another radio swap thread
#18
forgive me if this has been re-hashed 100x...
i need to swap out my radio. It died and so i'm interested in putting a decent Kenwood unit. I *do* have the Bose amp and speakers. The local "high end" shop here suggested that i just bypass the amp entirely ...thus no need to spend 700 on the ITNAV system. So if i go down this path i'd be driving all the speakers from the head unit.
i need to swap out my radio. It died and so i'm interested in putting a decent Kenwood unit. I *do* have the Bose amp and speakers. The local "high end" shop here suggested that i just bypass the amp entirely ...thus no need to spend 700 on the ITNAV system. So if i go down this path i'd be driving all the speakers from the head unit.
It would be a sound DOWNGRADE to remove the Bose amp but keep the stock Bose speakers. The reason is that the Bose amp has active EQ that corrects for the frequency response of the speakers and the cabin as well as level-sets each loudspeaker driver. If you take it out, your audio shop will have to do all that tuning themselves, and it's likely they won't be able to match the Bose corrections unless you're paying for a few hours of labor (and there's still no guarantee). The one thing Bose is REALLY good at is producing passable sound using the absolute cheapest materials (in my opinion), and electronic correction is one way to do this.
The other issue is that I seem to remember that the Bose drives have very low impedance (it's been a while) - if that's true, then the impedance will be too low for the amp built into the HU to run, and it'll either cut out or heat up your dash.
question - is this a mistake? that is, do you think the sound will be worse than driving the sound thru the Bose Amp.
question 2 - if i need an amp to drive the various speakers i would think it would be cheaper to install a new amp and remove the Bose amp. I would think for the price of the ITNAV you could buy a decent amp. Am i missing something?
question 3 - does anyone has a layout of the what speakers are where? for example i don't think there's a sub in this car nor do i really know how many speakers there are and if each one is driven directly from Bose Amp or is there some external cross over somewhere.
#19
The $99 MOST adaptors are really just "aux-in"-to-MOST devices. It's just two channels of audio and that's it. The Nav-TV MOST-HUR also includes CANBUS integration, which can make installations easier. There are ways around that, but it can make things better. NAV-TV also has firmware customization files and seems to have a good bit of knowledge of how the bus and devices work.
The Bose amp (on my 997.2) puts out 7 channels of speaker level output, counting the center channel(1ch), the tweets/mids on the dash and doors(2ch), the door woofers(2ch) and the rears(2ch). It puts line-level output to the subwoofer. . Looking at the inside of the Bose amp shows it can provide up to 10 channels of speaker level outputs. It also has an Analog Devices SHARC DSP in it. It provides LPF/HPF crossover filtering for the speakers and LPF for the line-level sub output. (sub has its on power amp). The system does indeed play DVD-audio Dolby 2.1 and Dolby 5.1, but I'm not sure if the decoding happens in the head unit or the Bose amp.
For whatever reason, the aftermarket MOST devices can only put 2 channel audio onto the MOST bus. That's why none of them can find. Not sure the exact reason, could be a proprietary encoding format in the PCM/Bose system, or it could be difficult building the hardware/software for the adaptors.
On the other hand, $600 is enough budget to buy any number of good mini amps that will fit in the same spot as the Bose unit.
I'm going down the same decision tree. Leave it alone, upgrade it piecemeal myself, or go whole hog and have a really good shop do it, who've done a lot of these including the tuning.
The Bose amp (on my 997.2) puts out 7 channels of speaker level output, counting the center channel(1ch), the tweets/mids on the dash and doors(2ch), the door woofers(2ch) and the rears(2ch). It puts line-level output to the subwoofer. . Looking at the inside of the Bose amp shows it can provide up to 10 channels of speaker level outputs. It also has an Analog Devices SHARC DSP in it. It provides LPF/HPF crossover filtering for the speakers and LPF for the line-level sub output. (sub has its on power amp). The system does indeed play DVD-audio Dolby 2.1 and Dolby 5.1, but I'm not sure if the decoding happens in the head unit or the Bose amp.
For whatever reason, the aftermarket MOST devices can only put 2 channel audio onto the MOST bus. That's why none of them can find. Not sure the exact reason, could be a proprietary encoding format in the PCM/Bose system, or it could be difficult building the hardware/software for the adaptors.
On the other hand, $600 is enough budget to buy any number of good mini amps that will fit in the same spot as the Bose unit.
I'm going down the same decision tree. Leave it alone, upgrade it piecemeal myself, or go whole hog and have a really good shop do it, who've done a lot of these including the tuning.
#20
I have an '08 997 cab and earlier this year I replaced the head unit with the Pioneer NEX and could not be happier. I now have nav (from my iphone), apple play with Pandora, backup camera, bluetooth, can use the "hey siri" function to make phone calls without pushing a button. and have great sound. I did go with the HUR expensive adapter and had a shop do a professional installation. My new setup is actually better than the pre-apple play 2015 setup in a Macan. Zero degradation in sound compared to the old head unit which had a nav system which looked like it was from an old atari game. The shop i used is in Marina Del Rey California and I went with them because they do a ton of 997 stereo and aftermarket light installations (I kept my lights stock... I bought the car used and it came with a NAV TV ipod cable which worked intermittently. I was tired of wasting time troubleshooting the old setup and upgraded to the 21st century.
