I have being reading a lot of post the last couple days, regarding stereo upgrades..., and It is very strange that, I only see upgrades options with Focal speakers 100vs 4" and 5WS woofer(no other speakers alternatives...??????) it is because this brand of speakers are the only exact fit...? or the only ones with good quality...? or the only ones recomended by the experts...? anybody out there has upgrade the audio of any 996, and use a different brand of speakers and different brand of amplifier (different than audison or phoenix gold..?) of course, for an upgrade without changing the stock interior look of the car, thanks in advance

 

It all depends on what you want and are willing to spend. For just a basic upgrade to get reasonble sound, you can use other speakers. I used the existing amp and headunit, but swapped speakers to Infinity Kappas for front/rear/side and Focal 5WS for the subs, with an Alpine sub amp. I think there are many possible choices for the front/rear/side speakers, but if you are looking for stock look, I didn't find any other 5 inch woofers that were decent, so the Focal 5WS might be the only choice there.

 

I am in the process of upgrading my 996 and it seems too that Focals are what the shops are recommending for factory replacement fit and finish with the best sound possible. There are other options I assume but the 1st choice seems to be Focals out of the installers mouth that I have seen. check out Mike Birch at caraudioinnovations.com. He suggested Focals for my upgrades but is also a nice guy and happy to anwser questions via email on stereo upgrades for Porshces.

Rob

 

Here is what I had in my previous C2:
Boston Acoustics Pro series 6.5, Mid bass in doors, 4.5 mids and tweeters in dash all in stock locations. Powered by JL Audio 300/2 amp
10 inch JL audio sub on custom built MDF rear deck, powered by JL Audio 250/1 amp.
Both amps were mounted on a carpeted MDF board in the trunk, as were the quite large BA crossovers. Sound was great, would add another sub and amp for more bass, and probably another 4.5 component set for the rears

 

I upgraded my system about 2 months ago. I did not want to go craxy but I have a pretty nice system at home and could not STAND the crap system in my 99 c2. Here is what i did and it sounds pretty good imo.

1. changed out the front dash and rear speakers with focal 4.5 inch coaxials- perfect fit, great sound, not insanely expensive.
2. changed out the side door mids with focal 5ws subs- these are UNBEATABLE for a 996. they are a direct fit (if you have the hi fi option) and sound amazing for their size. they move a good amount of air and do not sound distorted or "boomy"
3. changed out the factory amp to a planetaudio 6 channel 4 channels run the dash and rear speaker. one is bridged to run the subs
4. changed out the head unit to an eclipse avn 2454 (gps/nav/dvd/cd/sirius with dsp/dolby pl/dts)
5. installed an eclipse 6 cd changer

all said and done- everyhthing looks stock, sounds far from stock and it was not too hard to do.
hope this helps.

 

I used Dynaudio speakers in my upgrade. It was their 3 way speaker system. The installer put the tweeters and midrange in the dash and the woofers in the front doors. They did have to do a slight modification to the dash speakers to make them fit in the factory braces. I also used a Dynaudio 10 inch woofer in an enclosure in the rear. For amplification I used a JL Audio 250/1 for the sub and 2 Arc Audio amps for the rest (one two channel dedicated to dash and the other a four channel connected to the door speakers and speakers behind the front seats). i also had installed an Eclipse competition equalizer to allow me to play with the sound as I please. Focals are very good speakers. Dynaudio is just as good, perhaps a bit smoother to my ear, but they are harder to find.