Hey all,
First off I would like to say thank you for all of the great information supplied on caymanclub. I have been looking at the Cayman for a few months and this site has been incredibly helpful. Thanks! You have a great community of people here and I am excited to be a part of it. - I will be picking up my 2008 Black/Black 2.7 on Monday and I can't wait! The only drag is that the car I am getting has the BASE sound system. I wanted the Sound Package Plus (becuase I plan on getting the AVIC D3), but I cannot order a car because my wife's current lease is up and I don't want to wait 2 months. Also, is has been unexpectedly difficult to find a Black/Black 2.7 in TIP (have to because my wife can't drive stick - and thought it will mainly be mine, well.... you know - compromises of being a married man), plus I kind of talked her into getting the car because, technically SHE was supposed to get a new car, but I am letting her have mine and getting the Cayman......hehehehe.....! I had a lot of good tips on that from the Forum on "help with my wife". Thanks again. Sorry to get off subject. At any rate, I got a really good deal on the Base which I am happy with except for the stereo. My questions are, can you upgrade the BASE stereo (4 speakers, I believe) to a Sound Plus (7 speakers) after you get the car? If not, is there something aftermarket I can do before I put the AVIC in? I would like a good sound system (doesn't have to be amazing, but more than 4 speakers), and everyone seems to say the base system is not very good.
Any help?
Thanks again!
JMcG

Welcome to the club and congratulations on the soon to be new arrival.

In one very real way that's not all bad news that you are getting the base stereo since you plan to put in the Pioneer unit. You can put the cost of the Sound Package Plus toward your AVIC D3 based system instead.

I don't know the degree of the potential downside. You will likely not have any existing wiring to the surrounds. So, if you add speakers in the back your installer will need to run those lines. But, again I would think that any incremental installation costs you will incur will be a fraction of the savings that you have already pocketed by going with the base system.

Good luck. And don't forget to post some pics & register your car when you get it.

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'07 CS Speed Yellow

Thanks SF Cfan. So, are you saying that the extra speakers in the Sound Plus sytem are in the back? And I can just have whoever installs the AVIC - put them in when they change out the head?
I will definitely post picks of the new car and and upgrades that follow.
Thanks

Search around here, another member was researching the same thing. Unfortuntately, your cayman is not prewired for the additional speakers in the back. It also does not have the "baskets" to hold the rear speakers.

So, basically, you will need to replace the front door speakers, and run wires to the rear for the rear speakers. Honestly, not THAT big a deal, just more panels to remove and a little more work. Especially if you are going with the Pioneer Headunit, which should put out enough power to run the speakers adequately.

Cool. Thanks. I no nothing about this stuff and was worried that it might be a huge undertaking. But it looks like people do this kind of thing all the time. Any suggestion of a place in LA that can do this kind of work?

Amplified properly, ie with the Pioneer D3 and not with the weak stock headunit, the four speakers will sound pretty darn good. I would also add a subwoofer with its own amplifier for better bass response, and I really don't think you will be able to get much better by adding more speakers. The issue with the basic system, and even the sound package, is not the number of speakers; it's the lack of power (RMS watts); that's why those who upgrade to the D3 report much better sound; the D3 features Pioneer Premiere MOS-FET amplifiers.

Even if you don't want to change headunits though, it's pretty easy to reamplify the basic system 4 speaker; add a basic 2- channel amplifier with line-level inputs and splice it into the speaker cables leaving the headunit so it flattens and then re-amplifies the signal before it hits the speakers.

- Suneet

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- Suneet


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Hey suneet and RichP. thanks for the advice. Not only does that make sense as a musician, it will probably save me some bucks. I am definitely going with the AVIC D3. One question, since 99% of everything we listen to IS recorded in stereo, what is the fascination with 7,9 or 20 speakers?? Is it because people think more is better? Or is it just louder? I don't really BLAST music anyway, and I am not a thumper. I think you might be right. With better amplification and a sub - 4 speakers should be fine. I'll let you know what I end up doing - and post pics when I do the install. Thanks again!

Great question about whether adding more speaker drivers actually improves the sound, especially in a cabin as compact as the Cayman. I agree with the others, you may be really pleased sticking with the 2-way stereo speakers that you already have with the addition of the D3 & and sub-woofer.

The Bose system includes 3 degrees of surround modes. Frankly, I leave the surround function turned off most of the time. For certain types of music, jazz for one, the system does sound good to me with the surround effect turned on to its lowest level. So, in that since there is some benefit to having the extra speakers. Otherwise, give me a great stereo set-up with a sub and I'm good to go too.

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'07 CS Speed Yellow

the added speakers improve the soundstage, as does the surround processing. Because in a car, you're much closer to the left side of the stereo sound stage than the other, adding a front center speaker helps bring vocal range signals closer to your ear, thus filling out what you miss by being far away from the right channel. (channels reversed if you're the passenger). With the PCM however, you can leave the system on stereo and change the listening position to left or right instead of symmetrical if you're driving alone for example you can set it to left. This turns up the right channel signal, you can simply do this by using the balance feature on the cdr24.

The rear speakers offer the same for rear passengers, but in our car that's really not important... I think they're just there to help balace the soundstage, many two seaters don't have rear speakers.

- Suneet

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