(STEREO) Modernizing the Sound System
 

Got a Pioneer DEH-235 stereo CD last night to replace my OEM rack stereo cassette in the POS Racer. Sitting in my office planning the transformation and have the following questions.

Can I eliminate all the OEM wiring and Amp’s? I’m planning on replacing all four OEM speakers, and the new radio; no plans for amps, or subs. Figure I’ll rewire the car for the newish radio; is that a logical plan of attack?

From what I’ve found on the net, it looks like the front kick panels hold a 4” round speaker, but have found a few sizes listed for the rear 5-1/4 to 6-1/2. What size is/was the rear speakers, would like to not have to cut on the car.

To do this transformation, looks like you would need an install kit to get the stereo to fit in the dash, where’s a good place to get one?

In advance I greatly appreciate your suggestions!

I have done everything you want to do. Running new speaker leads is easy. I ran the leads for the rear speakers down the rocker panel. My fronts are 4" and the rear are 5 1/4", but some companies make 6 1/2" that fit. Click Crutchfield to figure out which ones will fit. They will explain everything. I have never bought anything from them, but there info is great.
If you have a power antenna, you will need a relay to get your antenna to operate correctly. I got mine from Best Buy, they made mine for free!!!! I've heard ppl having to pay $25 for these. The dash kit has to be custom made. I took a kit for a 2nd gen from Best Buy and fabricated it to fit. I had to break off two screw mounting things on the kit and melt them in the right place. You'll see what I mean. It's not hard, but it takes time.
I recommend buying a seperate component set; woofer, tweets, and crossovers, up front and coaxial in the rear. My speaker of choice is Boston Acoustics, and my head unit is Alpine.

My 2c. Any q's PM me.

Good Luck and let us know how it sounds. :bigthumb:

I wanna know where Max7 got his kickpanel pods from.

http://max7.rx-7.org/Max7-StereoSystem.jpg

Would the universal Q-Logic ones work?

hehe, ok, here is the info.
They came from a 90'ish Jetta, I seen them on eBay and got them for $40, cheaper than the generic ones they sell (at the time, not sure what they cost now)
I figuered I could mod them to get them to fit (worked many years in a Car Stereo shop)
and actualy very little was needed, I clipped the part the runs up along the door, and the one that runs horizontal along the door. and thats about it. 3 screws and some self-forming baffles behind the 6.5" coax and they work great, I lost the dead pedal, but I've never really used one.
The sounds it truly amazing for a first gen.

For new wiring, its always best to run the deck main power directly from the battery (thru a fuse) pulling power from the cars fuse block can sometimes lead to unwanted noise.
also choose a good (not the most convienet) ground
running new speaker wires is a good idea to, Mazda didn't always use the best wire for stereos.

I've used Crutchfields kit, its not bad, but does require modification to work right.
Scosche makes a universal kit for 84-92 Mazdas that works well but still is not perfect, you should be able to have a local shop order you one.

also if you are "handy" with a jig saw, you can make a spacer for the front 4" opening to fit a 5.25" via a 1/2" spacer made from MDF. It still clears the plumping under the dash on the passanger side.

Back when I had my first gen I made custom door panels w/ pods for speakers... I tested several cases w/ a VERY nice system and putting speakers in the kick was at such a loss compared to the door panels. I'm not sure how comfortable you would be w/ building your own door panels but I have seen a pic of a 1st gen w/ some door panels that have "milo" embosed (I think thats what it was) on them and they have speaker pods in them. I am diterminded to find those or rebuild a set for my new reX, but I will NOT be putting them in the kick panel. As for the rear... I'll probally come up w/ somthing custom for that also depending on where I choose to put the subs. Music is my life and I donno if I could live w/out a good system in ANY vehicle I owned. It dosn't have to be a 5k system but at least somthing I can feel when it's loud and is clear. If you are determinded to put 4's in the kick... just make sure you have a good quality speaker and clean power going to it. Don't stimp on the cabeling either... that can make a HUGE difference between a good and crapy system. Interferance is everywhere and will make good quality systems sound like crap.

Thats just my .02

Good luck... and if I find that pic of those door panels I'll post it.

I’m just pumped to be able to get this out of the car it works but just barely. Is their enough room to put some gauges above or below the radio, also would like to ditch the clock for a gauge!

