I installed one of Musicar's Stage Two upgrades over this past weekend for a Seattle based client and decided to photolog some of the process to share. This is all a plug and play setup and the install took me a total of 3 hours, even with a bit of distraction and casual conversation. I could have likely done it in 2 hours with extreme focus.

Here's the car:



Here's the Musicar Stage Two setup:

• Upgraded Tweeters
• Acoustic Treatment for Doors
• MOST150 Audio Gateway
• Premium 10-Channel DSP Amplifier

I decided to start with the most involved portion, the sound deadening in the doors. This is actually a really easy task, it just takes the most time. Removing the door panels is as easy as unclipping three hardware-covering plastic panels and removing 4x T30 screws. The panel actually just slides up off the hooks on the door. A quick disconnect of the main wiring harness and door pull and the whole thing is done — 3 min tops. Here's a video walkthrough:

You Tube

The next step was cleaning off all the surfaces with alcohol and then applying the materials. The inside of the door gets tiles of CLD(constrained layer damping) that adds mass to the panel and lowers resonance, allowing the woofer to produce tighter bass output and more of it. It also helps suppress a bit of road noise, but that advantage is somewhat stymied in a Spyder. Once that material was applied to the inside of the door(along with two acoustic tiles behind the woofer) I applied the pre-cut SoundShield pieces to the door card and the panel. These really help with rattles by adding positive pressure between the two hard surfaces.













With acoustic treatment done and doors reinstalled it was time to move onto the tweeters. For that, the grilles/vents had to be removed on the far left and right of the dash. Usually these are pretty painless but this car actually gave me a run for my money — the clips were extremely tight. I had a Porsche vent removal tool but I'm always worried about slipping and destroying the whole vent. Instead, I just got underneath the leading edge with my pry tool enough that I could get a firm grip around the sides of the assembly. Wiggling left to right while pulling back towards the rear of the car eventually released both vents without issues. With the vent out I pulled the factory tweeter out of it's clip-in mount and disconnected the wiring. Sitting it next to the new Musicar tweeters really shows how different they are and how much of an upgrade it is.









To install the new tweeters I had to first remove the plastic "cradle" for the original tweeters. This is something that wouldn't exist if the car was optioned with Burmester. It's pretty easy to remove with a bit of proper technique. If you watch this video:

it shows that process. On this car I was actually able to remove both assemblies in one whole piece, which was awesome. No searching for lost bits in the dash. Once those were removed I installed the speed nuts into the factory positions, plugged in the tweeters and screwed them in.











Tweeters. Done. Onto the DSP amplifier.

The factory BOSE amp is under the passenger seat so we have to start by removing that from the car. It's a fairly simple process but the LWB make it slightly more difficult since I can't lean the seat forward to get to the rear two bolts easier. There are a total of 4x E12 reverse Torx bolts holding the seat in with the from two under a plastic cap that slides forward after you release the small tab on top. At least in this case the added difficulty of the LWBs is offset by the convertible top which makes it a lot easier to physically remove the seat once it's unbolted/unplugged. Once the seat's out it's easy to access the Bose amp under a perforated flap in the carpet.







With the amp accessible it's as easy as 3x T25 and 4x 10mm bolts holding the amp and bracket in place. I actually don't even need to remove the T25's all the way since the OEM mount and the Musicar mount are both slotted, so they'll slide out of position with the screws just a bit loose. The main wiring harness is a slide-lock connection and the other is a MOST fiber optic connection. Both of these have very easily identifiable positions in the Stage Two amp/module setup, so I got those plugged in, bolted the T25s down and installed the supplied Toslink audio cable between the amp and MOST module.









Quick push of the volume button on the PCM to turn it on and test to make sure we have sound. All Checked OK so I reinstalled the seat and that's that!

Sat in the driver's seat and listened to a few reference tracks to make sure the sound was on par with expectations. As I suspected, the soundstage is pinpoint, the detail is amazing and the presence in the bass is impressively tactile. As may of these as I install and listen to, it never ceases to amaze me at just how great this setup sounds with mostly factory speakers.

 

Had this done in my BGTS.

Can't tell you how happy we are with the upgrade. even with top down,enough power to drive the music. Fantastic system.

 

Can’t wait for mine!

 

Great photos and explanation. If you ever wanted to visit Los Angeles I bet we could line up a few customers here to make it worthwhile (like me!).

 

Always thrilled to hear some positive feedback — glad you're happy with it!

If you set 'em up, I'll knock 'em down — I'm in SoCal quite a bit and wouldn't mind a day of playing with P Cars.

That said, this is totally doable in your garage with limited knowledge and tools. We designed it as a very DIY'able upgrade.

 

Nick, will there be any group buys this year as well?

 

I am actually comforted by the fact that a seasoned pro also struggled with these side vents. Mine were a total bear and the driver's side actually separated into the two component parts as I wrestled with it. At one point I even resigned myself to having to buy a new vent because the force required to get it out was extreme. The problem is that in order to release the vents from the dashboard the vents need to be pulled rearward, so popping the bottom lip up with a pry tool doesn't actually release anything. All it does is give you an edge to grab onto so that you can pull. And pull you will.

The contortion of the leather as you pry against it is also hair-raising. So much so that I ended up using a small putty knife against the leather so the pry tool didn't gouge into it. People with little to no mechanical aptitude should not attempt this IMHO. Too much risk of damaging what I can only imagine is a $5000+ part.

 

Potentially for our release on the Macan or 992, but nothing planned for 718 or 991.

I actually told the owner of this car that I was hoping they would be a struggle.

I've had a small handful of people reach out to me complaining about how difficult it was and until this car I'd never ran into one that took my lunch money. There's a tool from Porsche that's made specifically for this task, but if you don't get the perfect grip on it you'll slip and bust out all the vent louvers, so I don't think it's a good option for DIY — it even makes me nervous enough not to use it majority of the time.

I just had to get enough of a grip around it that I could shimmy side to side with rearward pressure. Perhaps one of those grippy mats for removing jar lids would help *shrug*

 

Hi Nick,

I am interested in the Stage 2 or 3 for my Spyder. Called your shop, left you voicemail and sent email.
Please let me know availability and cost. Thank you.

 

I'd be interested in his Bose parts if he/she is selling them.
Your system looks amazing but more than I'm after.

 

If I upgrade, I'll be keeping my Bose parts.