So, like Rpompea, I am sitting at the airport bored and figured id post an update on the car and seek advice.

First off I had to sell my racing seats and roll bar as it upset the balance of the universe when my wife could no longer take the boys in the car

On the plus side I used a bit of that money to pick up some used up hollow spoke turbo twists. *Woohoo! Will be sanding them down and refinishing them black.

That means I'll be selling my technos soon. *I found out something interesting about technos by the way. *They are actually very lightweight because they too are hollow spokes. *They are NB offset but I have spacers for the rear as well.

Not planning any other track mods, just seat time (unless I stumble upon some secret stash of cash and buy some PSS10s or something). *Did L1 foundations of road racing course at Driveway Austin yesterday and it was amazing! *

So, about the radio...

First off, I HATE HATE HATE how aftermarket radios look. *Because of this I've never had aux in. *Every vehicle I've had I just suffer with an FM modulator. *Well my favorite POS modulator finally died and I have jus had all the 8track quality music I can stand.
I bought a*Pioneer AVH-P1400DVD which is a very reasonable price and lets you set the color to orange to match the rest of the car. *It has aux in as well as pandora control! *Also bought the eurospeed kit that apparently comes with everything I need for the install.

Now the speaker question. *Has anyone used an aftermarket amp with the factory bose sub?

I have the Bose system and for now will just be bypassing the amp. *I think in time I'll replace all of the speakers but until then, I'd like to just power the stock sub somehow.

 

I'm in the middle of upgrading my stereo ('03 C4S with Bose/MOST) and I'll be using a Alpine PDX-5 to replace the Bose factory amp and power the the factory Bose speakers and sub. The amp can handle the low ohms of the Bose speakers, but it is my understanding that the sub (2 small 5" subwoofers) speakers will have to be re-wired in series to have the 2 or 4 ohms (not sure) needed.
Naturally, I'm replacing the head unit as well, and like you I don't care for the "aftermarket" look most have. The double-din units are certainly better than most of the single-din. So, I purchased a Kenwood DDX-419, as this unit fit my needs. I also purchased the Euromotorspeed kit for installation. Having said that, I still want a custom install that can look somewhat OEM. This is tricky! I've seen some nice Double-din installs that look about as close as it can to factory. The 996 is a little tougher than the 997.
So, I decided to take it up a notch and took my NEW Kenwood apart and got rid of all the logos, filled in the embossed "Kenwood" and replaced it with a "Porsche" logo and painted the whole thing Arctic Sliver! I just finished it last night.



The reasoning being is that my car has the painted center console and seatback options. So, while I'm not a fan of painted parts scattered around the interior, I thought I would bring it up the center console and hopefully create a nice "tied-in" factory look. Of course this could go horribly wrong, in which case I'll have to come up with another idea!

I've already done the other interior parts needed to complete the project. I'm now at the point of trying to find a capable installer, to complete. To give you a better idea, see the pic below. While it looks a little hap-hazard right now, I was just testing the look and also didn't want to leave my dash apart.





As you can see, I also took apart my HVAC unit to paint the face. I wanted more than just the surround trim done to give it a custom/factory look. It will naturally move it down to the slot above the batwing. The new AC trim and upper cubby storage have been painted, already. This "should" tie-in nicely. I recently painted and installed new dash strips (horrid job!!!!!) and will paint the "horseshoe" surround. That's the only piece left to do.

My plans are to use a "piano black" surround trim around the radio, to match the buttons/**** on the Kenwood. I also think it will match better with the finish on the slide out cupholder and switches in the horseshoe. My final touch will be a small Bose logo emblem (like on the speaker grills) right below the radio on the piano black trim. It's silver/black and hopefully with fill-in any "blank" space on the trim. Plus, give it a "factory" look to match grills/sub.

I'll probably post a new thread on the install, when complete. I'm still a little nervous on how it will look, when complete. I felt a little better after finishing the radio, last night. Plus, I'm pleased with how my painting has come out. This would have been a lot more expensive, had I had someone paint all this trim.

