New stereo headunit for Boxster

[Zarniwoop]

Hi all,

I have a 1999 2.5L UK Boxster, and I'm thinking of changing the headunit as the basic one I have is a little too 20th century.

I was just wondering if there's anything specific I should know prior to doing this, for example:

- Will all headunits fit in my car?

- Are there any special connections required?

- My current stereo has a feature whereby the volume increases as the car's speed increases. Is this a standard feature in car stereos these days or will I lose this if I replace the unit?

- Will I still be able to use the standard 6-CD changer I currently have installed?

As you may have guessed, I'm a total newbie with respect to stereos, so if I've been too vague in my questions then please let me know!

BTW, what I hope to go for is a unit capable of playing MP3 or WMA files from an SD Card or USB stick (*not* via iPod). Anyone know of anything like this?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

[Chris_in_NH]

yes, all 1 DIN headunits will fit. this is a standard size.

no 'special' connections are needed, but you will need to do some wiring to match up all the previous connections.

you will probably lose the speed-volume feature unless your new headunit supports it.

you may also lose the ability to use the CD changer. i think it 'speaks' a proprietary Porsche protocol to the headunit, which your new headunit will not understand. but i may be wrong. what you could do is sell your Porsche CD changer and buy one that your new headunit can use.

i don't know of any headunits that play flash memory sticks, but that's not to say that they don't exist.

i upgraded my stereo to a Nakamichi CD-500 which has a very 'stock' look and plays MP3 CDs. i love it.

[Baconaire]

For easy wiring (you'll need a diagram of the existing and new radio's wiring), I put crimped U connectors on the end of new harness, then clipped one finger of the U off. These L-shaped tongs plugged one by one perfectly snug into the existing harness. Tape it all up and you are off. You may need an antenna adapter. You'll need the special tooks to pull the Becker head out. The way I have it wired has worked perfectly for a year and I can take the head out easy if I want to.

[mikes_box]

just changed my headunit and the new sound is awesome....i actually bought a blaupunkt mp3/wav player with ipod and bluetooth options available....the best thing is that it plugs right in to the oe wiring harness so no need to wire anything or think about anything...only thing you'll need is a antenna adapter...oh yeah it also has the speed volume thing but the wires all line up and plugs right in...good luck..

Edited May 11, 2007 by mikes_box

[flyboyshell]

Ok, gentleman!!

Here is one for you. I was not so fortunate with my installation. It seems that the wiring goes straight to the amp and then gets routed to the individual speakers. However, I have a 4x50W radio that seems to almost not need the amp. This is weird, but one I connect just 1 position wire speaker to the wiring of the Porsche I can already hear the radio. Also, I am getting a slight feedback hissing sound.

I would ideally like to route the wiring direct to the speakers since I dont think this radio needs the amp. Loren, anyone, please help me out with some suggestions.

It seems as the negatives for each wire leads into one wire which then goes to the Porsche harness. This is such a weird setup. I need to run individual wiring from the radio to the front where the amp is. How do I get through the wall to run the wiring?

Edited May 12, 2007 by flyboyshell

[mikes_box]

this is what i did to make things easy for myself....i ran 4 sets speaker wires to the wiring harness of the stock amp that led to each of the speakers....i disconnected the amp up front and put it in storage....i did not cut the wiring harness just tapped the wires with t-taps and went straight to those wires....hiss is usually from a bad ground but you shouldn't have a hiss if you're not running an amp from you headunit...easy way to run wires is on drivers side....look at the corner on left side under the hood and you'll see a black cover with two screws-one in front and one in back (back can be a little hard to get to so use a mini ratchet like screw driver thingy to remove) open up the cover and goes straight to the front...hope this helps...adding an amp will definitely improve speaker quality then you just run the speaker outs from the amp to the oe amp wiring and all you need to run into the car are the rca's and amp turn on......good luck..mike

Edited May 13, 2007 by mikes_box

[flyboyshell]

Mike,

Thanks for the tip. When I connect the radio's wiring to the amp wiring, I could not believe how loud it got, and that was with 3 out of 50 bar on the radio volume. Anything above 10 would distort the speakers. The standard CDR-220 radio has a 13Watt output per channel and the amp being 4x40Watt. My new radio has a 4x50Watt output so I am thinking that I really do not need the amp to run the 4 small standard speakers which I think are more than sufficient. I will buy wiring and run them just as your described. Now I just need to get the unit to fit since the face is about 2mm to large, so it makes contact with the plastic trimming and does not fit flush in the mount.

Thanks again!!!

[mikes_box]

great to hear i could help!! enjoy the new radio looks awesome...if you decide to change your speakers an affordable solution is to buy lightning audio from walmart 4 inch two way speakers for the dash only $24.00....those speakers are made by rockford fosgate so they are well built and sound great plus they're affordable....... the oe speakers were just made of paper!! you should also try moving the ac controls to the bottom and move radio to the ac control area and throw in a storage pocket underneat the radio...use a dremel and sand down the edges nice and slow rather than trying to cut of the pieces of trim as it'll turn out uneven if you try to cut it out rather than sanding it down...

