Better sound in my boxster, episode 1: Hope for those of us with the leather storage

[Wonko The Sane]

My first offensive in the attempt to battle the lame sound system that Porsche felt the Boxster deserved was the installation of the Pioneer DEH-5800MP mp3 CD player in the deck.. The deck is awesome, as I expected, and really brought out the sound capability of the stock speaker and amp system, however, no amount of sound balancing will make up for the lack of speakers in the rear.

This is the result of my second attack. This one involved a set of Kicker KS6.2 component set which is a set of 6.0" low-mid woofers and 1" tweeters, these are powered by a MTX Roadthunder RTP202 amplifier. The goal of this system: Give me much more low and high-end presence in my audio stage, and take up no real useable space. The first was easy, since the stock system really lacks definition in all of the extreme ranges. The second was the kicker.. how do you get good sound out of a car like ours, which has no real "free" space.. Here's my answer:

http://www.whoistouching.us/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=StereoInstall&page=1

This gallery outlines how I installed this in my car, the whole process, I'll have a few highlights in a bit.

I used the useless leatheresque pouch behind the seats, underneath the rollbar to house the speaker system, and the utilized the stock CD changer location for the amp and a capacitor to keep it from being hungry. I still use the stock mounts for the pouch, so it removes just quickly as before. The speaker connections are quickly disconnected by a normal wiring-harness style quick disconnect.

A few highlight pictures:



6" speakers from the rear



Tweets from the front (with the seat folded down)



Amplifier installation.


Overall impressions: This system sounds A LOT better than the stock, obviously. The bass response is alright, I want a little more, though. The car really sounds a lot fuller, and the sound stage is once again restored to equillibrium.

Stage three:

Now I have a baseline, I know where to improve on. The first problem: I can hear the woofers being a bit overdrive, so I'm going to enclose the boxes, so they have a static supply of air, which should help that a lot. At this point I'll also put in two 3 1/2" speakers in between the seats (in the pouch), which will help balance out the side-weighted high ends (since the tweets are on the extreme outside edges). I'll hopefully have this step done in the next two weeks or so.


I hope this gives you some ideas on what you can do to help your sound system without making your passenger keep their feet stationary

[kls]

That looks great. What kind of time and expense do you think you've invested?

[Wonko The Sane]

Thank you, I think it looks pretty good too

Time estimate: 4 hours or so, not counting shopping. I did have two friends over helping me out for a bit, though.. It probably would have been about 6 hours by myself, give or take.

Money Estimate: $360 or so.. $130 for the amp and $150 for the speakers from Circuit City, and about $80 for the amp install kit (including cap) from Wal-mart. I could have gone cheaper if I bought online, but I wasn't sure that I'd like the speakers and/or setup, so I over paid for the convenience of bringing it back if I didn't like it.

The only trick with this setup, is that I think you're pretty limited to a 6" speaker back there, I don't think a 6 1/2" would have fit quite so well on the top of the bag.

[C5150]

So Wonko...

I have the BOSE system in my '02 S. Is there no way to get the sub that I have in place of your "storage" between the seats?

[Wonko The Sane]

hmm... good question.. I don't know anything about the placement of the bose stereo equipment... What size is the sub and where is it positioned now?

[C5150]

It fits in the exact same place where your little storage place is between the seats. Here's a pic:

[Wonko The Sane]

How does that sound? I'd imagine pretty good I'm planning on bringing a box opening forward when I enclose the two woofers...

I was looking online, and one place I found had replica versions of that for $780 (plus shipping from the uk)..

That's a bit rich for my blood for a sub upgrade unless it's really worth it

[C5150]

The sound is great - not even comparable to the stock system.

I hear you on the cost - didn't know if it would be an economical choice for you or not (although it's porsche, so nothing usually is...).

Best of luck