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2 PCM or not 2 PCM(2)


PurpleHaze
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Hi all

Tomorrow I'm excitedly taking delivery of my new 996 Turbo from an OPC. It's a May 2003 car, with 12k miles, aerokit, small carbon pack, ali kit, etc. One thing it doesn't have is PCM2. It has a CDR23, which to me looked a bit 'cheap', without even a dot-matrix display. Are these okay?

I have the option of retrofitting PCM2 to the car at a cost which would make my chimp go bald (not much change from £3k). My question is - is the PCM2 really worth it? I wasn't fussed about satnav before looking for the car and I'm not overly fussed about not having it, but I've read on several forums that theoretical resale value can be dropped by £2ish k and even push the car into the "not interested if it doesn't have satnav" bracket.

Did I mention I was excited?? +++

Cheers!

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Who is that fitting it??

As a 2003 car it is a fairly easy install, meaning you can buy the PCM from ebay for £500 and get someone local to fit it if you don't want to do it yourself, that would be my choice.

The CDR23 is a Becker unit I think, so should be good.

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Hi Gizze

That's fitted by the Porsche centre. I did try and locate one from the likes of ebay but they seem to be pretty rare to be honest. If you have any links to where I might find one, i'd really appreciate it.

I thought you might have to hook it into this MOST system which might take a while? I've fitted car audio units before, is it pretty much plug and play? I assume it just plugs into the bose/amplifier setup.

Yes, it is a Becker unit. I was just disappointed with how it looks - I prefer the dot-matrix look.

The car is awesome!!

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I did get a quote from Sunset Imports (in US), that came in at $3294 which is around £1800 (including UPS shipping to UK). Not too bad - buying new from Porsche, the part is £2700!

I couldn't find any docs on renntech on fitting them PCM2, do you have any links at all?

Thanks!

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Lovely choice of motor, the turbo's really are top league stuff. +++

I looked at fititng PCM to my 2003 996 C2, but in the end opted for the Alpine system professionaly fitted with aftermarket amps, speakers, subs, etc, etc...

The CDR23 is actualy a very good quality headunit, it just lacks in the looks and features dept. (I wanted Nav, iPod and Bluetooth). Combned with decent amps and speakers (BOSE sub just isn't up to the job), it can be made into a great sounding setup.

If your car has BOSE, then the amp uses the MOST BUS optical connection, so your only option (if you want to keep BOSE) is the PCM upgrade. It really is a couple of hour job, just need to buy a small piece of trim for the climate controls, as they get moved down to where your cassette/CD holder is, leaving a double space gap for the PCM.

The Porsche CD autochanger also uses MOST BUS btw.

You'll need to locate a GPS receiver in the front bumper (best location, just remove passenger headlight unit for access).

One thing you won't be able to use is the PHONE facility, as this requires a new windscreen which has both FM and GSM aerials embeded (unless you do a sneeky swap with an Autoglass claim!) Not sure if you can fit an aftermarket aerial???

I like Gizze researched on all the forums before opting to upgrade with aftermarket kit. I would have prefered the OEM look of PCM, but cost and performance of PCM2 were not for me.

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Hi there

Thanks very much for the further info. I spoke to someone in Germany who has a PCM2 unit available, but it doesn't have the TV/SatNav/Phone module with it. He also mentioned I'd need a poweramplifier/powerbooster to use it. Will Bose suffice for this?

I'm a bit of a noob to all this AV/SatNav stuff, especially in the Porsche, so apologies if I appear a bit ignorant.

So my May 2003 996 has Bose, could I simply fit the PCM2 unit straight in and add the sat nav module afterwards?

I really appreciate all your help guys, I've attached a picture of the beast from its best angle (although does it have a best angle?? seems to look beautiful from any!).

Cheers!

post-18840-137914415622_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

Hello All! I just found this post and I need whatever help you can give. I have an 04 C4s with the Bose, non-navigation system. I just bought a the PCM 2 headunit (the screen only). I just have no idea whatelse I need or if it is even worth it.

Has someone successfully been able to do this retro-fit? I just talked to Suncoast Parts en Florida, USA and they said there is an install kit that costs like $3,550 USD. That sounds expensive.

Thank you so much!

Jon

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