Dash Speakers - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Jbocio · 01-04-2012, 06:34 PM

I am in need to purchase new dash speakers because one of mine recently blew. So just wondering, for the ones that have changed their dash's out,
Which ones did you get.
How do they perform
And did you need to do the whole special speaker replacement job for them like in this video?

Porsche Boxster Speaker Replacement - YouTube

Skeefy · 01-05-2012, 06:15 PM

I did a very similar swap and used Polk db series speakers.

DenverSteve · 01-05-2012, 07:09 PM

Polk's are great. I would take it to a good stereo shop and have them install new speakers.

Mrmaddbrad · 01-05-2012, 07:15 PM

I always kind of assumed that they were a coaxial system. They're not? Its just one speaker? No tweeter like it looks?

j.fro · 01-06-2012, 02:00 AM

I swapped mine out for Infinity Kappa speakers and the sound is much better. And yes, you must do the surgery as seen in the video. It's not that bad of a job, though. I didn't bother with the soldering - I just plugged the old wires to the new speakers. Be sure to get the + and - matched up correctly.

ericinca · 01-06-2012, 07:52 AM

I also put in the Infinity Kappa speakers (along with a new amp) and it sounds a lot better.

There is a bolt on the passenger side inside where the speaker sits that sticks out too high for some speakers. It will have to be ground down a bit to accommodate speakers with a slightly thicker depth (which was the case for the Infinity Kappas).

Jbocio · 01-06-2012, 09:20 AM

I've had my eyes on the Kappa's for a few days now, but with the reviews and things I'm hearing about the Polk DB's, they are sounding like a better choice right now, and for a good $20 cheaper than the kappas as well..

@Ericina What amp did you get? And how was the fit in the frunk compared to the stock amp?

ericinca · 01-06-2012, 09:57 AM

I don't want to get into religious discussions here... but here goes. Before I was a 986 guy, I was an audiophile of sorts. I've purchased both Infinity and Polk speakers for my various cars in my life. My first set of car speakers were from Polk. I found the Polk to be too bright that my ears started hurting after listening to them for a while. I then found the sound of Infinity speakers to be warm and neutral and have been an Infinity customer ever since, both for car and home. I have believed that Polk is good at marketing but may not have the best products (FWIW, I believe the same about Bose), but I also believe Infinity lacks in marketing but has some of the best products. (That may not be a fair assessment.) Ultimately, the speakers you decide on should appeal to your personal tastes.

In terms of the amp, I also got an Infinity amp. It replaced my old front-trunk HAES amp. I couldn't figure out how to do it well myself well, so I took it to an audio installer, who did the installation with very reasonable cost. I have to say he did a bang up job. The amp is mounted in the same place where the old amp was, and the bracket is gone. The installation looks stock, with the exception of course that it doesn't look like a HAES amp!

Good luck!

Eric

thstone · 01-06-2012, 10:02 AM

Thanks to everyone. I have the same problem that my dash speakers are failing and I have been wondering if this was something that I could tackle myself. I am going to try this upgrade this weekend if I can find some speakers locally.

And yes, I was kind of shocked to see in the video that there isn't a three-way speaker under the dash grille! WTF is that grille design all about Porsche? Seems like a bit of trickery.

coreseller · 01-06-2012, 10:44 AM

I replaced the stock dash and door speakers with Polks' DB series, bought them from Amazon. Sounded great to me, (so good that I just replaced the F & R speakers in my 911 with the same series Polks) price was very reasonable and the project was fairly simple and straight forward following the online DIY instructions. For ~ $100 you'd be hard pressed to find another upgrade that would be as cost effective, JMHO.

ChrisZang · 01-06-2012, 01:34 PM

Question for all of you who put in aftermarket speakers:
The OEM speakers have an odd-sized diameter, and speakers with that exact diameter are very hard to find. How did you make your aftermarket speakers fit?
In my case it was LOTS of glue from a hot glue gun, but I am sure that there must be better solutions out there

Bala · 01-06-2012, 03:34 PM

Chris,
Mine had all after market spakers - dash, doors and rear 4. Although the sizes were same the holes did not match. They had drilled new holes for the door ones and the rears. But, the rear has the plastic slide in piece altered to fit the AM ones. Haven't removed the dash yet.

thstone · 01-06-2012, 04:53 PM

I bought some new speakers this afternoon and am in the middle of the job. Will post pic's tomorrow.

