Audio Page

Will be doing an audio make over soon, within the next two weeks I hope. It will consist of a new head unit, two amps, sony 757 10 disk cd changer which can mount at an angle and play both regular cd's and mp3 cd's. A Hakuna type sub install. A Sony xa-300 aux- in selector (make it easy to add other sources)CB speakers in headrests(using one old Miata HR speaker in each HR fits fine between Max-5's)and other stuff including Miata Design's HVAC parts I'll write up when I do it.

I just put this page up now because someone asked about cd changes mounted on an angle here's photos of mine, it's not hooked up yet it's just in there for test fit reasons.

Work in Progress Photo's

To get ready to put the amps and cd changer in the trunk first thing I did was the trunk mod. Great instruction on Miata.net, it's a whole lot easier to do with the right rear light out and the screws under the tag undone.

Hakuna type sub install. I didn't want to cut what was in there so I got 1/2" MDF and did it in two pieces. If I go with this the two parts will be silconed and or expended foamed together along with edges and air spaces. There are minor fit issues (nothing I can't fix) plus it's much more weight than what was there so I may go with the metal I endded up cutting that too. If i do I will use the Parts Express sound deadening stuff on it. I looked high and low for 1/4" MDF but could not find any. At this point I don't know which I'll go with.

Nothing is hooked up yet but parts have been put in place or on boards to see how they will fit/look/work together. I didn't want to put the amps in the lower part of the floor because I have saddle bags and need that space sometimes so the trunk closes after food shopping. So on the rear of the trunk wall I have the Rockford 351M amp which will power the subs, along with the fuse, distribution block, relay for the amps and a 12V power outlet. The MTX 404 4 channel amp wil go more or less where the spare was. (it's under the car) It will power the front door speakers and the other two channels will power the old miata head rest speaker(s) that is in between the Max 5 headrest speakers (one it each seat) at first those speakers will have the CB connected to them. The headunit will power the Max 5 headrest speakers.

The speakers dont' touch anything!! For those who care they are Kicker Comp C8's Air Free.

Still to come headunit, wiring, sound deadening and Miata Design HVAC panel, Sony XA-300 .....

I made a little progress today 06/17/04. I decided to go with the parcel shelf rather than the MDF. I put sound deadening on it, the stuff from Part's Express ($19.90 a sheet 32" X 54", I got two)

Also cut a hole to run wires in the part along the back of the trunk, you can't see the hole from above.

Ran the new wires to the front speakers and did some sound deadeding to the doors. (may do more at some point)

Before and After photo's.

Of the two sheets of sound stuff I've used about 1/2 of one sheet so far. I plan to do much of the trunk and with what's left parts of the gas tank or bits under the parcel shelf and maybe parts of the tunnels.

Didn't really do anything on the inner or is it the outer part of the door expect I put the circles I cut out for the parcel shelf in there. I got the wire in there from a search on Miata.net and did what they said. Search 5 minute door wiring or something like that. It took me longer but it wasn't too bad.

Note the different sizes of the old and new speaker wire. Like they say no pain no gain, be carful the edges can be sharp!

Update for Friday 06/18/04 Today was one of those days where all you would have to do is stand still outside and you would start to sweat.

I finished doing the sound deadening, I didn't do the trunk lid because I have saddle bags there and I didn't do the lowest bottom part of the trunk because the black rubber type stuff which was already there seem to be just as thick as the sound stuff.

None of this will ever be seen (except for now) so I didn't do the neatest job, it was too hot and I was sweating too much. Still it took about 2 1/2 hours to do the trunk and gas tank. Of the two sheets I started with I still have between 1/2 to 3/4 of a sheet left.

The XA-300, I like the idea of this thing. It's about 6"w by 1" 1/2 h by 4" deep. I thought it would fit under the passenger seat but unless I take a hammer to the bottom of the seat I don't think that will be the case. If I put it by the rear of the seat it sticks out a little so I guess I can live with that plus it will be easier to plug things into that way.

