for the Spyder so hopefully that helps others that have a Boxster or Spyder and want to go this route.
Sheri (Avants Portland Director) when the bass hit for the first time...an expression we all shared as we took our turns.
I'm just enjoying the music while Nick creates the Spyder tune.
I'm happy to answer any questions that folks have about the Stage 2 upgrade from an owners point of view. @TXshaggy , if it isn't too much trouble, can you update the title of this thread now that I've shifted it from this event to more details on the system? Perhaps "Musicar Stage 2 upgrade from Bose in a Spyder" or something like that. Thanks.
We had the event this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. I ended turning it into a weekend escape with my youngest Son. Avants did a great job creating the TechEd and the Musicar Northwest crew did a fantastic job of hosting and installing the system with a big audience watching them work. I put a full write up of the event on my car journal for anyone interested in more details - https://911maniac.com/2022/03/15/mus...-bye-bye-bose/
Most here are already familiar with these upgrade options but for those that aren't, Musicar offers 3 stages of upgrades for our cars. Stage 1 replaces the tweeters which can make a huge difference by themselves. Stage 2 replaces the tweeters and the underpowered Bose amp. It adds a more powerful amp, a digital signal processor (DSP) and sound deadening to the doors. Stage 3 replaces all of the speakers and uses a different amp appropriate for that setup. Nick and I both felt that for my use case, a convertible where the top is almost always down, Stage 2 would have the best bang for the buck.
The specific components in the Stage 2 kit are:
Morel Elate MT350 tweeters. Beautiful soft dome tweeters.
Audiotec-Fischer AMP/DSP with 10 channels and a total output of 580w.
The built in DSP allows Musicar to fine tune the system for each car and customer.
A MOST interface enables the clean integration with the Porsche PCM system.
Various sound deadening materials are applied inside the door, on the door and the door panel as well. I view this as a critical part of the kid and really transforms what those Bose speakers are capable of.
A custom lightweight mounting bracket for a clean installation.
While the system likely adds about 10-15 lbs of weight, I didn't really care about that. I've got a lightweight battery and honestly, I'm the biggest liability in terms of weight in the car.The installation was really straight forward and took less than two hours. The tweeters drop into the factory locations after removing the oem mounting. This is a somewhat destructive process so a bracket of some sort would be needed to revert back to Bose. The doors come apart easily, and the seat comes out with a few bolts. They needed to remove the 8″ driver in the door to install the sound deadening. They found some mistakes from Porsche (a grommet was not properly installed and some screws were loose), and everything went back together very easily. The AMP/DSP/MOST interface all get installed in the same oem location where the Bose amp lived, neatly tucked away under the passenger seat. It was fun to watch the guys work, and they did an incredible job. They took the time to protect the car and it was cleaner after the install than it was before. Nick has posted more detailed, step-by-step photos of similar install processes on Rennlist here and a Stage 3 install here but here are some photos that I took with many more on my blog.
Fueling up for the trip from Seattle to Portland
All the equipment about to go into the Spyder
Tuning station
Nick explaining the process
Time to install!
Sound deadening going inside the door, on the door and on the door panel. Rattle free deep bass.
Fixing some Porsche mistakes along the way
Thankfully Porsches go back together as well as they come apart.
Bose tweeter
Soft dome for the win, especially in a car where the glass makes things harsh already.
Morel is dropped in
The amp/dsp and the MOST interface packaged up in a custom bracket.
Tucked away neatly, never to be seen again. There is a USB cable for more tuning down the road.
I'm blown away by the transformation from this stage 2 kit. I had high hopes but was somewhat skeptical that it would be transformative...I thought maybe a nice incremental improvement. It's like they swapped the Bose for a totally custom system. So much more detail, better separation/soundstage, tight bass, deep bass and so much more volume. As we took turns in the drivers seat to demo the system, each person had this surprised joyful look on their face. The ROI on this upgrade for a music lover is easy to justify in my opinion. Before I left, Nick was able to create a custom tune for the Spyder so hopefully that helps others that have a Boxster or Spyder and want to go this route.
Sheri (Avants Portland Director) when the bass hit for the first time...an expression we all shared as we took our turns.
I'm just enjoying the music while Nick creates the Spyder tune.
I'm happy to answer any questions that folks have about the Stage 2 upgrade from an owners point of view. @TXshaggy , if it isn't too much trouble, can you update the title of this thread now that I've shifted it from this event to more details on the system? Perhaps "Musicar Stage 2 upgrade from Bose in a Spyder" or something like that. Thanks.
Last edited by Jeff Jones; 03-17-2022 at 02:55 AM.
We had the event this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. I ended turning it into a weekend escape with my youngest Son. Avants did a great job creating the TechEd and the Musicar Northwest crew did a fantastic job of hosting and installing the system with a big audience watching them work. I put a full write up of the event on my car journal for anyone interested in more details - https://911maniac.com/2022/03/15/mus...-bye-bye-bose/
Awesome report, thanks very much for sharing. Exciting to hear you notice so much change going from BOSE to stage 2 Musicar. I can't wait to receive and install my stage 3... going from basic standard equipment! (not even BOSE in my car).
Very nice! I'm looking forward to my Stage 2 Musicar upgrade whenever it gets shipped. Can you expand a little on what they fixed Porsche got wrong in case the rest of us want to follow suit? Also, is that the stock Bose woofer and midrange in the door?
Very nice! I'm looking forward to my Stage 2 Musicar upgrade whenever it gets shipped. Can you expand a little on what they fixed Porsche got wrong in case the rest of us want to follow suit? Also, is that the stock Bose woofer and midrange in the door?
You are going to love it. Yes, Stage 2 leaves the stock Bose speakers in the door and I didn’t upgrade them. With more power, the dsp and sound deadening, it’s amazing how much better they sound. In terms of speakers, the tweeters are really the weakest point.
There were two main issues they fixed. On my drivers side door, the grommet where the cable comes out of the door looked to be missing. It had actually fallen into the door cavity somehow. They fixed that for me. They also went through every screw on the door and door panel and tightened them up. Many were loose and could lead to rattling.
03-03-2022, 03:30 PM
Musicar Stage 2 upgrade from Bose in a Spyder
