Rear speaker kit
 

Looking to buy the rear speaker kit for 2000 986-S. Any feedback from the group as to how it sounds and how much labor hours were involved to install? My local dealer quoted me 4.4 hours to do the job.

The installation is not hard - I wrote the instructions posted on the Boxster hacks site (http://iq.dynip.com/~gary/hacks/speaker/speaker.html). I spread it out over two nights with a couple of hours each night.

Sound is a dramatic improvement, but as many point out it is not going to make the sound system become world class. It simply makes it easier to hear the stereo because the speakers are so much closer to your ears.

I did this mod last week so I will break it down for you. The hardest part is cutting out the storages on the side,the rest is a piece of cake. I have almost no car knowledge and did it in 3 hours,your stealership is sticking it to ya. I bought my OEM parts through Mid-America on eBay for $198 shipped. You will need a glue gun,and dremel tool(I used a drill bit along the glue and slowly moved along the line) all other parts should be included in the kit. I did not have the chance to install the spun polyester like MNBoxster recommends but will in the near future. The wires for the speaker harness to the back of the receiver are not hard to route if you just run them under the passenger side panel,under the seat,and under the center console panel.MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT THE BATTERY SO YOUR AIRBAG SENSOR IS NOT TRIGGERED.
From the sound standpoint it isn't "Eclipse,MB Quart or Zapco" nice but it isnt neglectible at the same time. The rear speaker kit contains 2 midranges on each side,and custom brackets could be made to put a tweeter in place of a midrange if thats your taste. The OEM speaker kit helps to fill in the passenger cabin with support from the rear. It is almost as if it adds more presence(not lows,mids or highs) to the music,ESPECIALLY WITH THE TOP DOWN. Hopefully you have the Hi-Fi option in your car already because the combination of the two actually are tolerable even with the top down.

Hey Jim is that you? It's Adam from MAM. I'm glad you took my advise and posted up the question here. As I thought the stealership is trying to take you for a ride. Look around and get a better offer on labor costs or try to do it yourself if you have the time and patience. Give me a call and I'll get you out one of these speakers kits and wave the 14.99 S&H charge. Us boxster owners have to stick together! 199.99 out the door. These things are not going to last at this price. As far as the EVO intake thing goes here is the latest of many threads posted here about the topic.
http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5140&page=1&pp=20
Myself...I agree with Clubhead....I have a BMC high flow replacement panel and it seems to do the trick and I've had zero problems. I've looked around and this is the best price I've found
http://www.eagleday.com/pobmcpefi.html

JJT, I was sitting in my car last night in the garage after a quick drive listening to my stereo. The rear speaker kit install took me about 3 hours. The very thin piece of plastic along the bottom of the box was the most nerve-wracking thing to keep from breaking, but if you take your time, you'll be just fine.

While it will not make the look of your dash factory fresh, I highly recommend swapping the crappy Becker unit with an Alpine. I had mine wired with the pre-amp outs to my factory amp and factory speakers (plus the rear speaker kit) and the sound is far cleaner and there's far more separation between bass, midrange and high frequencies. Amazing difference.

My next project on the stereo system is to replace the dash speakers. Someone said MBQuartz drop right in, but I need to research that.

hey guys..which do you recommend. OEM kit or PNP..PNP swears that theirs is much better...? thanks.

Only reason why i would choose PNP is because their speakers are actually 3.5" speakers. The OEM speakers are a pain in the ass to replace...They are not standard size

I did the PnP kit for $225. Had it installed at a shop while other work was being done, but I estimate installation of the rear kit alone would be a little over $100. Doesn't seem like too much for the time and aggravation saved.

The sound on the PnP kit is fine for a row of 3.5" speakers. Like everyone said - don't expect it to change the whole stereo and don't expect them to sound good at a high volume. They do improve regular, everyday driving sound. Given the sound quality of any but the top end Porsche sound options, I don't expect the OEM rear speaker kit would be any better than the PnP. None of the other stock speakers were very impressive in my car.

It's me !!
 

Yes it's me Adam Such a Deal you're offering! I may take you up on it but will shop around first.

Not familiar
 

What's the PNP kit?? and what is the difference visually?

fill thecockpit
 

I hear ya. Not so much interested in world class sound, just wanted to more or less fill the cockpit with sound that is not loud in my ear. Plus, wanted to give the old girl an upgrade because I hated the speakers just being in the front and did not want togo with that digital sound fake sound package.

I have the PNP kit from Ebay. I only use these speakers when the top is up. When the top is down I only use the front speakers. You have to sacrifice some of the volume/depth from the front speakers to get the surround sound feel. The PNP guy said the 4 channell amp wasn't that much worse than getting a 6 channell amp for the two rear minis. On a 1 to 10 scale I would give this mod a 6.5
Personally I'd save the money for a V1 radar detector.

Use polyfill from a fabric store (NOT WALMART=EVIL) to fill the behind the speakers. Its like $2 for a large bag.

pnp kit
 

What is the PNP kit? can you send me something on that. I have the upgraded HI from the factory.

JJT-

I think this is the PNP kit:

ebay link

renntech thread

Sorry - haven't been on in a while and just saw the question about my post.

The PnP kit is an aftermarket rear speaker kit that you can find on eBay (just search for it). It's the same as OEM visually because it uses the OEM grills. You have to have the rear storage compartment to install into. The design of the speakers is similar to the OEM kit. It has 4 3.5" speakers in it, but you can swap thos out and replace them with better speakers if you want (though I doubt it would make much improvement). It's a good deal at $225 because it's all pre-wired and has those OEM grills. Like the other posters, I don't put much sound to the rears. They're too small to do a lot, but at moderate volume you can get a little sound from the back and improve the overall acoustics in the car. I suspect that it will help on the highway with the top down, but I haven't really tried that yet. The rear speakers won't do anything stellar for you, but it's a relatively inexpensive mod and given the limited space for speakers in the car I'll take all I can get...

I did the PnP kit due to the improved quality of the speakers. But don't run them off of the head unit, as they'll only be getting 18 watts instead of the 40 watts that the fronts get. I also added the 6 channel amp, which really made the difference. Harvey at PnP also makes an amplifier upgrade kit that is really slick. It adds much more power to the rear speakers (they can easily handle it), but a Boxster is more about the driving experience than being a platform for an audiophile enjoying music.

I put the PnP kit in the back and with the factory stereo, it did need more amplification to level it out, but not much! Another amp back there would blow me out of my seat and make it imbalanced from rear to front in my opinion.

When I put the Alpine head unit in the car, and had it wired with preamp connections to my existing amp, that changed everything. The rear speakers had to be cut waaaaay back to balance them out.

I think a lot of this issue has to do with what head unit and amp combination is used. The factory Becker units are simply sub standard in most every way. The only saving grace with keeping one is that the center console looks uniform. But that's the ONLY thing I like about them. Once again, this is only my opinion and you may freely disagree with me.

Bought the PNP kit today and also a 2 channel amp to power the rears..will let you know how it sounds...