The second photo is from the Sony instructions but it shows how you can hook things up to it. It has a pass through for the cd changer so you don't lose that aux and it has three others one of which is a USB connection so you can hook up your MP3 player or lap top and play mp3's off that.

The other two inputs are regular RCA's. Any thing you hook up to this will play through the car's audio system. Which is why I want to hook the cb up to the 2 unused channels of the amp so I can hear both the cb and whatever is on the audio system.

Also whatever you hook up to aux 1 can always be heard over headphones (even if you don't have that source picked to be played through the regular speakers) so the passenger can hear one thing over headphones and you can listen to what you like.

WEEKEND UPDATE (without Chevy Chase)
I thought I was going to be finished this weekend but it wasn't to be. The trunk is about 90% done.

Wires everywhere

XA-300, It didn't fit where it's shown in the left photo. I had to move it back a little. In the right photo you see how far it sticks out.

The CB, you plug the RCA wires that go to Channel 3 & 4 of the amp into that adapter. That box fits under the bump in the carpet and the CB mike (Corba something 75) has all the controls and I have the Jeff Anderson Antenna splitter (uses the car antenna as cb antenna) so it pretty stealthie.

There is metal in the center of the top of the headrest so I had to put the wire through on one side. Note the ever expanding foam on and around the parcel shelf!!

As you can see you can see the wire in the back. At some point I hope to get Katzkins (Tan center, Black on sides) if and when that happens I'll cut into the foam so the wire is even with the back.

I can move the seats all the way forward and back and full tilt in both directions no problem but the next time that I take the seats out for whatever reason I'll have to cut the the CB speaker wires to get them out when that happens I'll look for a quick disconnect. I did think of that before I did this but couldn't find any then again I didn't look very hard either.

As I say at the bottom the Miata HR speakers gave out I replace them with a pair of these which I got on Ebay for $5 each plus shipping they are 2 1/2" from a Bose system used in GMC trucks I don't know the specs but they work. They may not look pretty but with the cover closed you don't feel them and they work great!

This is where I left off.

Only worked half a day today so I thought for sure I'd come home stick the headunit in, hook up the wires, install the Miata Design HVAC parts, put the rug over the subs and adjust the amps and I'd be all done. It wasn't to be!!

The good news first about two weeks ago my S2000 starter button stopped working. I tried replacing the relay but it didn't fix it. If anyone installs one of these follow Adam Wolf's directions that way if something fails you can unplug two wires from the relay and reconnect them to your key switch with no tools and be working by the key again in a few minutes.

Checked it before I started on the radio and it was a lose wire, it took two minutes to fix. If only the rest went that fast and easy.

The first thing was easy, just needed to cut a few tabs off of the in dash installation kit which came free with the radio (Sound Domain)

Then the fun started. All little things that needed to be fixed. First I learned the headunit with or without the part it slides into couldn't attach to the frame the stock radio attached to.

I'm sure it's not the only or the best solution but it's what I came up with.
First this bar had to be bent flat because the back of the radio is longer than stock

I was going to cut the stock frame so the radio would have something to sit on. When using the dash install kit the holes for the frame didn't line up and had to be drilled out.

First cut and trial fit, too short too upright! Had I'd been thinking more I would of cut them an inch or two longer and bent into an L shape so the radio would have 4 little shelves to sit on.

Easy fix, bend them in put tape on top to build higher.

I went for a test drive of about 10 miles with some bumps, sharp turns and short stops and the radio stayed in place!! The metal part the new radio slides into is a very, very tight fit in the radio suround the cut frame is just for it to sit on. So the rear 80% of the radio isn't hanging in the air.

You can also see in the above photo that a part of the metal it slides into can be seen on top. It has now been painted with some black touch up paint so it won't be noticed. It also stick out more than I like but I'll worry about that later.

