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Old 02-21-2007, 08:57 AM   #1
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Stereo upgrade in steps

I've got an -02 with the HiFi option and rear speakers which of course isn't that great. I'm wanting to upgrade the system but I'd like to do it at stages starting with the door speakers. The speakers I'm considering (Pioneer TS-c720prs) has an impedance rating of 4ohm. Is this compatible with the OEM amp? Has anybody used these speakers by the way? Are the specs / manuals available for this amp anywhere?

Based on my experience with mid to high end home theater equipment this is the sequence I'm planning to get the most bang for the buck as early as possible. Given the environment I know that it's never going to sound great so doing it in stages will allow me to stop when it's "good enough".

1, Door speakers
2, Dash speakers
3, Amplifier
4, Rear speakers
5, Head unit (although it's not the best I like the idea of keeping the OEM HU)

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Old 02-21-2007, 11:10 AM   #2
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As they say, admitting there's a problem is half the battle...

not really in this case, b/c there are so many problems.

First off, the core issue really is a lack of clarity in the sound system. Power is sufficient, but under utilized by crappy paper cone speakers Porsche allowed Nokia and HAES to set them up with. Unfortunately, a lot of people start in the wrong area and add a new amp or H/U. Those, w/out changing speakers, will just get you louder crappy sound IMNHO. Anyhow, as one who has been thru this, here are my recommendations in order:

DASH - Easiest to change out. Get a good pair of 4" 4ohm coaxials that have an RMS of 2W+. Hack the custom bracket and mount your new ones. You'll laugh when you take out the OEMs. The paper cones in them are only a "slightly better" material (weight wise) than the stuff that comes out of a laser printer. This will get you nice mid/high clarity in the system. I used Infinity Reference but a lot of people use MBQs (some say they are a little 'bright' though).

REARS - you're already done here. But are they powered by the h/u? I suspect so as '02 only had a 4x40 amp. Unscrew the amp from firewall to see if P/O might have upgraded you to a 6x40 (doubtful). It will say clearly on the label. If not, then you have a couple of options:
- get a 2ch amp to piggyback and power only the rears (more work than really needed)
- swap in a 6x40W amp from a 996 (find on ebay or at a swap meet - just make sure you get one from a car w/ the same architecture - M490 or M680) easiest
- put in a whole new 6 ch amp to power it all
I found a used 6x40 on ebay for $75. Works great and looks OEM. Was easy to swap in - only had to wire up rears to it (pins 5/15 and 6/16 for your future reference)

DOORS - this one took some time for me (and others). Hopefully you can learn from our trial and errors [read mistakes]. First off, the amp has a filter built in which only allows low freq to go to the doors. The stock door speakers are 5.25" 2 Ohms in a custom 'tuned port'. In a nut shell, you'll never find a 5.25" speakers that will hit the lows you want (needing less than 80W power or so). I tried 3 different sets - 2 sounded worse than stock and the other was only "as good". So, if you really want to hear/feel some lows, save yourself time and scrap the tuned port completely. Just make custom baffles and mount some 6.5" or 6.75" in there (good news on this one for you later). You'll want a pair that has a freq response at/below 45Hz, impedence of 2 Ohm (to match OEM) and a sensitivity of 90 dB or higher. You'll still only get lows if using a HAES amp, but with a good quality speaker, you can just eliminate the crossover (since it's built into the amp) and only wire up the woofers. I chose Infinity Kappa 6.75"s here [finally] and they sound great. I'm not an audiophile, but do appreciate clean music. Here's a link to their specs.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-qywZsgezyvi/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=52100&tab=features_and_specs&i=1086527I#Tab
A very nice match to the system and accomplished all my goals. I used to keep the h/u set at +7 bass and loudness on. Since the swap, I actually now keep the loudness off and bass at +2 at most.

In short (not really at this point), I was amazed at the clarity the system has and the lows it now hits. I like the fact that everything looks absolutely stock, but sounds so much better.

