matsmith749
Well-known member
- Joined
- 13 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 57
After reading so many threads regarding changing out the basic PCM system in my gen 1 997 (no steering wheel controls / standard non-BOSE), I finally got round to doing it today.
It's actually very very simple & not the madness electrical mashup that some of the threads will lead you to believe (at least for the standard non bose system).
Remove PCM system (instructions followed from YouTube video) - easy.
I installed a Pioneer AVIC F77 DAB (capacitive touchscreen / Bluetooth / NAV / all the bells & whistles).
You will need a cage & surround which again were easy to find from the t'interweb.
You will not need any conversion cables / MOST interface leads.
Unplug the 3 plugs from the back of the PCM, the 2 aerial connectors. Unplug the Fibre connector.
If you just plug the ISO connectors straight in the sockets on the back of the new stereo nothing will happen - there is no switched 12V to the socket.
This is the only tricky bit of the installation - run a fused red wire from an ignition switched spare fuse in the drivers footwell to the back of the stereo (not that tricky really - 15 minutes & sorted).
Connect that to the stereo in place of the switched 12V line (mine had split leads with bullet connectors for the power, so very simple to do).
Now connect it up - you will have sound but only from the 2 small front door speakers & the 2 rear speakers. It will sound ok but not great. Basicly you will be running with half the speakers in the car functional - the sound will be tinny & lacking bass if you leave it like this. New car stereos tend to have lots of tweaking options, so you might get it to sound ok, but really you need to enable the ASK amplifier to turn on all the other speakers to get decent sound.
The ASK amp gets it's input from the standard brown ISO socket which provides the speaker outputs from the stereo - it kindof mashes these up into the signal it needs for the big door speakers / centre channel etc. You don't need to provide extra speaker wiring to get these speakers to come to life, you just need to switch the ASK amplifier on
The ASK amplifier fitted in the standard 997 system is fed from the standard ISO speaker outs & is already receiving an input (no sound goes on the fibre connector, that is for communicating with the NAV unit & displaying the current station on the instrument cluster). It's getting the input - but not switched on (hence no sound from big speakers in the front doors / centre speaker).
To fire up the front mounted ASK amplifier, look at the ISO cable connecting your new stereo & identify the blue / white Antenna 12V cable (may be labelled remote). This needs to be fed to the black / red wire that is PIN2 of the black ISO plug (it will be in PIN5 as standard on the new ISO plug on your replacement stereo). This switches on the ASK amp when you turn on the radio.
You can just move the pin in your ISO connector (they just pull out with firm pressure) or run an extra wire with a bullet connector.
GPS & DAB antennas need to be located under the front plastic where the windscreen wipers are & get fed through the central rubber grommet to the rear of the stereo (again YouTube video for the location of this).
That's it - none of the original wiring needs to be changed or touched. You can switch straight back to the PCM system at any time without any modification if desired.
No real electrical shenanigans to worry about. No MOST boxes / complex interfaces to buy. It pretty much just plugs straight in using the existing ISO plugs from the PCM system.
1 12V switched wire to run / 1 pin to change on the ISO.
Sounds loads better (not touched the speakers remember), plus now has all the modern features.
Easy (assuming you are methodical & careful, respect you car electrics, are handy with basic tools. I took about 4 hours to do this, so not exactly a quick job).
It's actually very very simple & not the madness electrical mashup that some of the threads will lead you to believe (at least for the standard non bose system).
Remove PCM system (instructions followed from YouTube video) - easy.
I installed a Pioneer AVIC F77 DAB (capacitive touchscreen / Bluetooth / NAV / all the bells & whistles).
You will need a cage & surround which again were easy to find from the t'interweb.
You will not need any conversion cables / MOST interface leads.
Unplug the 3 plugs from the back of the PCM, the 2 aerial connectors. Unplug the Fibre connector.
If you just plug the ISO connectors straight in the sockets on the back of the new stereo nothing will happen - there is no switched 12V to the socket.
This is the only tricky bit of the installation - run a fused red wire from an ignition switched spare fuse in the drivers footwell to the back of the stereo (not that tricky really - 15 minutes & sorted).
Connect that to the stereo in place of the switched 12V line (mine had split leads with bullet connectors for the power, so very simple to do).
Now connect it up - you will have sound but only from the 2 small front door speakers & the 2 rear speakers. It will sound ok but not great. Basicly you will be running with half the speakers in the car functional - the sound will be tinny & lacking bass if you leave it like this. New car stereos tend to have lots of tweaking options, so you might get it to sound ok, but really you need to enable the ASK amplifier to turn on all the other speakers to get decent sound.
The ASK amp gets it's input from the standard brown ISO socket which provides the speaker outputs from the stereo - it kindof mashes these up into the signal it needs for the big door speakers / centre channel etc. You don't need to provide extra speaker wiring to get these speakers to come to life, you just need to switch the ASK amplifier on
The ASK amplifier fitted in the standard 997 system is fed from the standard ISO speaker outs & is already receiving an input (no sound goes on the fibre connector, that is for communicating with the NAV unit & displaying the current station on the instrument cluster). It's getting the input - but not switched on (hence no sound from big speakers in the front doors / centre speaker).
To fire up the front mounted ASK amplifier, look at the ISO cable connecting your new stereo & identify the blue / white Antenna 12V cable (may be labelled remote). This needs to be fed to the black / red wire that is PIN2 of the black ISO plug (it will be in PIN5 as standard on the new ISO plug on your replacement stereo). This switches on the ASK amp when you turn on the radio.
You can just move the pin in your ISO connector (they just pull out with firm pressure) or run an extra wire with a bullet connector.
GPS & DAB antennas need to be located under the front plastic where the windscreen wipers are & get fed through the central rubber grommet to the rear of the stereo (again YouTube video for the location of this).
That's it - none of the original wiring needs to be changed or touched. You can switch straight back to the PCM system at any time without any modification if desired.
No real electrical shenanigans to worry about. No MOST boxes / complex interfaces to buy. It pretty much just plugs straight in using the existing ISO plugs from the PCM system.
1 12V switched wire to run / 1 pin to change on the ISO.
Sounds loads better (not touched the speakers remember), plus now has all the modern features.
Easy (assuming you are methodical & careful, respect you car electrics, are handy with basic tools. I took about 4 hours to do this, so not exactly a quick job).