gizmo750
New member
Jon Mitchell's speaker upgrades in my 996
Some of you might have seen my posts when I got my 996 last year relating to stereo's, speakers and general sound set-up and also seen my posts that I was looking to do something with the speakers. Well, I promised a write up when it was sorted out and here it is:
When I got my car it had the optional speaker upgrade kit (with the extra speakers in the door pods) and the standard single slot CD player (CDR22?). I wanted to integrate all my in-car requirements into one unit (radio, ipod integration, sat nav, Bluetooth handsfree etc) rather than have loads of different bits of kit all over the place. In the end I settled on the Pioneer D3Bti and a great piece of kit it is too.
Sadly, this nice new head unit and all of its clever facilities really showed up the poor speakers that are fitted as standard to the 996 (I think they are Nokia units). They are unable to handle any real bass and are all too easy to distort at higher, although not stupidly loud, volumes. In addition I didn't think that the sound from them was especially clear. So, I started looking into options for replacing or enhancing the speakers.
Firstly I considered the Bose upgrade but it's a. hard to find secondhand, b. incredibly expensive to buy and c. I have read that it is not all I would hope from the name. So I decided to look about and see what else was available in the market. It soon became apparent that there wasn't much in the way of "plug and play" options. This has a lot to do with both the unusual sizes and mountings of the standard Porsche speakers. I have seen many differing ways of retaining speaker units with four mounting points where the Porsche ones have three "" but none that really looked "proper". I spoke to local Audio outlets and quite frankly was astonished at some of the prices I was being quoted. In addition it also seemed that I would have to live with my car looking "less than factory spec" (read "" a little Max Power) as it wasn't thought that most speaker options could retain the original grills, especially on the dashboard and in the rear of the cabin. I also really didn't want to fit any big Bass Box to the car as to be honest a. it really isn't me and b. it's not like there is loads of room inside in the first place.
I had pretty much given up on the idea and resigned myself to listening at lower volumes and living with the reverberating bass issues when I happened to mention my thoughts on the standard set-up when I was in Jon Mitchell's getting something else done. Jon told me that he had been working on audio options for the Boxster and that he also wanted to get something sorted out for the 996. I explained the above to Jon and re-iterated that I didn't want anything that didn't look factory spec and he agreed.
What followed was a lot of testing / trial and dry run along with a certain amount of patience on both sides. Jon had to get some mounting rings fabricated for the original speaker grills (dash and rear) so that standard 4 point mounting speakers could be fitted into them without cutting things about. Whilst these were being fabricated the front door speakers were replaced with Alpine units and I was told to go and "run them in". I'd never had to "run" speaker in before and was sceptical when initially installed as there was some reverberation at volume (as with the original speakers) however Jon was convinced and had checked with Alpine "" 5 to 10 hours and they would be perfect. Well I went away and did as requested, running the volume up louder and louder over time and I have to say that Alpine were right, they slowly started to handle the volume and bass better and better until after 10 hours or so they are really rather remarkable and produce a good, clear sound at most volume levels (that ordinary people would use when driving). Even a heavy bass track like Fools Gold by the Stone Roses is no problem now and there is no hint of the reverberations any more.
So, a happy camper with the front door speaker upgrades, I got the call from Jon that the fabricated mounts and the other speakers were all ready to fit. I duly dropped into the workshops and the swap-over of these units proved fairly quick and painless. Again, Alpine replacements were installed and the original grills re-fitted so there is no outward sign of anything being changed in the car. That is until you wind the music level up. The sound reproduction is clear and crisp at any volume that I would need to use. For my needs there is a reasonable level of bass too (considering that I didn't go for a sub-woofer) however if you music tastes are a little more bassy (is that a word?) the there is the option of a slim bass speaker that can be fitted under the passenger seat to minimise impact on space.
I'm never going to win any awards at a Max Power stereo competition but that was never the intention. I just wanted something that improved the poor standard set-up and allowed me to crank up the volume on the head unit when I felt the urge without wincing at the poor sound quality or having passengers laugh at the rubbish stereo in my "posh car". I think that I got exactly what I was after and I am very pleased with the results. I can't show any pictures of the installation as there is nothing to see "" but this is exactly what I was looking for. Outwardly the car looks totally standard so is less attractive to thieving eyes yet I now get the sound and clarity that I was missing before. It is also totally reversible if I should ever I feel the need, or upgradeable should I decide that I actually do want the next speakers up or to add the bass speaker.
Jon has recently told me that he has access to some new speakers from Alpine that he feels might improve the set-up further and at some point In the near future I will be popping down there to have these installed so that I can do a comparison "" I will let you know the outcome once it's done.