Now for the good news, here are 2 great links for you to use which go into greater detail:
Upgrading the Boxsters Sound System w/out going broke (by Andy M from Renntech) - a nice comprehensive guide
http://boxster.wikia.com/images/b/b6/Boxster_speakers_update_article.pdf

A template to make custom door baffles use in conjuction w/ Andy M's guide above but easier to install - only uses the OEM holes (by some jerk named Burg Boxster)http://boxster.wikia.com/images/b/bf/Door_Baffle_Template.pdf

I stoppped there b/c I like the system now. In total, each step/upgrade took about 2-3hrs time but there was a lot of trial and error in there.

Good luck and feel free to PM w/ any questions.
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Old 02-21-2007, 05:38 PM   #3
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Wow, that's quite a response. Much appreciated.

I think I'm going to follow your advice. Thinking about getting the Infinity Kappa 42.7i (dash) and 652.7i (door). I used Infinity Reference in my previous car but found them a bit harsh (used to a pretty warm sound from my B&W home speakers). Hoping the Kappas are a little warmer, heard a lot of good stuff about them. I may even get a 6-channel amp if I can find a good deal. I take it you're OK with the Porsche amp (and "only" 40W/ch). I assume there aren't any crossover / gain adjustments in the stock amps. Are you saying that you were able to easily bypass the crossover in the door-speakers only powering the woofer? What's the crossover in the amp set to? Did you leave the stock speakers in the rear and just hooked to the new amp? Did you run wires from all the way in the back or did you pick them up by the headunit?
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Old 02-21-2007, 08:15 PM   #4
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Coming from an audiophile's perspective, use the old saying "crap in, crap out." The stock head unit isnt anything to write home about, but it is German and is a decent source. The stock amp is horribly underpowered and far from clean. The stock speakers are horrible as has already been discussed. If trying to stay on a budget, I would to the speakers and amp together, as there are so many decent amps to be had for a few hundred dollars, esp if one is willing to do used (craigslist, ebay, etc).

Most boxster installs we've done at the shop have been either a 5 1/4 2-way component (5 1/4 in the door, tweet up on the dash, removing the 4" driver) or 6 1/2 component (similar to the PDF that was posted earlier). You can mount a JL 6W0 sub in a small box up under the passenger footwell for some bass, but I dont think its worth it in a convertible. You'll get decent low end from a good 6 1/2 driven by a solid amp (i.e. not the stock excuse for an amp). Later, you can upgrade the head unit.

Patrick
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Old 02-22-2007, 05:50 AM   #5
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Is the 6-ch amp from the 996 the same design as the original 4-ch with just another two channels added or is it considered to be of better quality? What aftermarket 4 or 6ch amps have been used in the Box? There's not much room if you want to mount it in the same location which I'd prefer.
I'm definately going to go to a 6 1/2 or 6 3/4 in the doors. Don't think it's worth the hassle and expense putting a dedicated sub in this car.
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Old 02-22-2007, 06:38 AM   #6
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Yes 6 ch amp from 996 is same design - just has 2 more ch to power the rear speakers. In fact, it's the exact same size as the 4x40W amp.

Also, sent you a PM.
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Old 03-02-2007, 02:53 PM   #7
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Hi quick question:

Thank you for solving my dilemma of how to get more power to my rear speakers I just ordered a 6x40W amp off eBay.
Do I need to get the pins for the existing connector to the amp, and if yes would you know where i can get them?

Thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by Burg Boxster
- swap in a 6x40W amp from a 996 (find on ebay or at a swap meet - just make sure you get one from a car w/ the same architecture - M490 or M680) easiest
I found a used 6x40 on ebay for $75. Works great and looks OEM. Was easy to swap in - only had to wire up rears to it (pins 5/15 and 6/16 for your future reference)
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Old 03-02-2007, 04:20 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisZang
Hi quick question:

Thank you for solving my dilemma of how to get more power to my rear speakers I just ordered a 6x40W amp off eBay.
Do I need to get the pins for the existing connector to the amp, and if yes would you know where i can get them?

