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 didn't think I'd wind up using Pandora predominantly, but it's slick and it just works. Fire up the car, the stereo and the phone do their thing and music I like appears.
I feel the same way! I listen to Pandora 99% of the time via my Kenwood DNX891HDB. (I picked this up used for $250!)
i am confused if your car had MOST fiber optic on it
how can you connect to the speakers from the head unit ? did you tap into the speaker cables in the amp harness ? meaning making the connection to speakers not in the center console but in the front trunk ?
and is crutfield actually selling the harness for this 'hack' ?
I ran the microphone up and out of the drivers visor and clipped it on there. It sounded great and looked good but when I flipped the visor down it would catch. So I took the mic housing off to expose just the mic and put it in the stock dash location.. A little air gap in the front and sealed from behind but people have a hard time hearing me.
Im going to run it up door pillar and leave it hidden behind the plastic I think that will sound alot better. If you've put yours there let me know how it sounds in a call.
I ran the microphone up and out of the drivers visor and clipped it on there. It sounded great and looked good but when I flipped the visor down it would catch. So I took the mic housing off to expose just the mic and put it in the stock dash location.. A little air gap in the front and sealed from behind but people have a hard time hearing me.
Im going to run it up door pillar and leave it hidden behind the plastic I think that will sound alot better. If you've put yours there let me know how it sounds in a call.
Mine is mounted just to the right of the visor clipped to the front edge of the headliner. It works great.
i am confused if your car had MOST fiber optic on it
how can you connect to the speakers from the head unit ? did you tap into the speaker cables in the amp harness ? meaning making the connection to speakers not in the center console but in the front trunk ?
and is crutfield actually selling the harness for this 'hack' ?
Not sure if this was directed at me (the OP) or not - but in my case, no, thank God, my '99 is not MOST-equipped. I had enough of that crap with my '03 Boxster.
The Crutchfield harness was not 100% perfect, but had I read the included documentation more carefully (the docs actually included a note that the '99 wiring was slightly different for the +12v constant v. switched leads), I would have avoided pulling it back out and swapping those two wires.
Just installed a Kenwood KDC-599 ($109 at Crutchfield). Was skeptical it would help, but wanted the bluetooth for both the phone and music. Made a huge difference. Sounds so much better. Will be updating the stock speakers next.
Phil, let me be straight up with you. Unless you really hate the sound of the speakers or if one of them is malfunctioning, I wouldn't mess with the Bose speaker system. Those things are acoustically matched for the interior of the 996 coupe and are some of the best speakers money can buy. Your system is a 12 speaker/6 channel system that includes a Bose sound processor (i.e. eq), and subwoofer (behind the rear seats).
Those things are acoustically matched for the interior of the 996 coupe and are some of the best speakers money can buy.
I'll admit that the Bose components are better than what you get in, say, a base Kia or Scion, but I take exception to the claim that they're some of the best speakers money can buy. They are under-driven (25 watts? SRSLY?) paper-cone, foam-surround speakers that are not significantly different or better than anything installed in ANY car in the last 30 years. Those 11.4CM "subwoofers" - that's a whopping 4.3" driver - make decent bass for a speaker that size thanks to the enclosure - but it's still a 4.3" driver. You need to move a decent volume of air for solid bass reproduction; that just doesn't happen with a 4-inch driver.
The volume at which the whole system distorts is pathetically low, and the 2-ohm setup means that unless you especially WANT to spend money on low-impedance speakers, the amp needs to come out as well. The speaker wiring is a rat's nest of splits and parallel wiring that makes no sense for anything except the stock setup; unless you're ABSOLUTELY sure you understand the wiring and can make it work for a 4- or 8-ohm configuration, just cut it all out and pull decent wire.
The Bose setup in my '96 Corvette - with discrete amps built into each speaker - is light years ahead of the MOST rig my Boxster had and even further ahead of the non-MOST setup in my '99 Carrera 4.
Bose is the Mobil1 of audio equipment: Porsche includes it with every car, so it MUST be incredible. Right?
I must disagree. Phil, your speakers are 13 years old, very basic paper cone drivers with aging surround foam. They can fail anytime, especially if overdriven with distortion. Bose is known for its psychoacoustic trickery and I am guessing that the amp, but unlikely the speakers, are EQ'd to match the interior of your car. I heard Bose speakers in cars with updated aftermarket head units and amps and they sound better than stock but still crap. A midrange 5 channel amp such as Kenwood Excelon X801-5 and a set of modest two-way speakers, such as Hertz DSK-165-3, Focal R130-S2, JL or Infiniti, will set you back ca. $400 (without labor). Putting new speakers into the door panels is simple if they are 5.25" and not much more work to fit 6.5" (better mid-base). Tweeters are easy to mount on the dash panel, many DIY instruction on this forum. Ignore the rear panel speakers since they are mono and only fill in. If its your first time installing car audio, it will take you probably half a day and require simple tools and little dremeling. If you don't want to cut into the wiring harness but use the existing speaker wiring, the Autoleads harness for the Bose amp (from Amazon UK, ca $60 incl. delivery) is highly recommended.
Its a fun and rewarding project.
I'm sure if someone wanted to they could have the stock H. / U. Electronically modified to incorporate Bluetooth, wi-fi, etc. ...May not make $$ sense but it could be done.
That would give the fit and finish of OEM with modern functionality.
09-14-2016, 03:09 PM
?
