upgrading the car stereo for 986

[bauxulus]

Hi,...I intent to upgrade my stereo in my 986....

- who has done that before and can share experiences
- which speakers in the dashboard?
- where to put the power amp?
- ....

any comment is appreciated

[Chippy]

I mounted my amp and crossovers in the bottom of the front boot.

I replaced the dash speakers with Jehnerts (they are replacement dash pods, so literally swap them over, and Jehnert door pods. The pods attach to the door cards and house 2 x 160mm woofers in each side. It was much easier to fit these than to try and retrofit (I had no door speakers at all) the OEM ones, probably worked out cheaper too.

A few pics of the door pods and amp :







Wiring was easy enough with the door wiring going through the wings behind the headlights and then into the front boot through so bunged holes that exist there, then under the carpet, all nice and neat and hidden. A straightened wire coathanger with the ends bend over and taped with electrical tape was great feeding the cable through tight spaces.

[Burg Boxster]

Chippy- looks like you went full tilt and converted your car to a RHD too

[CA_Boxster]

Originally Posted by bauxulus

Hi,...I intent to upgrade my stereo in my 986....

- who has done that before and can share experiences
- which speakers in the dashboard?
- where to put the power amp?
- ....

any comment is appreciated

There were a couple really good write-ups in the past. One person did a great job of documenting all the instructions for taking the panels apart, listed the speakers, amp and head unit he added and why (i.e., fit issues, mounting depth, etc.). Do a search and you'll come up with a list of good posts. There's not a lot you can do with the space you have so find one or two of the more detailed threads on here and you'll know everything.

[CA_Boxster]

Chippy,

I'm liking that Jehnert setup. I've never seen that stuff before. How do their prices run?

[Chippy]

I think the whole setup went something like:-

Amp - GBP250 (You can actually get away with only a two channel amp, as the the crossovers have one input (per side of car) and three outs - one to the door, one to the dash midrange and one to the dash tweeter.

Headunit - GBP165 (I needed a HU with preouts)

Speakers - GBP650(ish) - That's for the door pods and speakers, dash pods which have mid and tweets, two crossovers and the template to make the cutouts in the door card. In my opinion they are far easier to fit than the DIY option if you haven't already got any door speakers.

[CA_Boxster]

My current HU and amp are probably sufficient. I have the door speakers already and have upgraded those to 6.5" woofers, but I like that Jehnert mod with the 2 6" woofers per side. I wanted to keep it looking stock when I did my stuff but that pod looks pretty good. They're not cheap but at least they have good MB Quart speakers already built into that price for the pods.

Jehnert also has some interesting stuff on their web site for the rear speaker box.

[Thumper]

Is there a US source for the Jehnert products?