What your solution to the poor speakers in the 986? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

messing · 07-15-2011, 04:29 AM

Well I continue to enjoy my 986. The weather has been good, the top is down and the radio, well that another story. My 99 986 has the factory head unit w/o Nav a six disk in the truck and yes a tape deck behind the flip down face. The tape deck really cracks me up. Everyone thinks my car is new and then I flip down the deck face. To funny. Anyway, I have flown my drivers speaker and it’s time for an upgrade. I'd love to hear what you all have done to improve your audio system. I am not looking to do anything crazy but I would like some rear speakers. I like the Porsche head unit, really just because it say Porsche on it and it works fine. Any recommendations on speakers or adjustments.

Thanks,
JM

schnellman · 07-15-2011, 05:03 AM

My suggestion is to turn off the radio and listen to the Flat Six Symphony.

ekam · 07-15-2011, 05:52 AM

1. Get an aftermarket exhaust.
2. Find highway overpass or tunnel.
3. Rev above 4k.

matty-matt · 07-15-2011, 05:54 AM

lots of great info here on this site if you search.
also, hit this link:
http://images.wikia.com/boxster/images/b/b6/Boxster_speakers_update_article.pdf

woofersetc has a great deal on Focal 5.25" midranges for $60 a pair shipped for your doors if you have the enclosures stock already.

enjoy

gery67 · 07-15-2011, 11:13 PM

change the speakers, i think it is the right solution of your problem.

Dave S. · 07-16-2011, 04:35 AM

I added component speakers to my doors (my car didn't even have door speakers to start with). Put the tweeters up high close to the mirrors and the 6 inch mid-woofers where the door speakers go. Then replaced the dash speakers with an upgraded speaker. Of course I now have a 4 channel alpine amp in the frunk ( with the cross overs for the component speakers) and replaced the head unit too.
For a convertible with little available space on the inside, it sounds great to me now. I love the sound of the 3.2L especially when running up through the gears, but I like to listen to music with the top down while cruising at 65 mph too.

kpm · 07-16-2011, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schnellman

My suggestion is to turn off the radio and listen to the Flat Six Symphony.

+ 1

I've had the car for over a year I think I had the radio on ...once ?

Brockmeister · 07-17-2011, 05:45 PM

I just put an Alpine head unit in last weekend. Sounds alot better. I think I'll put in new speakers in later this year.

madmods · 07-17-2011, 07:07 PM

What you need is a Car Sound Systems Professional. Swing by your local shop with a good $1,000 in your back pocket and ask him to surprise you on that budget. Normally you end up with a near perfect sound at that price.

I had $200 budget on sound only so I just changed to a 40Wx4 unit. Perfect for garage/wrenching music only tho

Brockmeister · 07-18-2011, 08:32 AM

I've got an Kenwood amp and MB Quarts left over from my old BMW. I'll be looking into adding them in the future.

Box on 19's · 07-18-2011, 09:27 AM

Do a search on here for Rear Speakers.. I forget who (sorry) but they posted a great template for your rear storage bin to add rear speakers.. Pics below are what I came up with.. I also have the oem cd player from my 99 if your interested, pm me and let me know..

urban_legend · 07-20-2011, 05:22 PM

add new dash speakers. I highly recommend the infinity kappas 42.9i.
The OEM dash speakers are a joke - cardboard from Nokia.
Belong in the clock radio at motel 6.

stateofidleness · 07-20-2011, 06:42 PM

I just got done installing the rear speaker kit (think it has 3.5" speakers). Does anyone else that has this kit have any trouble eq'ing stuff? It seems like no matter how much I turn down the bass, the rear speakers try to "handle" the bass and sound muddy. They don't seem as loud as the fronts either so it's hard to even tell they're there.

Is the fact that my Fade function doesn't actually do Front to Rear, it only turns the Fronts output down, but doesn't do anything to the rears.

confused...

Jager · 07-20-2011, 07:41 PM

I added the rear speakers to my existing CDR-220 and the change was very subtle, just enough to add a little sound to the back. I thought about adding an amp to kick-up the back speakers but have not done that yet. Since the speakers are only 3 ½” the frequency response is limited, don’t expect too much.

DenverSteve · 07-21-2011, 06:31 PM

Mine are the exact same speakers that were in the car when I test drove it. So I got what I expected. They are great.

Jager · 07-21-2011, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DenverSteve

Mine are the exact same speakers that were in the car when I test drove it. So I got what I expected. They are great.

What radio and amp do you have?

jaykay · 07-22-2011, 06:33 AM

.....by-pass exhaust for now!

messing · 07-22-2011, 12:12 PM

I just replaced my speakers last weekend with some Alpines from Best Buy and I hate them. It may be me but I swear they have less base then the original paper cone speakers. The good news is that the swap took less than 20 min and I found a great video on youtube that shows how to adjust the current bracket to accept any 4". I have attached the link to the youtube video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0LPyCoq5k8