So, like you, I hope I end up with "decent" sound, factory look, and minimal cost. I don't need "audiophile" quality in THIS car, it's just too loud. Like most, I just want some updated features.

Good luck with yours! Dana

 

Can you explain what it is about the speakers (not the subs) that require a specific type of amp? I have read that a few times and am confused. Will the amp built into most head units not power the speakers correctly or something?

 

Yes, it is possible but you need the schematic specs of the factory radio and amp wiring. My factory amp died and I didn't want to spend $900+ just for a replacement amp.

I also installed the Alpine PDX-5 in place of the factory Bose amp. I also bought the factory harness from a shop in England (about $50) so it was pretty much a plug-n-play once you figure out the wiring.

My Bose system is the 2003 with the MOST system so the factory headunit was tied into the amp. I did the install last year, but I recall having to change the Bose subwoofer speaker wires from parallel to series to accommodate the ohms (increase them). I eventually replaced the Bose subwoofers with McIntosh speakers used in the Ford GT and made by Aurora so I put the wires back to parallel.

I also lined the entire Bose box with Dynamat.

The Amp's sub out runs the Bose subwoofer, the Alpine headunit runs the dash speakers. The four remaining amp's outs runs the doors and rear panel speakers.

Overall, it is better and cleaner. I also have BT audio, handsfree phone and an ipod connector all for the less than the cost of the factory amp!
Here are some pics:

The plug is the factory one coming out of the firewall fabric. The $50 factory harness clicks right in. There will be many wires from the harness that are unused.

 

The main thing is that the factory Bose speakers are only 2 ohm. I think most head units are probably 4 ohm. Also, the head unit may only be 2 or 4 channel without a separate sub out. The right aftermarket amp will have these features.
But, as you can see Jeneric996 ran his front speakers off the head unit. Not sure if the ohms matched up in his set-up, but obviously a good head unit will have enough built in power to push the speakers. I'm far from an expert in this, but there are plenty of threads that delve into these issues in-depth. Try "bose ohm" in the search bar and you'll find some good info.

 

Madclubman made me think and so I pulled out my old notes. I am using the Alpine headunit to run a set of speakers BUT they are the rear panels (not the dash speakers). I originally had the Alpine headunit running the 2 dash speakers and the 2 rear panel speakers and no other speakers. It sounded pretty bad so I added the PDX-5.

The factory speakers' ohms are about 2 for the each dash, 2 for each of the door, 4 for each of the rear panel and 1 for both the subwoofers. If you put the subwoofers in series, the ohms will increase to 2.

The PDX-5 is set: front channels are set on "off" and run the front dash speakers.
The rear channels are set on "low" and run the door speakers.
The sub channel runs the Bose sub box. The hard part was setting the crossover points and levels.

I used a Metra 70-1787 to tap the headunit to the factory harness.
and the Autoleads PC2-95-4 to plug the amp to the factory harness where the factory Bose amp belonged.

I hope this helps.

 

Just purchased the autoleads pc2-95-4 to help replace my MOST based cdr-23 and Bose amp. I noticed a lot of what appears to be leads the run to the head unit area for speakers. I was planning on using a JL audio amp instead. Any tips on using that connector? Haven't tried but do you know for sure it fits in a 2003 996 turbo with the amp connector? I guess I will know soon enough even if no one replies as I will start disassembling the factory system soon. Also have the euromotorsport head unit mounting kit. Any tips or gotchas on the wiring or installation would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

It should work. You need to find the schematics for the Bose amp to see each connector. You won't be using many of the connectors/wires that comes with the harness. You then run the amp wires to the new harness and then into the factory Bose harness.

 

dotframe, what year is your C4S?

 

Thank you! I found the schematic posted somewhere as an image. I will have to find the post again and assure it is for the 2003 Bose amp. Pretty sure it was. After I do that I will post it here for everyone on the thread.

On the harness - I was surprised at all the wires for the speaker connections (and the length!) great tip on that. I'm in the US and used amazon UK to order (seems its only available in the UK). Thanks for that tip!