I finally decided that I had pretty much had my fill of the factory speakers. My '01 has the hi-fi option (not the one with the DSP) and I have added the 996 amp and rear speaker upgrade (the one off of eBay that uses better speakers than the factory kit).
The addition of the 996 amp has been the best upgrade thus far, with the rear speaker kit coming in a close second. I've also added the factory CD changer under the front bonnet.
I have read numerous threads on replacing the factory dash speakers and decided that I would buy a used pair of dash speakers off of eBay to perform the transplant, so if I messed up I would still have a good set in the dash. I found a pair from a dealer in S. Florida for $90.00 that were brand new in the box. When they arrived, I compared them with the speakers in my dash and found that they were much beefier than what originally came in my '01. I checked the parts numbers and found that they were part of a Tequipment stereo system upgrade offered in the late 90's to early '00's.
The speakers had a black Porsche sticker on the back of them and a crossover mounted behind the tweeter. I could tell that their was something under the Porsche sticker and when I peeled it off it said MB Quart. Well now that's convenient, as that was the brand that I was going to replace the factory speakers with. One of the speakers had a cracked grille and since I had an extra base speaker sitting on the shelf, I carefully removed the grille to replace the cracked one. The MB Quart speakers have polypropolene (sp) cones vs. the factory paper cones, and the tweeters a larger as well.
I can't say enough about the difference in sound. I can really hear the individual instruments and they defintely can go noticably louder. Installng them took all of 5 minutes as they simply plugged into the factory harness and from the outside you can't tell any difference. I ordered a matching set of MB Quart 5 1/4" mid woofers from sonic electronix and will install them in the doors when it gets a bit warmer outside. The stock door speakers really start to show thier limitations now that I've replaced the dash speakers.
The rear speaker kit is barely even noticable anymore. I may look into trying something different to improve the sound. One thing leads to another...
I'll bet some Dynamat would help matters too.
I've added some pics to show the difference between the base speakers and the tequipment speakers. If you can find these, they are worth picking up. I checked the price from Porsche and they ask $287 to $368 per speaker which is absolutely insane. But they may show up on eBay from time to time.
