AV Upgrade

[Hank]

My wife has grown sufficiently cranky with the (admittedly) clunky AV/Nav system in my 2007 Carrera S that she has suggested getting me a Garmin plug-in GPS for Christmas. Which strikes me as another clunky solution. There seem to be a number of really good state-of-the-art aftermarket systems out there that do all that we would want a modern AV system to do (sat radio, traffic, etc . . ) without add-ons and such (I added the Cayenne sat radio some years ago and it is okay, but marignal compared to real sat systems) and that can be integrated into the car pretty cleanly. Aside from the obvious of keeping a Porsche all Porsche, has anyone done this? How has it worked out? Are there any special issues with the Bose system?

Thanks.

[phillipj]

Here is a solution for you on an 07 997 TT from another forum. Would work on your car as well..

Replaced my PCM 2.1 with Pioneer Nav System

I've decided to keep my 07 and mod it. The first thing I did was replace my PCM 2.1 with a Pioneer AVIC Z140BH Nav system that includes: 7" full color touch screen (no dials or knobs) display, NavTech GPS mapping, Bluetooth, MP3, iPod, HD radio, Traffic alerts/reroutes, single CD/DVD, voice commands, and AM/FM. I also added SiriusXM, a back-up camera and steering wheel controls. The dealer I used installs a lot of these systems and had all of the equipment and face plates to make the system look factory even down to the Porsche logo on white background during start-up. What a difference and highly recommended! Very simple to use and the mode interfaces actually make sense. Based upon my research this is the best system on the market and it's made for a Porsche (uses existing wiring harness, Bose amps, speakers etc. and it's completely reversible if I decide to eventually sell the car with/without the Pioneer system). I'll post pictures in a day or two.

Edited November 13, 2012 by phillipj

[Hank]

Who did you use as an installer? We live in the same vicinity.

[K20fty]

I'm very interested in the potential of this - do you have any more details? The functionality of the stock PCM is pretty basic & I use an iPhone for all my music, and sat nav via the tomtom app. If I could 'just' swap the head unit to get a load more functionality, that would be great...

[Mijostyn]

I have an upgraded system similar to Hank's. The car is an 06 C4S which came with the Bose/PCM system. This system operates on a MOST fiber optic bus. You can not just hook up a standard head unit. Fortunately, there is a company down in Fort Lauderdale, FL called NAV TV that makes what they call a MOST head unit replacement module. It is essentially an analog to digital converter that outputs through a MOST fiber optic connection. It costs $700 but you get to keep the entire Bose system. I have an Alpine INE W927 HD, a unit very similar to Hank's Pioneer. The escutcheon plate is readily available in the aftermarket converting the polygonal PCM to a standard double DIN. The finish is the factory identical golden silver. The total cost including installation will be about $2,400.

In the greater Boston area the only place to go is Sound in Motion in Brighton. Rock and Roll.

[usaf.ammoguy]

Bur what hapens whan you want to make preference changes to the car itself that can only be done via the original equipment PCM; for example DTRL on or off?

[Mijostyn]

You don't need that stuff. Modern head units have full digital equalization and delay capability. The end result is a much better sounding system. The only thing you loose are some trip computer functions but, you get the most important ones in your cluster. When the sales manager at my dealer saw and heard my Alpine he immediately stuck one in his car.