I would recommend anyone that is thinking of changing their speakers to have a word with Jon Mitchell's as I know they are planning to do a postal service as well as an install service if you are local.[
]
Some of you might have seen my posts when I got my 996 last year relating to stereo's, speakers and general sound set-up and also seen my posts that I was looking to do something with the speakers. Well, I promised a write up when it was sorted out and here it is:
When I got my car it had the optional speaker upgrade kit (with the extra speakers in the door pods) and the standard single slot CD player (CDR22?). I wanted to integrate all my in-car requirements into one unit (radio, ipod integration, sat nav, Bluetooth handsfree etc) rather than have loads of different bits of kit all over the place. In the end I settled on the Pioneer D3Bti and a great piece of kit it is too.
Sadly, this nice new head unit and all of its clever facilities really showed up the poor speakers that are fitted as standard to the 996 (I think they are Nokia units). They are unable to handle any real bass and are all too easy to distort at higher, although not stupidly loud, volumes. In addition I didn't think that the sound from them was especially clear. So, I started looking into options for replacing or enhancing the speakers.
Firstly I considered the Bose upgrade but it's a. hard to find secondhand, b. incredibly expensive to buy and c. I have read that it is not all I would hope from the name. So I decided to look about and see what else was available in the market. It soon became apparent that there wasn't much in the way of "plug and play" options. This has a lot to do with both the unusual sizes and mountings of the standard Porsche speakers. I have seen many differing ways of retaining speaker units with four mounting points where the Porsche ones have three "" but none that really looked "proper". I spoke to local Audio outlets and quite frankly was astonished at some of the prices I was being quoted. In addition it also seemed that I would have to live with my car looking "less than factory spec" (read "" a little Max Power) as it wasn't thought that most speaker options could retain the original grills, especially on the dashboard and in the rear of the cabin. I also really didn't want to fit any big Bass Box to the car as to be honest a. it really isn't me and b. it's not like there is loads of room inside in the first place.
I had pretty much given up on the idea and resigned myself to listening at lower volumes and living with the reverberating bass issues when I happened to mention my thoughts on the standard set-up when I was in Jon Mitchell's getting something else done. Jon told me that he had been working on audio options for the Boxster and that he also wanted to get something sorted out for the 996. I explained the above to Jon and re-iterated that I didn't want anything that didn't look factory spec and he agreed.
What followed was a lot of testing / trial and dry run along with a certain amount of patience on both sides. Jon had to get some mounting rings fabricated for the original speaker grills (dash and rear) so that standard 4 point mounting speakers could be fitted into them without cutting things about. Whilst these were being fabricated the front door speakers were replaced with Alpine units and I was told to go and "run them in". I'd never had to "run" speaker in before and was sceptical when initially installed as there was some reverberation at volume (as with the original speakers) however Jon was convinced and had checked with Alpine "" 5 to 10 hours and they would be perfect. Well I went away and did as requested, running the volume up louder and louder over time and I have to say that Alpine were right, they slowly started to handle the volume and bass better and better until after 10 hours or so they are really rather remarkable and produce a good, clear sound at most volume levels (that ordinary people would use when driving). Even a heavy bass track like Fools Gold by the Stone Roses is no problem now and there is no hint of the reverberations any more.
So, a happy camper with the front door speaker upgrades, I got the call from Jon that the fabricated mounts and the other speakers were all ready to fit. I duly dropped into the workshops and the swap-over of these units proved fairly quick and painless. Again, Alpine replacements were installed and the original grills re-fitted so there is no outward sign of anything being changed in the car. That is until you wind the music level up. The sound reproduction is clear and crisp at any volume that I would need to use. For my needs there is a reasonable level of bass too (considering that I didn't go for a sub-woofer) however if you music tastes are a little more bassy (is that a word?) the there is the option of a slim bass speaker that can be fitted under the passenger seat to minimise impact on space.
I'm never going to win any awards at a Max Power stereo competition but that was never the intention. I just wanted something that improved the poor standard set-up and allowed me to crank up the volume on the head unit when I felt the urge without wincing at the poor sound quality or having passengers laugh at the rubbish stereo in my "posh car". I think that I got exactly what I was after and I am very pleased with the results. I can't show any pictures of the installation as there is nothing to see "" but this is exactly what I was looking for. Outwardly the car looks totally standard so is less attractive to thieving eyes yet I now get the sound and clarity that I was missing before. It is also totally reversible if I should ever I feel the need, or upgradeable should I decide that I actually do want the next speakers up or to add the bass speaker.
Jon has recently told me that he has access to some new speakers from Alpine that he feels might improve the set-up further and at some point In the near future I will be popping down there to have these installed so that I can do a comparison "" I will let you know the outcome once it's done.
I would recommend anyone that is thinking of changing their speakers to have a word with Jon Mitchell's as I know they are planning to do a postal service as well as an install service if you are local.[
]
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