Kuro Neko

My OEM system is Japanese market, and while I've replaced my navi, and the amp-on-trigger with a locally sourced adapter, I've left everything else alone.
At least when I replaced the navi / audio system (Atoto S8) - with some further overview details here.

I've just started replacing the speakers - tweeter now done, and sometime over the next week, will pull the door cards and replace the mid-range and woofers.





I cannot edit my previous post, but to be clear on the Alpine 'C' tweeter set installation:

nate5150

Kuro and WCube,

Depth of Alpine S2-280C 8" driver is 2 5/8" per spec. I came across what looks to be a decent set of 6.5" that are actually 2ohm, these guys here: NVX VSP65KIT2F
Mounting depth is 2.51" so I believe these should fit? Being 2ohm I am not worrying about power levels or further abuse of the ASK amp which I am keeping for now. In future I am highly likely to redo it all. I realize now that BOTH of my 8" factory ASK woofers are blown. I thought it was only the passenger side, but both are toast so I am not going to order OEM exact replacements of the 997 645 553 00.

PART 2

I got my big Crutchfield order last night with my Sony radio, harness, DIN dash kit, etc. For the GROUND (black wire on each harness) am I going to be looking for a spot on chassis behind console stack for a ground and attach the black Sony harness wire directly to that ground and then splice in the black wire from the Crutchfield harness, or do I leave both of the 2 black wires wired nutted together like in my pic and the ground is just going to come via using the Caymans plug that goes to Crutchfield?

Lastly - I am paying someone to do the camera install so I am not worried about the REVERSE IN wire or getting to what Crutchfield calls "23-pin plug (A) at rear control unit under drivers seat". I am also installing from eBay the thing called "DIYBypass Parking Brake Bypass" so I don't have to dick with the parking brake or have stuff locked out if my car is rolling. That leaves only ILLUMINATION and the RED ACCESSORY.

I found this amazing tutorial last night and this guy has located both ILLUMINATION and the true KEY IN WIRE which will turn the radio on as soon as the key goes in which is exactly what I want: Did you get illumination using just the harness wiring or did you also tap into the illumination wire as shown in this awesome guide? https://drivediy.dozuki.com/Guide/Ho...n+Radio/17#s67

Pic of my current harness with the blacks temporarily together which is very likely wrong:

Wcube

It sounds like it should fit just fine, although you'll have to probably fabricate some adapters.

Kuro Neko

Proceeding with my 4- and 8-inch Alpine S2 installation.
Some general notes...



For the T-30 removal, behind the door pull handle, you will need an extension.
The shorty type cannot reach, though fine for the others, including door handle and mid-range screws.



Possibly the hardest removal was getting the cover off the two Torx in the door pull.



Some suggest you push the tab through the hole to remove the door mirror switch assembly, but the socket housing needs instead to be lifted away from the plug - as per above - with a small minus screwstick.



The only way it seems to remove the door cards, is with brute strength...

The plugs themselves are the locking type, but getting a proper tool onto them is near impossible.
They do however seem to be designed to spring away from the door panel, and then you can use the proper tool to remove them from the door.
I managed to break neither the door panel, nor the fixing plugs in the process - more luck than anything I suggest.



Locked position.



Free position.



No wonder the woofers sounded bad, crackly, and rattly.
Really munted!
The foam surround appears to be turning into waxy glue with age, and nothing but replacing would be the option.



Modifying the woofer housing as per recommendation, the polarity is the same as the OEM, so simply soldering the new to replace the old when modified and mounted is easy.



A 2mm hole drilled into the base, will accept the OEM speaker mounting screws very well.
Or, you can use the longer machine screws that come with the speakers, and not sure if the speed nuts would be of any real benefit - even if you could somehow use them.

As noted though, you need the 5mm hex head bolts in the base, before presenting the speakers for mounting.
Unless you want to remove some speaker frame material.
A ball-headed 5mm hex head works just fine though to tighten up the mounting bolts.

The housing, mount, and bolts for the woofers are all heavy duty, so surprised the OEM speaker itself was such poor quality and size.




Old vs. new.



For the 4-inch S2, you break off the un-needed mounting tabs, and carefully re-thread the T-20 into the same pitch previously cut in the plastic.
You can really tighten it up, and the new S2 4-inch fits perfectly.

Unfortunately, there's not enough length in the OEM wiring to re-terminate with new tabs for the Alpines, so instead I used the Alpine supplied tails, cut off the car's connector, and heat-shrunk a soldered connection, re-applying a new length of Tessa tape accordingly.
As an electric engineer I prefer proper connections over vampire taps and other similar ease-of-use stuff.

Finishing off the job, the last step is reinstalling the door cards.
With the locking plugs properly set to open, you can easy hang the door cards from the top ledge of the door.
This is important, as if the locking plugs are all correctly set to open, you should then take your time to get down and look up to ensure they are all properly aligned with their holes.
If they are in the locked position, you will never get the door card properly fixed.

Also, it should be noted that unlike some others, I did not need to trim or modify the door cards at all.
The door card fits over and around the Alpine 8-inch, with the foam compressing around the outer frame with no issues - though obviously a few mm tighter than just up against the speaker frame (with the 6.5-inch mounted inside).



