Use existing Amp or not?

[DanWEC]

Hello, will be replacing my original Porsche radio soon with a good double din. Will be replacing all 6 speakers eventually as well. It's not the Bose system, but the CDR-220 with DSP and an amp in the front.

Just wondering about the quality of that amp vs an inbuilt one in a Kenwood or Sony head unit.

So my question is, would be better to run the line-outs to the existing amp, or remove it and power everything with the head unit?

I suppose the best answer is to replace the amp with a better one, but I don't want to go too crazy with buying audio for this car. Best bang for the buck.

Thanks.

2000 Boxster S

[Marc_986]

I would (and did) start by using the amp. By far the easiest way to wire things up and power aside the amp is not going to be the main quality limitation. Start with the speakers and in case you are not happy with the quality or volume you can always upgrade the amp later. I doubt you would want to power from the headunit itself.

But that's just my opinion.

[maxbottomtime]

I say start with head unit, pccm clone would be my vote (I installed it). See how you feel then.


The stock speakers have high db sensitivity, meaning a watt of power is more efficient than most aftermarket units meant to be driven at higher watts.

If you replace your speakers, you’ll find your stereo will be quieter.


A few other thoughts: you have a line out to the factory amp already. I tried to use them with my aftermarket amp but it gave horrific interference. separate set of components run through the firewall solved that.

I went aftermarket speakers, amp, head unit, added the rear speakers and am going to put in the 997, cabrio footwell sub.

If I were doing it over again, I’d just stop at the head unit. The factory speakers were not blown, and sounded just fine in a convertible setting.


Good luck!