997.1 PCM upgrade done
07-04-2021, 09:02 AM
#1
Track Day
Thread Starter
997.1 PCM upgrade done
A year long project of mine is finally completed. TBH I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you really want to make this a budget upgrade. Just wait until PCCM+ is out on 2022. Unfortunately, I ordered first parts like a week before the announcement, so here I am - with new head unit from Pioneer.
The project actually took a couple of days to complete. Getting all the information together and making decisions was the hard part. So I leave here some notes, maybe some poor soul like me finds it useful. As I did going through pretty much all the threads here. I’ve not done any audio work on cars before, so some of this stuff was new and confusing for me.
I have a 2006 997 with PCM 2.1, without Bose, 9 speakers, no sub-woofer, steering wheel controls, phone. Relevant options list:
- 490 Sound system A.S.K.
- 431 Multifunction steering wheel, smooth leather
- 665 PCM 2 Porsche Communication Management incl. CD-radio
- 666 Telephone module for PCM
- 670 Navigation module for PCM
The main goal for the upgrade was to get a bluetooth hands-free system in place. I’m a bit of an audiophile, but don’t really expect to enjoy high quality audio while driving my 997, specially after the gundo hack. However, my wife’s keen to talk to people while going sideways, so something needed to happen.
I considered TranzIt Blu, but decided against it due to mixed reviews over sound quality. Also looked into Dension bluetooth adapter (GW52MO1) which was pretty promising. But dated look of the PCM and being used to Apple CarPlay tilted the decision to a full upgrade. However, everything needed to remain easily reversible to factory setup.
So I ordered:
1. Connects2 CTSPO005.2 - from ebay
2. Metra 99-9606G frame - from amazon
3. Pioneer SPH-DA250DAB - from amazon
First important discovery was that in addition to Connects2 harness you may need something to connect steering wheel controls to the head unit. Fortunately the Connects2 harness I purchased included it (CTMULTILEAD.2)
Second surprise came during installation when I discovered that in order to connect the radio antenna you need a FAKRA to DIN adapter. And obviously *after* purchasing one it turned out that in order to make the FM radio work at all, I need to power the antenna somehow (PCM powers it directly). So I blew a fuse trying to figure that out (don’t ask). Second trip to the local electronics shop gave me the correct thing. I wired it to the ignition power (red) in the Connects2 harness.
Third surprise: factory mic does not work. Not sure how I convinced myself this also comes out of the box with the Connects2. Luckily the mic which came with the Pioneer unit was discreet and with a good base, so I was able to tape it to the class, above the mirror, close to the roof console. Looks decent and discreet.
Stuff didn’t end here. Pioneer connection had a 2m long handbrake wire which I quickly snapped. Only to discover that modern head units force you to wire this correctly to allow all functions, like watching content from usb of configuring some settings. The unit I got was on the cheaper side, so it didn’t have the more complex protection where you have to pull the handbrake on, off and on again. Managed to get around it via grounding the wire.
There were couple of other small annoyances when selecting the head unit. Like figuring out which models do and do not support splash screen changes, background image changes etc. The SPH-DA250 doesn’t support splash/boot image change, but in theory supports custom background images. In reality the image storage to device absolutely ruins the quality of it, so that feature is pretty much unusable.
The biggest surprise however came after everything was wired up and in place: the stock speakers are an absolute garbage. No low end what so ever, stuff under 150Hz is pretty much not represented at all. Mids are not balanced and highs sit in a weird place. After moving everything back a bit and fiddling with 13band EQ things got bearable, but far from what I hoped. 911 is not really built for music, I get that. I was just a bit surprised how bad the experience from that sound system is compared to what I had in 957 or now in 958.
So I guess the next round is a speaker/amp upgrade.
The project actually took a couple of days to complete. Getting all the information together and making decisions was the hard part. So I leave here some notes, maybe some poor soul like me finds it useful. As I did going through pretty much all the threads here. I’ve not done any audio work on cars before, so some of this stuff was new and confusing for me.
I have a 2006 997 with PCM 2.1, without Bose, 9 speakers, no sub-woofer, steering wheel controls, phone. Relevant options list:
- 490 Sound system A.S.K.
- 431 Multifunction steering wheel, smooth leather
- 665 PCM 2 Porsche Communication Management incl. CD-radio
- 666 Telephone module for PCM
- 670 Navigation module for PCM
The main goal for the upgrade was to get a bluetooth hands-free system in place. I’m a bit of an audiophile, but don’t really expect to enjoy high quality audio while driving my 997, specially after the gundo hack. However, my wife’s keen to talk to people while going sideways, so something needed to happen.
I considered TranzIt Blu, but decided against it due to mixed reviews over sound quality. Also looked into Dension bluetooth adapter (GW52MO1) which was pretty promising. But dated look of the PCM and being used to Apple CarPlay tilted the decision to a full upgrade. However, everything needed to remain easily reversible to factory setup.
So I ordered:
1. Connects2 CTSPO005.2 - from ebay
2. Metra 99-9606G frame - from amazon
3. Pioneer SPH-DA250DAB - from amazon
First important discovery was that in addition to Connects2 harness you may need something to connect steering wheel controls to the head unit. Fortunately the Connects2 harness I purchased included it (CTMULTILEAD.2)
Second surprise came during installation when I discovered that in order to connect the radio antenna you need a FAKRA to DIN adapter. And obviously *after* purchasing one it turned out that in order to make the FM radio work at all, I need to power the antenna somehow (PCM powers it directly). So I blew a fuse trying to figure that out (don’t ask). Second trip to the local electronics shop gave me the correct thing. I wired it to the ignition power (red) in the Connects2 harness.
Third surprise: factory mic does not work. Not sure how I convinced myself this also comes out of the box with the Connects2. Luckily the mic which came with the Pioneer unit was discreet and with a good base, so I was able to tape it to the class, above the mirror, close to the roof console. Looks decent and discreet.
Stuff didn’t end here. Pioneer connection had a 2m long handbrake wire which I quickly snapped. Only to discover that modern head units force you to wire this correctly to allow all functions, like watching content from usb of configuring some settings. The unit I got was on the cheaper side, so it didn’t have the more complex protection where you have to pull the handbrake on, off and on again. Managed to get around it via grounding the wire.
There were couple of other small annoyances when selecting the head unit. Like figuring out which models do and do not support splash screen changes, background image changes etc. The SPH-DA250 doesn’t support splash/boot image change, but in theory supports custom background images. In reality the image storage to device absolutely ruins the quality of it, so that feature is pretty much unusable.
The biggest surprise however came after everything was wired up and in place: the stock speakers are an absolute garbage. No low end what so ever, stuff under 150Hz is pretty much not represented at all. Mids are not balanced and highs sit in a weird place. After moving everything back a bit and fiddling with 13band EQ things got bearable, but far from what I hoped. 911 is not really built for music, I get that. I was just a bit surprised how bad the experience from that sound system is compared to what I had in 957 or now in 958.
So I guess the next round is a speaker/amp upgrade.
