satelles

If I only want to replace my PCM unit with the Sony, is it basically plug and play?
Will the steering wheel controls work or do I need some sort of adapter?
Will the lighting/usb connector attach to the existing USB port in the center console?

thanks

josephmonaco924

I did this last year in a 997.1. You are probably correct that don't need a new power line. I ran a new one while looking at the original in the harness and wondering why I am drilling a hole through the gromit (scary stuff drilling so close to the wiring harness. Scarier getting a hole big enough to run the RCA cables through.)

i got a 6 channel polk low ohm amp for a decent price and used five of the channels. I disregarded the center speaker and ran the front bass midrange and twitter serial on each side to increase the ohms. Ran the rear speakers with a channel each and then used one channel for the subwoofers, which you do have to power up with the blue antenna wire.

One issue that I encountered and did not see much written about was lousy radio reception. It was basically nonexistent. I scoured the internet to no avail but by luck came across a YouTube video of a kid having reception problems with his Panasonic head unit in a Honda. To make a long story short, you have to power the antenna booster that comes with the car because the antenna is in the windshield. I used the blue antenna wire again and tapped into a light grey wire that was on the wiring harness seemingly without a purpose. The YouTube video saved me from taking it to a shop to figure out why the reception was so bad. So if you are having trouble with reception you need to power the factory antenna booster.

LittleBitBent

This is such, SUCH a great article and thread. I just keep reading it over and over again, because it's almost EXACTLY what I've been wanting to do to my 997 (and it has become my winter plan). Thanks @San997 for the writeup and pictures.

A couple of extra questions, if you don't mind?

1) Did you route the wiring through the same channel (presumably through the firewall) as the factory install?
2) The mediabridge coaxial cable - I'm assuming you bought two cables (L&R?)? I see two of them in picture 2, but I also see what looks like some other RCA cables. How long were the cables you bought?
3) Why did you decide on the JL Audio amp? I'm looking at the Alpine ILX-107 head unit, but it seems that Alpine's amplifiers only go up to 5 channels, and I think I need 6?
4) Did you connect the centre channel or no? I can't tell from the writeup if you left it dead or not. I'm trying to figure out what the 6 channel layout was.

I've kind of decided that I can spend the $700 on the NAV MOST Adapter, or I can spend it on an amp, and not have to worry about the fibre network any longer. Either way, I have to spend that $700, and with the amp replacement, I'm going to get more control over the sound quality.

gasongasoff

Did you mount the JL amp onto your gas tank??

fastjohnie

Nice

plc61

I'm installing the same Sony head unit now, but I'm trying the Seicane MOST adapter(about $90 on eBay). If it's not satisfactory, I will go the analog 6 channel amp route. The post above referenced the need to power the antenna booster for decent radio reception. I've checked the 2006 C2S wiring diagrams and found a white wire on the power plug that went into the stock head unit that appears to be the one I need. I want to power it with the blue wire from the Sony harness, but it is marked .4 amp max. The manual says it can be used for an antenna booster or amp turn on only, so I'm going to give it a try.

plc61

I have completed my install, but have only tried it in the garage so far- sounds good. I did find a "factory" hole to run the lightning cable through in the bottom shelf, under the rubber pad. The pad lifts up by gently pulling on the three tapered tabs. Car is 2006 C2S.
Completed install


"Factory" hole exposed by pulling up rubber mat


Kind of looks like it belongs- and can be returned to stock if desired


Seicane MOST unit velcro'd beneath Sony; the rear of it is only single DIN height

plc61

Blue wire from Sony harness powers White wire on factory plug


Factory head unit power plug- Brown is ground, Red/Green is constant +12V, and White bis antenna booster
And thanks to bhvrdr for his thread on Bose replacement; his info on the Seicane pushed me over the hump as far as deciding to do it.

The wiring shown in the above post is minus the antenna booster turn on wire; I later used the blue Sony harness wire to power the white wire on the power plug, as shown here.

SAN997

Just wanted to give an update. One thing I have noticed after installing this new setup is that the amp and radio need to be properly adjusted with a spectrum analyzer and measurement microphone. Its hard to get a proper response from all of the speakers otherwise.

