AVIC F700BT installed - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

ChrisZang · 02-12-2009, 03:30 PM

I replaced my aged CDR-220 with a Pioneer AVIC F700BT.
The main reason was that I got tired of all the clutter in my car: GPS hanging from the windshield, XM receiver hanging off the center console, iPod in the center console.

Now everything is neat, the iPod is tucked away in the storage compartment and the system looks absolutely stock (if anyone is interested I'll post some pics over the weekend). The installation (for which I took my time) took about one day.

Total cost (all from eBay)
AVIC F700BT $380
installation kit $160
XM receiver $60
iPod cable $35

sold old CDR-220 on eBay -$170
sold old GPS on eBay $-75

Total cost $390 - 100% happy with it

ocdbilly · 02-13-2009, 07:15 AM

Pics would be great!!

nefarious986 · 02-13-2009, 09:34 AM

Subscribed. Eagerly waiting for pix.

ChrisZang · 02-13-2009, 03:00 PM

i just snapped two pics with my phone, not the greatest quality...

icedude · 02-13-2009, 04:01 PM

That fits very nicely in there. Did you install it yourself or have it professionally installed? If professionally installed, about how much did it cost? If you did, how difficult was it?

ChrisZang · 02-13-2009, 04:22 PM

I installed it myself, on a scale of 1 to 10, maybe a 5, the biggest problems were:
a) to route the iPod cable to the center cubby as you have to take the center console out
b) to get the head unit back in the hole with tons of cables hanging from the back
c) to do a nice job with the dremel tool
d) placement of the GPS and XM antennas

Here is a list of links I used to get the job done:
http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=19074&hl=double%20din
DIY Instructions - Avic D3 Installation
Best place for GPS antena
http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=20442&st=0&p=105137&#entry105137
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/996/84794-finished-kenwood-dvd-nav-install-ac-control-mod-pics-some-diy-stuff.html

by the way the guy who posted the first thread (trieullionaire) is also the guy who sells the mounting harness on eBay, I HIGHLY recommend to get the harness
w/o the harness it would have been a 9 or 10

icedude · 02-13-2009, 05:10 PM

I'm very handy but the thought of a power tool to do a radio install scares me. What was that needed for? I saw the install kit here as well:

http://stores.ebay.com/Euromotorspeed

Also was the wiring pretty straight forward?Thanks again It looks great

icedude · 02-13-2009, 05:11 PM

Where did you put each of those? I'm very picky to have a clean look with no exposed cables. I want it to look stock or as close to possible.

TriGem2k · 02-13-2009, 05:33 PM

Nice work I have the same install with an Avic-F90BT. I love it.

ChrisZang · 02-13-2009, 09:44 PM

You need the dremel to cut the little plastic bridge which separates the cup holders from the CDR-220
With the install kit the wiring is totally easy, all connectors/adapters are included

Quote:

Originally Posted by icedude

I'm very handy but the thought of a power tool to do a radio install scares me. What was that needed for? I saw the install kit here as well:

http://stores.ebay.com/Euromotorspeed

Also was the wiring pretty straight forward?Thanks again It looks great

ChrisZang · 02-13-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icedude

Where did you put each of those? I'm very picky to have a clean look with no exposed cables. I want it to look stock or as close to possible.

Right, same here, that was one of my main drivers for this installation.

Currently both antennas are below the cabin air filter, see this link:
Best place for GPS antena
this works great for the GPS, unfortunately not so great for the XM.

So I am planning to relocate the XM antenna where the OEM GPS antenna would be, next to the alarm indicator:
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/996/84794-finished-kenwood-dvd-nav-install-ac-control-mod-pics-some-diy-stuff.html

I hope that this will work better....

edevlin · 02-14-2009, 02:33 AM

Looks cool, the clutter of the GPS is what drove me to do a similar install, enjoy.

Ed

icedude · 02-14-2009, 08:30 AM

I plan on doing what you did with the GPS antenna next to the filter and the XM antenna on the dash under the alarm light cover as mentioned on the posts. I'll have to do the same with the Ipod adapter as you. Where did the XM receiver go?

ChrisZang · 02-14-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icedude

I plan on doing what you did with the GPS antenna next to the filter and the XM antenna on the dash under the alarm light cover as mentioned on the posts. I'll have to do the same with the Ipod adapter as you. Where did the XM receiver go?

First of all if I compare the size of the Pioneer XM receiver with the size of the unit I had from XM before I must say this is a joke: the Pioneer XM receiver is almost the size of a small laptop, so hiding this is indeed a challenge.

Fortunately the cables are long enough so I found that if I remove the styrofoam covering above the passenger's footspace there is enough space on the very right side to squeeze in the XM receiver, hard to describe, open it up and try and then it's pretty obvious. I have wrapped the XM receiver in thin styrofoam packing material so that it doesn't rattle against the metal of the right fender

ChrisZang · 02-18-2009, 10:26 AM

Quick update:

I relocated the XM antenna under the OEM cover (by the alarm sensor), but the improvements are marginal compared to the location I had it before (cabin air filter).
So I guess the best location would be on the rear trunk by the 3rd brake light.

Does anyone have a better recommendation for placing the XM antenna. Just as a reminder XM is much more receptible to short losses of signal than GPS.
Meaning a location which is great for placing the GPS antenna might be not-so-great for XM

ChrisZang · 02-20-2009, 04:02 PM

One more observation/caution:

I kept the Porsche OEM amp which was in the car (well actually it's a 6-channel amp from a 996, but otherwise it's identical). In any case: the level from the line outputs from the AVIC is not high enough to drive this amp, so the volume is kind of low. It's just loud enough in the highest volume setting. So I will need to install a Line Driver Signal Amplifier (a.k.a. "pre-amp").
This would not have been an issue had I bought the (more expensive) AVIC F90BT as this has 4 Volt line outputs

trieullionaire · 02-20-2009, 09:51 PM

Hey Chris,

I recommend bypassing the factory amp and use the built in amp of the headunit. I found that using the line level speaker wires from the headunit direct to the speakers was by far the best option if you don't want to spend money on an aftermarket amp. When I had the cdr220 with the stock amp (HAES 4x40 watt), the sound wasn't quite loud enough (mouse squeek when your on the highway)..when I installed the Avic D3, the output level was still horrible. Sound inhibitor imho.

Anyhow, I remembered in my previous car I had a set of polk audio speakers that was wired direct to my Pioneer and it sounded awesome. So I applied the same logic here and am much happy with this set up than using the factory amp. You just need the color codes for the wires so you can tap into it instead of cutting the amp harness up...which if I look hard I'm sure I can find it again somewhere...otherwise, if you look at the actual speakers in your car, you'll see the colors of the wires as well.

My current set up, I have the dash and rear speakers driven by the Avic D3. And the door subs, I have it hooked to a Kicker 2 Channel amp.

Other than this, replace the factory speakers with something descent and you should be pretty satisfied with the results it produces.

ChrisZang · 02-21-2009, 08:39 AM

Hi,

thanks for the advise. I started with the rear speakers (as this was the easiest to do, I still had the matching harness lying around from a different project) and it's a huge improvement. But now I am facing the dilemma that I have two pair of speakers (dash and doors) left and only one pair of amp outputs on the AVIC ....
So my plan is to drive the dash speakers via the built in amp from the AVIC and drive the door speakers with the OEM amp plus line driver pre-amp