Help with stereo upgrade

[9864ever]

Hi all, I have a 2003 Boxster S with a dead Bose stereo - I bought it this way as it never worked.

The head unit turns on and I can change stations and everything looks normal but there is no sound.
I did all the troubleshooting I could but I imagine it's the amp that is dead.

I was thinking of swapping it out with a double din head unit (i have the bracket already) and want to know if the head unit can power the dash and door speakers. I would get an amp to run the box behind the seats. Would that work?

I don't mind rewiring the whole thing but wonder if this would be an easy solution as I don't want to have more than one amplifier.
Thoughts?

[Starter986]

Sounds good. Put the new amp in the frunk (front). Try a forum search... there's a lot of ressources on how to thread/run wires... connect the amp... etc.

[KevinH1990]

To answer your specific question, a good head unit can power the dash and door speakers. The issue you will need to address is that the speakers in the doors are not full range speakers. They are designed to transmit low-range sound, but they aren't subwoofers. When I upgraded my sound system, I replaced the door speakers with low-range components and powered them from the subwoofer output of my head unit using an amplifier. If you put full-range speakers in the doors, they would probably sound okays using the rear speaker output of the head unit. You can see how I addressed the door speaker issue in this thread. https://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/79558-door-speaker-recommendations.html

Another complicating factor for your car is that you have the MOST audio interface. (MOST is an acronym for Media Oriented Systems Transport.) This is a fiber optic system that will require special attention when you upgrade your system.

I don't have this system in my car, and I don't have any hands-on experience with it. There were adapters on the market that might make your job a bit easier when you upgrade if they are still available. I suggest that when you search for instructions on the work that you make sure the guidance applies to the MOST system. You may want to consider a company such as Crutchfield that provides vehicle-specific support with their products.

The speakers in my car without the Bose system were of poor quality. I found that replacing the speakers with better components and adding speakers to the rear storage compartment made a significant difference in the sound quality.

I also recommend that you consider a double-DIN unit with Apple CarPlay or Android Audio. It makes the car feel more contemporary. I installed the double-DIN unit in my Boxster before Apple CarPlay was available. I have Apple CarPlay in another car and I will add it to the Boxster if my current unit ever needs replacement.

Good luck with your project.

[9864ever]

Thanks guys for your help. I think I will start off with a double din head unit to power the dash and door speakers and get a separate amp to power the sub behind the seats.

The sub box also has some tweeters or horns in the top middle which might make wiring complicated going to a new amp. Do you know what the wiring looks like for the sub and how it all connects? I imagine I need to rewire that as well making the tweets a separate channel maybe?

As for the MOST fiberoptic system, If i am changing everything less the speakers (For now) can't I just leave that system disconnected or remove it altogether? Will do some research on it.
Thanks!

[9864ever]

I though wiring the door and dash speakers to the deck might be easy but it sure isn't These wires run through the firewall to the amplifier. I thought about tapping into the wires somewhere from the cabin but it looks like they are wrapped tightly in a 1" loom with tons of other wires so that's not going to be easy. Looks like I have to run new wires unless someone has any ideas?

[9864ever]

I did a workaround in case anyone wants to know. I soldered new wires onto the existing 4 speaker wires in the frunk where the amp was. I then ran those through the firewall and connected to the head unit. This was the easiest solution and worked quite well.

[Roblav]

The best stereo upgrade is radio delete!