Cheap Sound Upgrade

[gavins]

I just got my first Porsche. A 2006 997 C2. I am absolutely delighted with the car in ALL respects except one: The sound system, which is the base (ie not Bose) setup and which leaves a lot to be desired.

I traded in my BMW 335i which had a 17 speaker premium sound setup and am very dissappointed with the standard sound setup on the 997.

Is there any way, for a few hundred bucks, to improve the sound system? I cant afford to retrofit the Bose setup, and i want to keep the standard PCM setup, and I think I read that the amp is integral to the working of the cars CAN BUS system and cannot be chnaged.

Any suggestions? Powered speakers? Subwoofer (where and how and what)? Speaker upgrade?

Thanks.

[docdavid]

Add a poweramp which can bridge 2 high level inputs to a mono output. I used a kicker poweramp using my rear 2 apeaker lines as high level inputs. The mono output is connected to a low profile 6 inch kicker sub I bought from crutchfield.The rear factory speakers are still connected.Any decent after market stereo shop can easily do this. I made a custom enclosure between .2 and .3 cubic feet and placed behind rear seats, flush with the rear deck. It sounds much improved from stock. You really do not have to change out any other of the speakers. I would try that first before changing anything else out. I also added XM from Cayenne which others have done.

Edited June 3, 2009 by docdavid

[epaulbb]

Add a poweramp which can bridge 2 high level inputs to a mono output. I used a kicker poweramp using my rear 2 apeaker lines as high level inputs. The mono output is connected to a low profile 6 inch kicker sub I bought from crutchfield.The rear factory speakers are still connected.Any decent after market stereo shop can easily do this. I made a custom enclosure between .2 and .3 cubic feet and placed behind rear seats, flush with the rear deck. It sound great. You really do not have to change out any other of the speakers. I would try that first before changing anything else out. I also added XM from Cayenne which others have done.

Do you have the kicker amp model number and where did you tap into the speaker wires for the high-level input? Also where did you end up placing your amp?, was this in addition to the non-bose amp? Any details would be great, since this is what I want to do to my 2005 997 C2, Thanks! -Paul

[rlips44]

I just got my first Porsche. A 2006 997 C2. I am absolutely delighted with the car in ALL respects except one: The sound system, which is the base (ie not Bose) setup and which leaves a lot to be desired.

I traded in my BMW 335i which had a 17 speaker premium sound setup and am very dissappointed with the standard sound setup on the 997.

Is there any way, for a few hundred bucks, to improve the sound system? I cant afford to retrofit the Bose setup, and i want to keep the standard PCM setup, and I think I read that the amp is integral to the working of the cars CAN BUS system and cannot be chnaged.

Any suggestions? Powered speakers? Subwoofer (where and how and what)? Speaker upgrade?

Thanks.

Well, yes, just push your right foot down further, the sound will improve markedly;)

Seriously, I think our cars are a bad environment for listening to music, it seems that porsche does not really put too much effort into soundproofing, rather the cars are as light as possible. Enjoy the wonderful symphony right behind your head;)

[docdavid]

Add a poweramp which can bridge 2 high level inputs to a mono output. I used a kicker poweramp using my rear 2 apeaker lines as high level inputs. The mono output is connected to a low profile 6 inch kicker sub I bought from crutchfield.The rear factory speakers are still connected.Any decent after market stereo shop can easily do this. I made a custom enclosure between .2 and .3 cubic feet and placed behind rear seats, flush with the rear deck. It sound great. You really do not have to change out any other of the speakers. I would try that first before changing anything else out. I also added XM from Cayenne which others have done.

Do you have the kicker amp model number and where did you tap into the speaker wires for the high-level input? Also where did you end up placing your amp?, was this in addition to the non-bose amp? Any details would be great, since this is what I want to do to my 2005 997 C2, Thanks! -Paul

The non bose amp is left intact as it must power all speakers except the sub.The new amp can be mounted in the front trunk. You can tap into rear speakers in front trunk after speaker lines exit from the non bose poweramp. The facory rear speakers still function. They do not make my kicker amp anymore but there are many good choices. See crutchfield. I used a 6.5 inch shallow mount kicker sub I got from crutchfield for about 100 dollars. I suggest having a qualified installer doing the job, although this not that difficult.

[txhokie4life]

Add a poweramp which can bridge 2 high level inputs to a mono output. I used a kicker poweramp using my rear 2 apeaker lines as high level inputs. The mono output is connected to a low profile 6 inch kicker sub I bought from crutchfield.The rear factory speakers are still connected.Any decent after market stereo shop can easily do this. I made a custom enclosure between .2 and .3 cubic feet and placed behind rear seats, flush with the rear deck. It sound great. You really do not have to change out any other of the speakers. I would try that first before changing anything else out. I also added XM from Cayenne which others have done.

Do you have the kicker amp model number and where did you tap into the speaker wires for the high-level input? Also where did you end up placing your amp?, was this in addition to the non-bose amp? Any details would be great, since this is what I want to do to my 2005 997 C2, Thanks! -Paul

The non bose amp is left intact as it must power all speakers except the sub.The new amp can be mounted in the front trunk. You can tap into rear speakers in front trunk after speaker lines exit from the non bose poweramp. The facory rear speakers still function. They do not make my kicker amp anymore but there are many good choices. See crutchfield. I used a 6.5 inch shallow mount kicker sub I got from crutchfield for about 100 dollars. I suggest having a qualified installer doing the job, although this not that difficult.

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