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Congrats on the car! I just bought a 2004 Turbo cab and have my 2003 Full aero kit cab for sale! Lots of threads on here! do a search. matters what stereo is in there now double din or single MOST or not do some reading on here. I replaced my single din with a Kenwood system and amp with a backup camera. Did it myself not too hard but time-consuming. Now I have to do the same with the Turbo! I'm in Albany and go up to Lake George all the time!
I am also looking for some current suggestions. I did a search, but nothing consistent comes up. the car currently has a none Bose system and would like to upgrade to a unit that incorporates both a backup camera AND GPS. I am not looking for an audiophile system, but nice sounding would be great.
System/unit suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
https://cai-store.com/
Start here for ideas install instuctions and install kits. They are high end but offer lots of help. Buy the actual system somewhere else. If you plan on self install these are the best! Crutchfield is also good.
You may be somewhat limited due the ongoing global supply issues. I would strongly recommend wireless apple car play/android auto. Not having to take your phone out of your pocket is (to me) priceless. I went with a pioneer a AVH-4500NEX about a year ago. Waze navigation, Spotify and pandora for music and voice control for everything including text makes this car as good or better than something brand new.
Me and the youngest installed it and the backup camera in about 3ish hours (I wrote a reasonably detailed how/to for the backup camera, but there are plenty of great resources). I installed the USB from the radio in a storage compartment and rigged a wireless charger as well so it took a little longer.
I did end up having to replace the original speakers with the kit from cei (blew out one of my originals going fast with the top down). The original speakers are paper cones and mine hadn’t fared to well over the past 20 years. I went with the cheap kit which works good enough for me but is nothing near audiophile quality.
This is my unit installed. The red disk is the wireless charger.
If I were to do it all over I would seriously consider the Porsche classics radio option. It adds all the modern features (carplay, etc) but keeps the same aesthetic. I had a high end Kenwood in my 996 and I absolutely hated it.
The downside with the Porches Classic is no back up camera. Which I'd like. But maybe with Park Assist (back up sensors) the camera wouldn't be needed.
Back in 2005 I upgraded my 2000 986 original single din Porsche factory Becker CDR 220 with the Becker Travel Pro 4763. It was an easy upgrade and made sense at the time. It was OEM equipment, had Porsche printed on the face and upon turning on the radio flashed PORSCHE on it. The installation and more photos can be found here . . .
Fast forward to 2021. There are so many more options than there were 16 years ago. My recently acquired 2000 C2 Cab originally came with the Becker single din CDR 220, but the previous owner upgraded to the double din Pioneer AVH4000NEX. This is an older unit but it has all the modern features you want to include Bluetooth, backup camera, video playback, remote control, hardwired USB port (which may be used to install a wireless charging pad), Sirius/XM receiver, Pandora, but most importantly Apple CarPlay. You could hook up an external NAV unit but with CarPlay there is no need. For those that don’t know, Apple CarPlay essentially transforms your head unit into your smart phone. I stream my Sirius/XM app via my head unit, use AppleMaps from my touchscreen head unit. Though I don’t have it installed, there is an optional rear view camera option.
I certainly recommend getting a double din unit with features similar to the one I have. As for installation, it is doable by a DIYer, but personally if I had to install one today I would have a good respected audio shop do it for me. Overall this is a great setup for my car, I’m very satisfied with it.
My 986 Becker TravelPro 4763 GPS head unit. Circa 2005
The Pioneer AVH4000NEX which came installed in my 2000 C2
Last edited by RG Najarian; 11-19-2021 at 10:12 AM.
If I were to do it all over I would seriously consider the Porsche classics radio option. It adds all the modern features (carplay, etc) but keeps the same aesthetic. I had a high end Kenwood in my 996 and I absolutely hated it.
For anyone wanting to go down the PCCM+ route for the 996, I highly recommend reading through the long thread on the install which is capturing issues folks are running into with installing this unit. There are some extra parts that must be ordered that the kit does not come with and depending on the options your car came with things can get a little more expensive than just the headunit itself.
I have thought about the PCCM+, but for what it is, when you add up the total cost, IIHO, it's not worth it. Yes, it does look stock and fits right in to the interior scheme, but that's all it has over the aftermarket. And for 1/2 the money you can install a more robust and capable set up.
I have looked at BOSS, Pioneer, Alpine and others. CarPlay is key, but I would like to have a separate GPS capability, not dependent on my phone. Not a must, but a really nice to have. I'll do some more research and see what I can come up with.
11-18-2021, 08:44 AM