I really appreciate all the advice!

these the doors? AJC13b's car

I put my A/F gauge where the stock clock goes, almost looks factory :)

I never cared much for door mounted speakers, sound wise its ok, but closing the door has to take its toll on speaker over time. and its subject to weather conditions if not built right, a bit more work. but can be done nicely. but then my leg is in the way, hehe

yup.... thats them... I see now that it says mlo (I think hehe) do you know where AJC13b got those? If protected right it would be sweet... but I fear (being 6'5 in a small car already) that I will not be able to fit w/ them in the car....

anyone have any more info on those?!

Do any of you buys have pictures of your head unit installed with the dash kits? All of the kits that I have seen look pretty dang bad...they all seem to be cheap, BLACK plastic that does nothing to compliment the orignal silver surround. I know mazdatrix has a 1/2 DIN pocket but you still got one whole DIN to contend with then.

Assuming you solve that issue, you still have the grim fact that all of the available head units out there just plain suck. A lot of the manufacturers are now making some that feature gray/silver faces that would match, but most of these feature that awful volkswagen-chic blue and red display, or green, all of which don't match the existing amber.

I've been waiting for years for a manufacturer to make a double-din cassette/cd player head unit, silver face, with amber illumination and no damn dolphins or a 236 band dancing EQ. Eventually, soon, I will comprimise, as that day will never come.

So post some install pics if you got something I can comprimise on.

Right on-

I once again apologize for my lack of knowledge on the subject, but what’s a DIN?

If I understand brownmound correctly there is a 2-1/2 DIN opening in my ’84.

Was looking at my free radio last night, where would one locate a pioneer wiring diagram?

I don't know what the letters DIN stand for, but I think it's the general size for an aftermarket radio.


I'd check pioneer's website for the wiring diagram.

Its a double DIN opening, the size of 2 radios. Most EQ's are 1/2 DIN.

All CD players have the same wiring setup.

Red= switched 12V
Yellow= constant 12V (memory)
Black= ground
Blue= remote turn on (amp)
Blue/white= power antenna (sometimes these are reversed, or there is no power antenna)

Then there is the speaker leads (I always forget which is which).

They are Green, Green/Black, Purple, Purple/black, White, While/black, Gray, Gray/Black.

I always get the speaker leads confused, and have to just figure them out while I'm putting the radio in. You'd think I'd remember them by now :(

You're on the right track, POS. I just put a Blaupunkt into my 83, and learned a few things along the way.
Yes, go ahead and rip out all the factory amps and speaker wires. It's easy to run new wires to the rear speakers by taking out the cargo boxes. From there, run the new wires up through the holes in the frame and behind the plastic panels in the back, the ones that cover the speakers and shock towers.
Now, if you're sure you want a CD head unit, you 1. will need an installation kit, and the best you can get still looks lame and plastic, and 2. it will include a pocket big enough to hold a couple packs of smokes or CDs.
Or, you can do what I did in my Rodeo. Instead of putting in the pocket, put in a head unit with a cassette player AND a separate Sony CDX-1000 CD player where the pocket would go. The CDX1000 is hard to find, but for $125 its an RF CD player that plugs into any FM stereo through the antenna. Mine works great.
If you want one, look here:http://www.mrelectronicsautosound.com/

I used the installation kit available at Best Buy; It's made for a whole bunch of different Mazdas, and you have to cut off little plastic tabs to make it fit, but it holds the Rex's Blaupunkt securely and does't look that crappy. I looked long and hard for a quality silver-face CD unit with red lighting, to match the interior, but got nowhere.

For what it's worth, I'm not a huge stereo freak, and I didn't want something that would rattle house windows when I drove by. I ended up getting a Pioneer amp (they're very good, despite the name) and installing it behind the seat, with good quality Blaupunkt speakers (couldn't afford Bostons like I wanted) and a 6-inch Bazooka subwoofer tube for in the hatch. The amp and Bazooka were less than $200, and they really make it sound nice without being overpowering.

here's some advice: when removing the old toaster size stereo don't get pissed off, here's what i have to live with cause i got pissed off :rolleyes:

Ouch that sucks, :( but you did answer my next question on if there was room to mount the stereo low. Still would like to figure out how to put some gauges in the “open” area. Figure I’ll take a couple measurements after dinner!

I really appreciate everyone’s help!