My plan is to use the UMIK-1 measurement microphone, https://www.minidsp.com/products/aco...urement/umik-1 and REW (Room EQ Wizard) https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ to tune the amp/radio DSP.

urbanscribe

[cross-posted]
sorry for the obvious comment

but on my 997.2 TTS i simply have an 8 inch android LTE (asus z8s) IPS tablet on a magnet holder with a combination of software home launcher, waze, play music, torque real-times, gmaps, tune in all flowing into the PCM 3.0 through a bluetooth dongle (BOVEE), AUX as a backup if high quality audio needed.

i get all of the functionality (save XM which i can add later with adapter) of a modern (say 991) head unit but i can just take it off when i resell the car. i see no reason to hack into the PCM to get all the functionality i need and sound quality (i can bypass with direct AUX if needed but don't like the one extra cable). i can even add the backup camera (in this case Fensens sensors only for now). All configurable

this full on hack seems like overkill, not upgradeable and a killer to resale.

what am i missing? why hack into the hardware?

SAN997

I performed an audio analysis (real-time audio analysis, or RTA) on my install with the JL Audio amp and the Sony head unit. In my car, I removed the Bose subwoofer in the back to save weight and make getting to the DME/ECU easier. So the base tuning will be a little bit different if you keep the rear sub. However, I think it actually sounds better, after proper tuning, without the rear sub because it is otherwise much too boomy. My measurements show that the front door subs are quite capable after adjustment.

I ended up learning a few interesting things:

• The rear speakers and the front speakers (dash tweeters + door mids) have roughly the same frequency response. They are fairly flat from 600 Hz to 17 kHz. Not too surprising, really, as this is how it should be.
• The front door subwoofers can generate pretty good base, but they are boomy around 60 Hz and have a hole around 125 Hz, and a resonance (peak) at 250 Hz. So the response is not very flat.
• The door subs generate a HUGE response around 2-4 kHz if you don't enable the low pass filter! Its necessary to turn the filter to "LP" and set the cutoff frequency to around 500 Hz.
• The signal level (amp level) to the door subs needs to be cranked up a fair bit higher than the rear/front mids. This is especially true since I removed the rear sub, but regardless, I think the door subs near more signal (they aren't as efficient).
• There is a bit of a peak/resonance around 2 kHz, but a hole around 1 kHz.
• There is generally a little too much treble for a flat response, so it was necessary to turn down the 8 kHz and 16 kHz bands.

I ended up using the Dayton Audio iMM-6 calibrated measurement mic and the "RTA" iPhone app to do the measurements. I also used this white noise source from YouTube:
In summary, the measurement setup is as follows:

1. Connect one iPhone to the Sony headunit via Bluetooth and play the white noise
2. Use the other iPhone with the iMM-6 measurement mic and RAW to measure the frequency response. Perfect speaker calibration should yield a flat response from 0 Hz to >20 kHz (in theory). In practice, you try to get it flat from about 30 Hz to 18 kHz.

JL Audio amp settings should be:

• Rear speaker signal level slightly higher than front treble/mids
• You can enable the HP filter on rear and fronts treble/mids with a cutoff of 500 Hz, but its not necessary (doesn't have much effect)
• Definitely enable the LP filter with a cutoff of 500 Hz for the door subs
• Door sub signal level needs to be cranked up a far bit higher than the rears and fronts

EQ settings should be as shown:


Finally, after adjusting for a flat response, you may want to enable DSO as Low or Mid in the Sony audio settings. A flat response, although theoretically ideal, sounds a little "dull" to the human ear. However, once you get on the road, the tire roar drowns out the mids, so DSO off may actually be best.

code7rpd

Hi SAN997. Great post! I have a few questions: I just ordered the same wiring harness kit that you used. If I do what you did and replace the head unit and put in an aftermarket amp, what happens to the MOST plugs? Do they just remain disconnected from the amp and the receiver? I assume that since the amp is being replaced I do not need a MOST HUR, correct?

SAN997

code7rpd

Excellent - thanks!

IrishAgent

Great pics of the Sony XAV-AX100 install and especially the antenna connection. Thanks!

Q: I see you mounted the Seicare MOST under the single DIN, which looks like a great place for it. The concern I have is that the XAV-AX200 is a full double DIN due to the DVD, so there won't be any place in the cage to mount the MOST. Do you think there was enough space elsewhere in the area to mount it?

Waiting on parts for my 2007 Boxster S. Ordered the Sony XAV-AX200-SXM, which is same unit as the 100 with a DVD and SXM module installed. The cost was only $50 more than the 100 ($449 from Best Buy). Also ordered a backup camera (on clearance $40 from Best Buy) . (used BB to get 12 mo no interest). Got the same Seicane MOST adapter ($80 on eBay from China). Got what looks like the same install bezel kit ($28 from Spiral Audio) that you used, and added a $3 antenna adapter —$40 total with shipping from their site, which is $5 less than the kit without the antenna on eBay.

Not sure if I need the antanna adapter or not given that you show how you connected the antenna leads. But, better safe than sorry and $3 is a small price to pay to have it if I need it.