I have the Bose system in my Cayman. I think it sounds fine. But most of the time I drive without the stereo on and just enjoy the drive.

I spent nearly $10k on an aftermarket stereo in an old car and didn't feel like I got my money out of the system. So personally I wouldn't spend a bunch of money on an aftermarket stereo system again.

Hi,
One thing to consider, the acoustics in all the Porsche sportscars are not very good for proper sound reproduction. I put a $5,000 alpine/JL audio system complete with 1200 watts and floor mounted subwoofer in my old 911 c4 cab. When cranked, the system was punchy, loud and crisp, but it never created the warmth that my current Bose system creates in my Cayman. Even with a complete imprint sound processor tuning. Frankly, I was never happy with the aftermarket stereo in the 911.

The way Bose approaches this problem is it puts small speakers all over the car and it tunes the system to sort of "trick" your ears into thinking the soundstage is bigger. Unfortunately, when the volume is turned up the poor acoustical environment of the car becomes more apparent and the system loses its effectiveness.

Personally, I think the bose system is good. I think the Porsche head unit is not too good, but lets face it we are not buying these cars for their audiophile characteristics. When you consider what you get in other high-end sportscars (even $250k+ Ferrari's), I am happy that Porsche at least makes an attempt to give us a decent option for our stereo system. And, they do this while there sponsored racing teams are winning just about every GT event they run in. Cool.. Oh my god, I love owning a Porsche!!!

Joe D