The easiest way to reset locked plugs is with two plug removal tools.

With all plugs unlocked, if you take the time to align them all 100% with their appropriate holes - a flat forked trim removal tool is perfect for this - you can then lightly push the door card home, starting at the top, checking plug alignment, and working your way down and around the bottom.
If the locking plugs are correctly set to open, and aligned with their holes, they simply CLICK into place with only a slight pressure.
If you're having to whack the door card, you're possibly not going to get it on aligned correctly, nor with all plugs locked appropriately.

After a number of futile tries whacking, I took the time to align and was surprised how easy it was.



As to the discussions above on the need for a sub-woofer, I had to turn down the bass, and turn bass boost off, as otherwise the 8-inch S2 Alpines were rattling the glass.
I also had to turn down some of the higher freqs as the Alpine tweeters were just doing too much work as well.

For this non audiophile, the whole sound now is not only much more powerful, but clearly has more depth and clarity across the full spectrum.
Easily one of the more successful upgrades I've performed.



I mentioned somewhere else, I ditched the tacky Android skins for the Atoto too, and just went with the native BT and SD card audio player, telephone, NHK TV, and Navitime for navi.
The faux leather background of Navitime, matching the faux leather on the Cayman console...

nate5150

did you add any dynamat, etc behind the speaker open inside of teh door as well?

Wcube

Beautiful work Kuro. Do you have an amplifier powering the Alpines, or are they running off head unit power?

E39Nutz

I did for the area that is reachable through the hole. I didn’t go crazy and try to pull everything out in order to add dynamat.

Kuro Neko

Correction...
The only way to remove the door cards - without the correct Porsche tool (Nr.9760) - is with brute strength.

Further, removing the plugs in the correct order is a documented need (as is replacing the plugs too):




If you're going to just swing on the door plugs without the correct tool, at least do it in the correct order?

The Japanese market, non-Bose system has an integrated ASK amplifier, and other than the power-on trigger needed from my new navi (adapter shown above), I left the amp in place, and the in and out alone.
In other words, the ASK amp has more than enough response and grunt to drive the 4Ω S2 Alpines.

Here's the non-Bose ASK amplifier config:


I've left the rear wide-band set (same as 4-inch above?) and dash center speaker alone (70mm special size?), as neither appears to be providing much in my sound field, but I might see what options exist there later...

MrMoose

I'm gonna be honest: I've got aftermarket removal pliers just like those and I've never gotten it to work right on the door panels on my 987. By the time I pull the card out enough to see the pin and get the tool on one it's usually just popped out on its own. So I always end up just brute forcing it starting at the lower rear corner. YMMV.

I suggest you get a bunch of spare pins to replace any that break (it's usually at least one or two) and make sure the pins are all in the extended position before you try to reinstall the panel.

nate5150

I am about to be pulling both door cards on my 987.1 very soon and this thread and especially the recent posts are extremely helpful. I did order a pin puller tool from Amazon so we will see if that helps. I will definitely follow the order of removal to see if it helps me. I also ordered 30 replacement clips just in case I break any.

This is the basic tool I bought on Amazon:

Nate R

Great stuff on this thread - thanks for posting.

This car is a 997.2 right? Interested also in replacing the stock speakers. I've already swapped the head unit.

I am getting a very slight hiss from the ASK amp, any ideas on how to mitigate this?

Wcube

Hello Nate, my car is a 2006 997.1, non-Bose. Speaker upgrade is definitely worth it - the bass from the 8" woofers alone is a big difference maker. Make sure you order the Alpine component speakers for both the 8" and 4" for the fronts. You'll end up with a couple of unused tweeters, but the system will sound a lot better.

Scb1712

I’ve been following this thread too and it’s excellent. I’ve got a Bose system but can’t see any reason why these speakers wouldn’t also work in a Bose system. I don’t have the budget to go with Focals, especially after the $2k to upgrade to the PCCM+. The extra tweeters you refer to would end up going in the stock Bose centre location if I’m not mistaken.

Wcube

Thanks for this - I didn't even tackle the center dash speaker yet, so a tweeter there to match would make sense. I'm going to investigate. Kuro, what did you do with the center dash speaker?

MrMoose

On the non-Bose, the center channel is kind of a weird sized ~2.5" full range speaker (at least, on the 9X7.2). Mine was trashed from the sun but I couldn't find anything aftermarket that would drop in.

Ended up using the Sundown Audio SA-2.75 FR V2 ($60/pr). It's a full-range speaker that fit with some modification: it's okay in X and Y but way too deep. I used a Dremel with a 90-degree adapter and a cutting bit to *very carefully* cut away the plastic under where the speaker mounts to make room. Then I ground the mounting holes on the speaker inwards about 3mm and was able to mount it using the existing holes, screws, and cover plate.

Suncoast has the OEM dash speaker if you just want to replace it like-for-like. If you're playing anything with 5.1 audio then putting a tweeter there would not be a good idea. For standard stereo, though, I'm not quite sure how that speaker is utilized so not sure what the impact would be.