#21
What do you guys think of the Dynavin- seems like a nice unit that included the MOST adapter and looks like a clean OEM look https://www.jandtdistributing.com/co...nt=44134857677
#23
I have an '08 997 cab and earlier this year I replaced the head unit with the Pioneer NEX and could not be happier. I now have nav (from my iphone), apple play with Pandora, backup camera, bluetooth, can use the "hey siri" function to make phone calls without pushing a button. and have great sound. I did go with the HUR expensive adapter and had a shop do a professional installation. My new setup is actually better than the pre-apple play 2015 setup in a Macan. Zero degradation in sound compared to the old head unit which had a nav system which looked like it was from an old atari game. The shop i used is in Marina Del Rey California and I went with them because they do a ton of 997 stereo and aftermarket light installations (I kept my lights stock... I bought the car used and it came with a NAV TV ipod cable which worked intermittently. I was tired of wasting time troubleshooting the old setup and upgraded to the 21st century.
Where did they mount the backup camera?
#24
Attach the amazon antenna adapter to the two antenna leads from the car (yellow and black on my car) and the other end, a motorola antenna connector, goes into the radio. Now here's the trick- the blue antenna turn on lead from the radio, connects to BOTH the little blue lead from the antenna adapter and ALSO to the white wire on the cars wire harness. That white wire turns on the car's powered antenna. I used a 24ga wire tap similar to this
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ginsco-67pcs-24-10-AWG-Quick-Splice-Solderless-Wire-and-T-Tap-Electrical-Connect/263437118527?epid=1592824492&hash=item3d56136c3f:g :XakAAOSwoPpaXAJO
after that, it was just reassembly of the radio and interior bits, and then cross your fingers everything works perfectly. Note that FM reception was never that great even with the factory radio, at least for me, so don't expect it to be great after the upgrade.
HTH.[/QUOTE]
Could you confirm which white wire was used I have the bose system the cars power harness is connected (white/red) however I believe that the bose is amp turn on. The CAN bus harness has another white wire that may be the antenna amp.I don't have the special adapter you link to I will order one and give it a shot.TIA
Jay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ginsco-67pcs-24-10-AWG-Quick-Splice-Solderless-Wire-and-T-Tap-Electrical-Connect/263437118527?epid=1592824492&hash=item3d56136c3f:g :XakAAOSwoPpaXAJO
after that, it was just reassembly of the radio and interior bits, and then cross your fingers everything works perfectly. Note that FM reception was never that great even with the factory radio, at least for me, so don't expect it to be great after the upgrade.
HTH.[/QUOTE]
Could you confirm which white wire was used I have the bose system the cars power harness is connected (white/red) however I believe that the bose is amp turn on. The CAN bus harness has another white wire that may be the antenna amp.I don't have the special adapter you link to I will order one and give it a shot.TIA
Jay
Last edited by jayi836; 01-02-2019 at 10:45 AM.
#25
When I got my 2006 4S Cabriolet about 2 years ago, the sound system was my first big upgrade. I replaced the head unit with the Kenwood DDX9903S which gave me Android Auto, got a backup camera, replaced the amp with a JL Audio 400w 4 channel amp, and replaced all the speakers (except the sub) with Focal Flax PS 165 F3 speakers. I could not be happier! Sound is insane, love Android Auto, interface for my iPod, and the hands free speaker phone and of course the back up camera.
#26
When I got my 2006 4S Cabriolet about 2 years ago, the sound system was my first big upgrade. I replaced the head unit with the Kenwood DDX9903S which gave me Android Auto, got a backup camera, replaced the amp with a JL Audio 400w 4 channel amp, and replaced all the speakers (except the sub) with Focal Flax PS 165 F3 speakers. I could not be happier! Sound is insane, love Android Auto, interface for my iPod, and the hands free speaker phone and of course the back up camera.
#27
All in, just under $5K. But worth it to me. Just the fact that I can be living my dream, driving a 911 with the top down at 100mph and hear the stereo perfectly cranked to some Van Halen blisses me out. Can't wait for that first top down day in 2019. Almost 50 Saturday in Chicago.....
#29
Question regarding installing a new amp and head unit at the same time. Is it likely or even possible to use the pre-amp outs of the HU while the HE also powers the rear speakers at the same time? Or does the HU switch off amplification if it detects the pre-amp out stages are connected to something?
Considering using the HU to drive the rear fill-in speakers and using the 4 pre-amp line outputs to drive a 4-way amp for the four front channels. Is this possible or just rubbish?
Decent 4-way amp is have the price of similar 6-way amp.
Considering using the HU to drive the rear fill-in speakers and using the 4 pre-amp line outputs to drive a 4-way amp for the four front channels. Is this possible or just rubbish?
Decent 4-way amp is have the price of similar 6-way amp.
#30
Question regarding installing a new amp and head unit at the same time. Is it likely or even possible to use the pre-amp outs of the HU while the HE also powers the rear speakers at the same time? Or does the HU switch off amplification if it detects the pre-amp out stages are connected to something?
Considering using the HU to drive the rear fill-in speakers and using the 4 pre-amp line outputs to drive a 4-way amp for the four front channels. Is this possible or just rubbish?
Decent 4-way amp is have the price of similar 6-way amp.
Considering using the HU to drive the rear fill-in speakers and using the 4 pre-amp line outputs to drive a 4-way amp for the four front channels. Is this possible or just rubbish?
Decent 4-way amp is have the price of similar 6-way amp.