986 rear speakers - were subs an option?
 

I just picked up a 2000 Boxster S and it has rear speakers that are full range (not subwoofer). I've seen conflicting info about whether an option was available with an OEM subwoofer. I see subwoofer boxes on eBay (for example https://ebay.to/2D9QLbt). Is that just the same as what I already have and Porsche just calls the rear speakers a subwoofer or was it truly an "option"? Any ideas if I could just add that and it is plug and play or if it would require some wiring changes?

Your link doesn't take me to anything but the Ebay homepage.
My '03 S has a true subwoofer on the rear deck. It looks like this:

Copy the complete link from his message and paste into a new tab. Don't include the (). Worked for me.

Thanks Mike. I hadn't looked that closely, just clicked it.



Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

It would be hard to believe that a true subwoofer would fit in an 01 rear shelf. Speaker sizes are typically 10" or greater. Anything smaller is more marketing hype that an actual subwoofer.

If you are 6' or under I know a pair of Alpine 10" self powered sub boxes will fit behind both seats in a 01 Boxster. They came with my car when I bought it so I am not sure of their power output, but it is enough to rattle the car, and give a back massage :p

Somewhere on this forum I saw someone who made a sub enclosure and put it in the passenger footwell. Just sayin

The original equipment door speakers are woofers, at least on pre-2003. The crossover for the low frequencies is part of the amp in the trunk.

Here's some interesting information ...

I installed the rear shelf speakers and in conjunction fitted a 6X40 amp from a 996/911 to replace the original 4X40 amp. (all 911 come with rear speakers). There are two versions of the 911 amp ... coupe and cabrio. The coupe amp I tried first didn't impress much, but when I fitted a cabrio amp the door speakers came alive and now it's obvious they are woofers. I think Porsche goofed up on specs for the original 4X40 amp and it didn't drive the woofers as well as it should be. Your original amp probably has 323 in the part number ... get the cabrio amp with 323 in part number.

The original Porsche (Becker) radio has two sets of outputs ... direct to speaker and to aux amp. Both have front and rear terminals. The lazy guy approach to retrofitting the rear shelf speakers is to use the direct to speaker outputs. The right way is to get the 6X40 amp. If you didn't have door speakers in the first place, you didn't have the aux amp, and it's then difficult and wouldn't call you lazy. Either way, when you finally fit rear shelf speakers and run them from the rear outputs, your fader control finally works.

The terms 4X40 and 6X40 may be confusing. For Boxsters with 4X40 this means 4 channels, but the channels are front dash speakers and door subwoofers. For 6X40 there are 6 channels, front dash, door woofer and rear. In all cases the fronts and rears are full range and the OE dash speakers have tweeters with the high frequency crossover at the speaker units themselves. Things changed for 2003 with the MOST system, and I can't comment definitively. Also for the earlier models, if you have the BOSE system and/or the equalizer unit in your dash stack, my ideas likely aren't applicable either.

The 2003 and 2004 with MOST and a rear deck box are set up as follows.

2 Dash tweeters
2 Dash mid range
2 Door woofers
2 Rear mid range
2 Rear tweeters

There is no 'sub woofer' anywhere and quite frankly the system doesn't need one unless you really want a rolling thumper on wheels. The system is designed for hi-fidelity (which it delivers) and not artificial bass heavy low fidelity sound.

Do you need to have a different connector/harness to support the extra speakers or does the factory loom already support them with the 911 amp?

The factory Haes 6X40 amp has an internal low pass filter that cuts frequencies above 50Hz. 40W to the door subs essentially makes them paperweights. With a proper amp the sound from the two 5-1/4" subs in the doors will come alive. If your rear deck speakers are original, the paper cone part of the speakers will be in little pieces on the shelf deck. They are, it is said, for filler only. Howsomever, with the proper amp one can adjust the balance and make them more than filler. All eight speakers (2-ways now in the dash) provide great sound if I turn the CDR220 on.

I modified a 996 cabriolet bose subwoofer box goes in passenger foot well. Used an 8” pioneer sub driver, sounds great, not earth rattling bass but does a solid job feeling end the low end. I use the sub channel off my Alpine amp to power it.

Do you have any pictures or details on this?

What ikchris said, I replaced my stock amp in the frunk with a 6x40 cabrio amp cheap upgrade.

I have a thread in the site I will try to find it and link back for you.