Exchanging Boxster Stereo head unit.
 

Hi
I have a 2001 Boxster and the stereo unit is failing. The unit keeps powering up and down as you drive along randomly. I have been told the contacts behind the front drop down panel are the problem but I have cleaned them to the point they are spotless and still the problem persists. The head unit is a Becker CR-22 with CD changer and amplifier unit. The question is can I buy a straight swap out head unit or do I have to get into changing the amplifier, I can live without the CD changer as I very rarely use it.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Regards
Paul

Installed a new Alpine head unit with the factory amplifier. I love it.

I bought an aftermarket unit from Crutchfield - I gained Bluetooth, USB and Aux in - plus with the variable color display, I can match the OEM dash lighting.

Sound is way better and a couple years ago, I had already installed the aftermarket kit for rear speakers in the rear storage shelf and with the stock unit, the rear speakers were not powered from the stock amp so they weren't as loud as the rest of the system. With the new unit, the pre amp outputs go through the stock Porsche amp and the rear speakers are powered by the head unit's internal power.

Crutchfield had some decent inexpensive options - since I mainly drive with the top down, I didn't need a high end solution. It was pretty much plug and play using their wiring harness adapter. Took me less than an hour to install.

I know you did ask, but my dash speakers were also going bad and I ended up replacing all my speakers (dash, door and the aftermarket kit in the rear storage shelf. That was a 200% improvement.

Vince

+1 for Crutchfield. Excellent customer service. Great product selections from bargain to top of the line.

I had a similar problem that caused the system to power down and then back up. Replaced with JVC BT unit. All good.

Hi everybody
Thanks for the reply's all who contributed. I was looking for a direct replacement to keep cost down, I don't use the stereo very often.
dghii was the JVC BT unit a straight swap for the original Becker unit? If it was do you have the model number
Thanks Paul

Crutchfield has tons of options under $100 and you could get away for $50 depending on what you wanted. I found aftermarket to be a better solution and cheaper than buying another used 15 year old stock unit.

Call and talk to them

vince

Was this just a staright head unit swap? I didnt think this was possible with the Porsche MOST system in the Boxster

I did this
 

It was one of the first things I did with my 2001 S, it was so easy and improved things so very much. The most difficult thing was getting the old head unit out.

Crutchfield is the way to go! Made everything very easy.

Crutchfields not an option :-(
 

Hi Again
Crutchfield looks like an amazing store there is however one slight problem, I'm in the UK. In the UK we have Halfords but they are useless, the shops are manned by young kids that you wouldn't let loose on a $200 car let alone a Porsche. From what I'm seeing it looks like a straight swap is not an option with the MOST amplifier uni which is a real pain in the a$$.
thanks
Paul

I did the same swap with a Kenwood BT unit, and kept the factory amp and eq. Just had to buy a wiring harness of amazon. $9 to wire it all up. It was a direct swap, with no extra brackets or anything need it. However when I did mine, I moved the climate control down, took the storage bin out, and used the extra space to install a tablet in the dash.

If you are wanting to keep costs down, you should replace the factory unit. The JVC unit I installed was $79 two years ago! I sold my factory unit for about $200 IIRC.

I'm sure JVC model numbers have changed and I don't ever remember what it is.

I would recommend considering two things...
1. Adjustable illumination colors ( to match rest of your cars illumination.
2. How easy does the unit connect (and reconnect) to BT?

My unit will connect every time but takes a good minute or two to establish a BT connection, very annoying on short trips.

I've seen a Sony unit that has a nice carbon looking faceplate and multi-color illumination for around $100 at Wally World. I don't know how quickly it will establish BT but cosmetically it would look very at home in the 986 dash.

BTW, get a factory harness adapter locally or at Amazing for under $15. Same for radio removal tools ($%). Installation is easy if you can solder a few wires.

Hi and once again thanks for the great help. is this the connector I need to pick up the audio to the amp from the new head unit.
Regards
Paul

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1489151259.jpg

This is my concern, one which nobody seems to address... I dont think it's a sealy as a head unit swap with the MOST system. You are probably looking at an amplifier swap too.

Can anyone with a 2001-2004 S conform if it's a straight head unit swap?
If so, I have a very good Parrot asteroid head unit with phone kit/microphone that I took out of my previous car that I could use.

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

For 2001 and 2002 I believe it is a straight swap, very easy and harnesses relatively easy to find to mate with the factory HU. And you can still use the factory amp if you want.

MOST systems are only in 2003 and 2004 986 cars. CDR-23 is in the HU in 2003, not sure on the 2004 (think it might be the same). If you have an amplifier in a MOST car (either the HiFi option, or Bose) - you will also have door "speakers" (actually subs), it is absolutely not a straight swap. If you don't have an amp at all, it is easier since the speaker wires are connected directly to the HU. The HU, amp and cd changer (if you have one) are all connected fiber-optically by the most bus. No aftermarket stuff is compatible. To replace the HU, you would either need to bypass the amp altogether (which requires running the speaker wires to the HU from the frunk where the amp is and thus the current speaker wires), or replace the amp with the HU which still requires running wires from the new HU to the new AMP, since the factory wiring does not have all of the necessary wires to connect a new HU to an AMP. It's also hard to find harness adapter kits that are plug and play to the factory HU and amp harnesses (it's been impossible for me so far). There is a company (cai-store.com) that can get you part of the way there, but there would still be some additional work.

That said, it's not THAT big a deal to replace the HU and amp, just requires some wiring and running wires between HU and frunk (where you would presumably place the new amp). Been done many times before, if you search you should be able to find quite a bit of info.

For your consideration:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1489206665.jpg

Thank you. This was the info that I was looking for. Yes it is the CDR 23 in my 2004 model also.

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New head unit fitted
 

Thanks everybody for the help in solving this problem. I purchased a JVC KD-R981BT in the end, it cost about £100 plus £15 for a connector.
The stereo came with a JVC to ISO A & B adapter and I purchased an ISO C to four RCA plug adapter. The process was very simple, I plugged the two adapters into the stereo and then into the existing car's wiring, the only extra connection was the red wire from pin 6 on the ISO C1 needed spicing into the switched feed to power the amplifier. This was the yellow wire in the stereos wiring.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1490037238.jpg