Chris - I used 5 min epoxy to attach the new speakers to the old speaker "frame". Hot glue was my 2nd choice!

ericinca · 01-07-2012, 09:24 AM

@Chris, there is an after-market plastic bracket designed just for the 986/996 that you can buy that will accommodate the after market speakers. 4.5" inch speakers will attach to the dash grille without problem. Just look on the boards or on the Internet. They are inexpensive and simplify installation.

Still, most speakers come with the standard 4 screw mounts and you will have to cut off one of the screw mounts to accommodate the odd fit that the dash grille has. It takes a little effort but after market speakers will definitely fit in there.

thstone · 01-07-2012, 02:01 PM

Here is my install of new dash speakers. I have the Porsche base stock stereo system with the CDR-220 head unit, amp in the frunk, and subwoofers in the doors.

I was simply looking for a replacement for the OEM dash speakers because they were badly distorting the sound (meaning just about blown). The new Alpine SPS-410's are very reasonably priced at $59 for the pair. They also fit height-wise without modification. Overall, they sound nicer than the stock speakers but aren't audiophile grade.

After removing the stock speakers, it turns out that there was a 4" speaker and 1" tweeter from the factory. This was different from the YouTube video so this was a bit of a surprise.

I started by unsoldering the wires to the 4" speaker and the tweeter and the removed the three screws holding the 4" stock speaker to the grille.

The stock 4" speaker was pretty old looking and the rubber gasket connecting the paper cone to the edge of the speaker broke apart with a very slight touch of my finger. This confirmed what I was hearing such that the speakers were deteriorated and ready to be replaced.

Next, I used a Dremel to cut the old speaker bracket pretty much as shown in the YouTube video being sure to leave the stock wire harness connector. The Dremel made this part of the job easy. I also hand sanded the old adhesive from the inside lip where the new speaker will mount to improve adhesion.

Next, I cut down the four mounting tabs from the Alpine speakers using the Dremel so the Apine speaker would fit into the old bracket.

Next I used 5 min epoxy to glue the new speaker into the bracket. Super glue or hot glue would also work.

Last, I attached the new speaker to the grille and then soldered the new speaker and the tweeter to the wire harness connector. I had to do a little bit of fine fit work on the grille with the Dremel so the grille would fit flush with the old speaker bracket (cut small slots where the mounting tabs for the Alpine speaker still sticks out some). Again, the Dremel made this quick and easy. I left as much of the Alpine mounting tab as I could to increase the glue area between the Alpine speaker and the old bracket but if you cut the tabs completely off then you won't have to worry about this final trim step (just be sure to center the speaker in the grille when you glue it).

Finally, I re-installed the speakers/grilles back into the car. Overall, a nice and relatively easy 2-3 hr garage project. Stock stereo now sounds much better than the 12 yr-old deteriorated OEM speakers.

bar10dah · 01-08-2012, 02:07 PM

Since your replacement speakers were coaxial, any reason, other than just because they're there, to reattach the OEM tweets?

Thanks for your write-up and photos. I'm considering the SPS-410 for the dash, like you installed, and SPS-510 for the doors. Crutchfield has an Alpine sale going on which brings cost down to $125 for all four speakers.

thstone · 01-09-2012, 10:31 AM

Yeah, I reattached the OEM tweeters just because they were there. Probably not required.

The SPS-410's sound better than my 12 yr-old nearly blown OEM speakers but don't expect concert hall quality. I'd say that they are a good and very affordable OEM replacement.

Jbocio · 01-10-2012, 09:02 AM

Thanks for the run through Stone, Glad to hear you got it done smoothly.
I've ordered the Polk DB's and hopefully it will fit as without hassle and as smoothly as the others.

yeti · 01-24-2012, 10:03 AM

Good thread. My stock driver side speaker was blown out. I replaced my dash speakers over the weekend with the Alpine units and am happy to have stereo sound again!

Jbocio · 01-24-2012, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yeti

Good thread. My stock driver side speaker was blown out. I replaced my dash speakers over the weekend with the Alpine units and am happy to have stereo sound again!

Yes I just finished mine as well, sounds great. Installation process went smoothly. Took about 3 hours or so. Pretty good for somebody who isn't a pro at sound systems I would say.