Thanks
Contact Harvey at harveypnp@comcast.net for his wire harness that will allow you to plug your rear speakers into your 6 channel amp. It comes with instructions. When I upgraded my 4 channel amp to the 6 channel amp, I sent him an e-mail (I bought his upgraded rear speaker kit earlier) and he sent the harness and instructions to me for just the cost of postage. He may charge you for the harness, but it won't be much.

Harvey is a super guy and very helpful.
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Old 03-02-2007, 08:06 PM   #9
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Many thanks

I just sent him an e-mail - I noticed that I bought the rear speaker kit from him exactly a year ago


Quote:
Originally Posted by Thumper
Contact Harvey at harveypnp@comcast.net for his wire harness that will allow you to plug your rear speakers into your 6 channel amp. It comes with instructions. When I upgraded my 4 channel amp to the 6 channel amp, I sent him an e-mail (I bought his upgraded rear speaker kit earlier) and he sent the harness and instructions to me for just the cost of postage. He may charge you for the harness, but it won't be much.

Harvey is a super guy and very helpful.
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Old 03-03-2007, 06:05 PM   #10
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The journey has begun...

Today I started the stereo upgrade. I started by replacing the dash speakers with Infinity Kappa 42.7i ($47 on ebay) speakers. The installation was easy using the bracket from the old speakers, about two hours total. For the time and money this upgrade is hard to beat. The improvement in sound quality is very noticeable. The soundstage is wide and coherent and detail and clarity is vastly improved without being harsh. The bass, although it can't be compared to a dedicted sub, is quite respectable from these little speakers. Tight and controlled. The 40W of the OEM is plenty to drive these speakers with their 93db sensitivity. If you want to upgrade your stereo on a budget this is the way to go.

With that said I've already ordered a pair of Kappa 62.7i for the doors ($60:-), a pair of Kappa 32.7cf for the rear ($39:-) and a 996 6ch amp ($75:-) to get some more power for the rears. Can't wait to get it all installed.

Last edited by stjoh; 03-03-2007 at 07:14 PM.
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Old 04-01-2007, 08:12 AM   #11
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I finally got it all installed. Like I hoped for it resulted in a major improvement in sound quality. I'd rank the upgrades in this sequence:

1, Dash speakers (huge improvement as desribed above)

2, Door speakers (tightened up the low-end and gave it a bit more punch and better extension)

3, Rear speakers (small improvement in soundstage)

4, 6ch Amp (very small improvement)

If I was to do this again I'd probably stop after steps 1 and 2 and only do steps 3 and 4 if I didn't have any rear speakers at all. Having them creates a nice rear-fill but upgrading to a better quality speaker and amplification did not result in a significant improvement in my mind.

Hope this is helpful to somebody.
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Old 04-01-2007, 11:14 AM   #12
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Did you build the custom baffles for the door or keep it stock and just change the speakers?
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Old 04-01-2007, 11:47 AM   #13
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I built the custom baffles so that I could fit the 6.5" Kappa's.
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Old 06-15-2012, 01:21 PM   #14
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HAES 40W Low Pass Filter Removal

Quote:
Originally Posted by Burg Boxster View Post
First off, the amp has a filter built in which only allows low freq to go to the doors.
I know this dates back to 2007.
Meanwhile much was said about the 986 sound upgrade.
One thing that bugs me is that I never read anywhere that this "built in" low pass filter could be eliminated. This would allow for regular door speakers (not tiny woofers) and, if using some other stereo than the original one, maybe an external woofer.
I have searched for the HAES 40W (Part Number 98664531100) schematic. If I do understand correctly there are two channels on this amp. One is filtered (the one for the door speakers) and the other is not. I wonder if anyone has ever compared the amp internals for both channels.
I could do that, but I would like to look at a schematic first. Any pointers to such a document?
Txs.

John

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