[spongebob]

Mike,

how did you mount the walmart speakers to the original dashmountings?

[Zarniwoop]

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your replies to my original questions. I'm happy to hear that standard units will fit and that I shouldn't need any special connections.

A couple of you mentioned an antenna adapter - does Porsche use some proprietary standard for its antennas?

I did actually manage to find a unit which uses memory sticks/cards from ebuyer UK. This one comes in black or silver and has good reviews: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/104104/rb/27767315876 ... also it's under £50!

I guess I probably will sell the CD changer as I'd have no need of it with all my digital music available.

One more thing; you guys all seem quite confident about installing/wiring radio systems yourselves, rather than getting a professional to install it. Is it a relatively simple procedure? (speaking as someone who has wired plugs and changed fuses, but that's about it!)

Thanks again,

Paul

[daveclause]

Hi all,

I have a 1999 2.5L UK Boxster, and I'm thinking of changing the headunit as the basic one I have is a little too 20th century.

I was just wondering if there's anything specific I should know prior to doing this, for example:

- Will all headunits fit in my car?

- Are there any special connections required?

- My current stereo has a feature whereby the volume increases as the car's speed increases. Is this a standard feature in car stereos these days or will I lose this if I replace the unit?

- Will I still be able to use the standard 6-CD changer I currently have installed?

As you may have guessed, I'm a total newbie with respect to stereos, so if I've been too vague in my questions then please let me know!

BTW, what I hope to go for is a unit capable of playing MP3 or WMA files from an SD Card or USB stick (*not* via iPod). Anyone know of anything like this?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

Go with an ALPINE Unit, if you want a good stereo. You'll have to buy the connector harness. About $15.00. You'll want to change the speakers and get rid of the factory speakers.

[sundeepg]

just changed my headunit and the new sound is awesome....i actually bought a blaupunkt mp3/wav player with ipod and bluetooth options available....the best thing is that it plugs right in to the oe wiring harness so no need to wire anything or think about anything...only thing you'll need is a antenna adapter...oh yeah it also has the speed volume thing but the wires all line up and plugs right in...good luck..

what model blaupunkt head unti did you get? I'm thinking of upgrading my head unit as well and one that plugs right in would make all the difference

[FrayAdjacent986]

£50 for a stereo? That's about.. .what... $70 US. That's cheap. I mean cheap. In a lot of ways, you get what you pay for, and a £50 head unit is probably crap. Sure, the Boxster's audio equipment isn't the greatest... but putting in a poor head unit won't help much.

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your replies to my original questions. I'm happy to hear that standard units will fit and that I shouldn't need any special connections.

A couple of you mentioned an antenna adapter - does Porsche use some proprietary standard for its antennas?

I did actually manage to find a unit which uses memory sticks/cards from ebuyer UK. This one comes in black or silver and has good reviews: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/104104/rb/27767315876 ... also it's under £50!

I guess I probably will sell the CD changer as I'd have no need of it with all my digital music available.

One more thing; you guys all seem quite confident about installing/wiring radio systems yourselves, rather than getting a professional to install it. Is it a relatively simple procedure? (speaking as someone who has wired plugs and changed fuses, but that's about it!)

Thanks again,

Paul

[mikes_box]

i believe most if not all aftermarket blaupunkt head units will plug right into the boxster wiring harness since they;re all from germany as mine did...i bought the bahamas model i believe the m or p 46....plays mp3 and wav files with two sets of preouts....oh yeah you could even buy an aux plug on ebay for like $5 so you could hook up an ipod or other mp3 player....

what i did to install the aftermarket 4 inch two way speakers in the stock mounting was first to remove the stock paper speaker out...once out you'll notice that the aftermarket speakers will not fit in there nor will it mount to any of the screws you removed....what you must to is bend 3 or the 4 corners towards the magnet direction and then slide the side you did not bend into the housing when its in there what you'll need to do next is rotate the speaker so it catches into the grove within the housing so it can't come off...now for added security that the speaker doesn't fall out look where one of the bent tabs are and drill a small hole into the housing that matches the hole of the speaker tab...once that's done you put a small screw through so the speaker won't come out... hope that helped...much easier than trying to mangle up the oe speaker and take the mounts of that....good luck..mike

[Zarniwoop]

£50 for a stereo? That's about.. .what... $70 US. That's cheap. I mean cheap. In a lot of ways, you get what you pay for, and a £50 head unit is probably crap. Sure, the Boxster's audio equipment isn't the greatest... but putting in a poor head unit won't help much.

It's around $100 US I think - I thought it was very cheap too but it's the only one I can find which actually allows me to store music on an SD card which I can just plug into the stereo. I'd pay more for a more established brand if one makes a unit with the same functionality. Plus it has consistent 5/5 reviews on that site so it sounds pretty decent.

I'll keep looking around of course - any opinions welcome!

Paul