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.
Bose Head Unit Replacement in a 997S for under $150 and in 30 minutes or less....
Hello All,
I recently purchased my 2007 997S and one little annoyance has been the 1990s style head unit that it came equipped with. That said, I did like the sound from the Bose speakers and amp.
After looking at the laughable prices some of the vendors were charging for doing a MOST HUR ... a head unit replacement while retaining factory Bose amplifier and speakers... I decided to see what other options were out there.
First I selected a head unit that had to meet my criteria. This is up to individual preference so feel free to skip to the next step. For me I wanted a HU that...
1. Play DVDs because I still have some that I like
2. Play SD cards because I am an android guy and I have a ton of movies and songs on SD cards that I also like copying from disk to disk in different cars I have.
3. Bluetooth phone integration
4. Must have a ****! Lol I hate pushing buttons for volume control.
As you can see I really wasnt picky in what I need. As I was browsing Crutchfield I came about the Blaupunkt San Jose 120 for the oddly low price of $129.
Its odd because I had been shopping in the $400 range for Pioneer and Kenwood units but they actually didnt play SD cards or USB sticks. So I took the plunge on it. You may have other particular interests such as having a HU that gives you CarPlay or AndroidAuto or built in navigation. Crutchfield is a great resource for browsing headunits.
Next I needed a MOST HUR device to grab the optical digital signal from the Bose amplifier. This is the important part. This is what allows you to retain the factory BOSE amplifier and speakers. I was pleased with the sound of the BOSE stereo and I am absolutely certain I do not want a shop hacking into the factory wiring, door panels, etc on such a nice vehicle.
The only MOST HUR devices I had read about though were several hundred dollars and this was just not acceptable to me. So a search on ebay revealed units in the $70 - $99 range. The device I purchased was found on ebay for $79....
edit: I see there are people out there trying to stick it to the porsche owners now charging $200 and more for this adapter that was being sold for $79 to others. Total bummer. Here is a $129 one I found...
Now all that was needed was a basic install kit for a double DIN head unit. This again was something I had seen advertised for a couple hundred dollars from some retailers. I ended up going with a $20 Metra one. I got mine from Crutchfield for 20 bucks and I see they are available separately from Best Buy for around $30...
I also splurged and paid Crutchfield 20 bucks for them to wire up a plug and play harness for the car stereos power wires so I can have easy non invasive removal when I sell the car and the stock head unit goes back in.
Installation was a breeze. I'm completely clueless when it comes to electronics. So here is what i did...
1. When removing my old head unit I followed the YouTube videos. I made sure to zero out the fader and put the volume around 50% when you disconnect the unit.
2. Plugged in the "plug and play"' harness from Crutchfield which was probably even an unnecessary splurge. The harness literally connects only the small power harness from the car that has all of 4 wires on it to the new aftermarket head unit. I believe they are a battery power wire, an ACC wire, and a ground. There may be one other.
3. Soldered the 3 following wires from the MOST HUR box into the corresponding harness wires.
-Black went to black for ground
-Red went to red for accessory power
-Yellow went to yellow for battery terminal power
4. Plugged the Bose digital optical (two orange optical cables on the same plug) from the car into the MOST HUR box.
5. Plugged the red and white composite audio cables (two of them - one L and one R) into the composite audio LF and RR jacks on the back of the aftermarket receiver.
6. Plugged the red wire from the harness that connected the ACC power from the stereo and the MOST HUR box into the fuse box of the car on an ignition controlled fuse. I used fuse B9 - telefon fuse.
PRESTO! done... and it actually works!!!
Sound is excellent and I now have a nice touch screen head unit with Bluetooth, the ability to play DVDs, media sticks, etc.
Does the fader control work with this MOST-HUR adapter? The NavTV version does not - you set the front to rear fade before installing and you are stuck with that setting.
That’s great to see your good experience with the cheap MOST adapter. So it all worked as expected straight away?
Thanks. Yes no issues at all. It's completely plug and play.
Originally Posted by semicycler
Does the fader control work with this MOST-HUR adapter? The NavTV version does not - you set the front to rear fade before installing and you are stuck with that setting.
To be honest I've never messed around with my fader or balance controls but I'm sure that this unit is just like the nav TV version. Honestly I would not be surprised if they're built in the same Factory in China. I did make sure that when I disconnected my factory radio all the balance and fader settings were zeroed out and the volume was somewhere in the middle.
Everything continues to work well. I checked and the balance control from L to R works fine with the MOST HUR unit but just like all of the units, the fader control does not work. If you fade to F the volume goes down completely and fade to R gives you full speaker volume. Keep it zeroed out and make sure your factory unit is zeroed out when you disconnect.
Also I get a slight pop from the speakers when I turn off the ignition. This appears to be because the aftermarket stereo is turning off before the Bose amp has had time to power down. It would probably be an issue with any MOST HUR unit and many other traditional aftermarket installs that work with separate amps. The solution is to have the amp (MOST HUR box) direct wired to the ACC to shut off immediately and then run the head units ACC line on a delay diode/circuit so it delays ever so slightly shutting down AFTER the amp does.
Its not a huge deal but if you want it perfect, that may be something you want to do.
Looks great. But you will loose the special functions that are built into the Porsche PCM.
You probably do but I've never used any of them. The only thing I can think of is seeing the lap timer on the PCM which is pretty useless anyways. You can use a better app like Harrys lap timer.
I did same on my 997.2s and love it... went with app radio and I do miss the ****, but not a big deal... also installed a backup camera that cost me very cheap ... it did cost me more as I could not find the MOST HUR cheaper... but worth it.. .I also used a cheap double din kit that cost me less than $20... and dont miss anything from the PCM3 that I use anyway... well done
Right on man. I thought about something like this but I didnt know if it would be reliable and how the return policy would be so I stock with Crutchfield. Maybe I'll take the plunge one day...
Can you retain the steering wheel controls? I have the Dension installed but for <$1000 to add a full nav, backup camera and better Bluetooth I would consider it.
09-22-2017, 09:27 PM
Bose Head Unit Replacement in a 997S for under $150 and in 30 minutes or less....