Still to come, hooking up the radio and getting sound out of it as well as installing these things!!! The gloves are to cut down on finger prints I'll have to clean off later. A lesson learned from the dash gauges

The instructions with the Miata Designs HVAC Panel are great. These photo's just show more or less what you should be seeing as you follow them.

I may have had a little bit of an easier time since my radio was already out but even if it wasn't it was not hard to do.

I'm 99 % done, I'll post the rest of the photo's and comments as soon as can. Too many pictures?

Since you can sort of see the frame I painted the edges black with touch up paint. I guess magic marker would have worked too.

Had to cut down the knob so it would fit. I had a S-O-S sound adjuster on the stock radio so I used the same hole. With this you set it in the middle when you set the gain on the sub then from the cockpit you can adjust the sub with the knob less to more. It installed, the knob has come off two times. I can't cut it down any more so I think I'm going to put a toggle switch cover on it.

The Trunk finished. I wish the 4 ch amp fit in the tunnel! I can connect my air pump to the 12V power outlet and I'm looking for one of those lights that fit in the power outlet to keep there as a trunk light when needed.

Radio and Miata Design HVAC installed!!
For some reason I thought the radio had red lighting at least part of it is red when it's open. My hand doesn't hit it (even when open) but I still wish it sat back a 1/2 inch or so. I may add that to my list of things to change that I know I'll never really get to.

I have no power outlet in the cockpit because of the BRB so I added one in case my cellphone or laptop battary goes dead. Others may not like the location but it works for me. In this photo the subs are in, the carpet fits fine. I got all the trim buttons back it no problem. At the edge of the carpet on the side on the top of the deck you can see a little of the edge of the speakers. I'm not sure what but I think I'm going to put something there so you can see it but it's really not much.

This the a wireless remote mounted where the rearview mirror use to be (now it on the windshield so I can see more than just the style bar). There are a few problems with it becase of the angle (it works at a greater distance so it must be the angle)or something it only works with the front of the radio open which is when I don't really need it. I also noticed that with the top down some times it doesn't work I think because the Sun is washing out where the IR is picked up.

As a fix I mounted it on bottom of the top bar of the Style bar and it worked (open or closed radio) but still have the top down Sun problem and it's a pain to reach to the back. Another fix would be to get a wired remote but that one is just under 4 inchs long (the wireless is under 2)and would not look right. I know why do I need a remote. "Because I could"

Do the Subs work? See for yourself!

Over all I'm very happy with finished project. I still have to set the gain on the amp but I want to find a place with no one around, it was VERY loud when I tried to set it and I want to be nice to neigbors.

It took a while to figure how to set radio stations in memory and how to get the cd changer to shuffle it was over two days before I relized you need to use the TV type remote that comes with the radio to do it.

I tested the XA-300 with my laptop and it worked great except for having a big laptop sitting on the seat but with an IPod or some other MP3 player it would be great (you would still use the player to change songs, the radio will just control volume) I also pluged the CB into the it and it worked fine.

Why did I plug the CB into the XA-300 when I have those other speakers for it in the headrests that are connected to channel 3 & 4 of the amp? Because I have the speakers wired to channel 3 & 4 of the amp! It worked great!!!! for a while but the Miata speakers could not take it (I think they are 10 watt, is that correct?) I have the gain all the way down for channels 3 & 4 and didn't turn up the volume too much but it only lasted about 10 minutes.

I put in the other two Miata speakers and it happened again so now I'm looking for 40 watt speakers that will fit between the Max 5's I don't know of any that are not tweeters and I don't know if tweeters are a good pick for that.

Over all the sound is great, top down at speed I can hear fine (till I get out of the car!) Like others have said even with the small amount of sound stuff I used on my door they sound much better when you close them. Two things that helped a lot beside searchig on Miata.net were the "Car Stereo Cookbook" and this website Basic Car Audio Eletronics

I guess I got lucky, I followed all the directions I read and have no engine noise and everything works great, not counting the remote!