Does anyone have the dimensions of what a "DIN" is? I've never really done any measurements in there but it sure looks bigger than a double-DIN to me, so I have always assumed that it was 2.5 DIN, but I very well could be wrong.

I waiver every day between getting a double-DIN cassette/cd (they're all toys though), a cassette AND cd single DINS, or just a single silver faced DIN and then get a kit or custom make something look decent in there. Hell, maybe I'll put a TV in there and mount the head unit somewhere else. Now that would be swass.

look at the colors man
 

kenwood makes a new deck with like 30 display colors its pretty pimp

DIN is 7 x 2 inch, and I'm fairly sure the RX-7 is only a double din, not 2.5. The stereo is one of my winter projects. I try and do mechanical/exterior work to the car in the summer. No idea what I'm going to put in tho.

hey
 

Hey if you don't smoke you can do this to your P.O.S racer, take the ashtrey out and stick a couple of gauges in there like this pic, thats the closest thing i could find...laters

best yet
 

Say Johnny that pic with the gauges in the ash tray is so far the best aftermarket install I have seen in a first gen....any more of that guys install? I'm trying to figure out what he used to fill all that space.

I just measured and the space is 5x7", making it a 2.5 DIN...WTF was mazda thinking?

Alrgiht alright.

brownmound
 

Man, we must be on the same wavelength today!

First, I just measured the stereo system myself today, lol.

The Tape deck is DIN sized tho, and I kinda like the stock radio and equalizer. I was thinking about trying to replace JUST the tape deck with a CD player/MP3 player.

AND, I had a couple thoughts about the ashtray myself today, lmao!
I was thinking of adding a couple power sockets in there to start.
My first idea was that I could add 2 standard cig-lighter type sockets.
Then I had a flash of inspiration. I was gonna get an AC inverter and plug it into the socket, so I could plug my notebook PC into that. Then I realized I could cut the clutter by HARDWIRING the AC inverter into the car and put a standard 120V AC socket in. Then I'd have 1 cig-lighter socket and 1 normal 2 prong (or even 3 prong) AC socket in there!

'Course that's only about HALF the ashtray. I'm planning a complete custom dash guage cluster to replace the stock one, so adding guages anywhere else would be a tad redundant. I think I could cram the WOLF3D control unit in there if I get one. If not... Then I'm not sure.

I'm still open to suggestions.

-Spencer

right on
 

If there is a way to use the stock tape deck and wire it up so that you could plug it into the AUX of one of the aftermarket stereos, then that would be the way to go, maybe. this would give you casette and cd, and fill 2 DIN spaces...the 1/2 DIN could be filled with the Mazdatrix pocket or an EQ, etc.

The power plugs sound like a good idea, but I don't think I really have anything I need to power.

Nakamichi makes a pretty damn swass head unit the CD-700 (pictured below), with an aluminum faceplate that would match the gray quite nicely. Only the plate is not removable, which is like "whaaaaaaat?" It's the high end model, so it's probably desiged for Beamers and Benzs.

If you find anything about the wiring of the tape deck (ie it's output connections into the tuner) I sure would appreciate it. I've read that the output of the tuner/eq/tape is a line level output to the amps. I don't know if the tape has/needs a pre-amp to be fed into a head unit.

If anyone has any insight, let me know. it's nice to see some good discussion of the infamous 1st gen stereo upgrade dilemma.

Alright alright alright-

whaaaaat??
 

that nak cd-700 head unti has a suggest retail price of $1500. That eliminates that option....nak makes other affordable units, not as good a quality, but they do have the amber display. Only they have a black face...not a good match to a silver tape deck.

Right on.

I don't really listen to tapes a lot anymore (heck, I'm not even sure where my home tape deck is anymore), so I don't mind yanking the stock tape deck in favour of a CD plaer. Thing is, I kinda like the stock reciever and EQ. It'd be great to kind a nice silver DIN sized CD player (with no tuner). So far, all I've found is this Alpine, and this Kenwood.

The Alpine is the right colour, but too flashy to match. The Kenwood is less flashy, but black.

My only other option would be a complete replacement of all the components. Then I'd get a nice DIN headunit, a new 1/2 DIN EQ, and then probably this center speaker.

If I manage to keep the stock system I add that center speaker in the ashtray area. Then I'd have to move my sockets tho...
:doh:

So many, many mods... So little money!