AreExSeven

After a few years of owning my car and listening to the crappy sound of the stock deck and speakers, I finally decided to put in an aftermarket stereo and speakers (stereo I took out of my truck). I didnt want to cut any wires, so I went to BestBuy and got a wire harness for "88-89 Mazda" Its the kind where you plug it into the stock stereo harness and it gives you leads to work with, so you don't have to cut any wires. Only problem is the plugs don't match up at all. Is the RX-7 wiring different than other Mazdas of the same year? And is there a kit that I can get that actually DOES match up?

Thanks

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Last I checked, Crutchfield (spelling?) makes a harness that fits.

Icemark

There are two different harnesses, one that fits the 86-88 and one that fits the 90 and up, for an 89 RX-7 you want the one that fits Mazda 90+

AreExSeven

Thank you much.

I got another question for you, while your here.

There are 2 thick black wires that go to what I assume is the antennea on the stock stereo. One of them is completely broken apart where it meets the back of the deck. I assume this is attributing to my lack of reception, but would it also cause my power antennea not to extend when the stereo is on? Because it never has for some reason. And looking at the wiring, it looks like someone screwed around with it prior to me owning it, because there are alot of crimped connections.

Icemark

a damaged Motorolla connector won't effect antenna raising or lowering operation, but will affect radio reception.

AreExSeven

Ok, when installing the aftermarket deck, I only used one of those Motorolla Connectors, leaving one just hanging there (the female one). Is this required with an aftermarket deck or can I just leave it there?

NZConvertible

I've posted info on wiring up aftermarket head units dozens of times, so you can search for that if you want, but I'll repeat this:

I installed mine without the use of an adaptor harness and without cutting a single factory wire. It was very easy and it took a short period of time. Apart from the antenna (which needs a relay), the head unit's wiring plugged straight into the factory plugs, and I ran new speaker wires. I have no idea why everyone finds this so hard. I am completely baffled by it.

AreExSeven

Well you're very special if you can jam a square peg into a round hole. But they do not fit, and I would prefer a quality install as opposed to cramming wires into open sockets.

gotdatfiyah

i work at radio shack...we sell the motorola connectors, in the audio adapters section...i know there are solder ones, im not 100% sure about the solderless...i can get you catalog #'s monday if you want

NZConvertible

You grossly underestimate me.

The bare wires of the head unit's harness were terminated with male spade crimp terminals, which plug straight into the stock plugs. As I said, quick and easy, and very reliable if done with the correct tools in the correct manner (which it was). NO adaptor required.

NZConvertible

Damn double post. Network error my ***..

ra ra rotory

NZ knows his ****..... hes repleyed to every radio post with a complete and correct answer to every question..

Ezekiel702

NZ when I went to get a stereo installed one day they told me that I would need to rewire the entire car as I only had 2 grounds or something and needed 4, one to each speker I assume. Right now I have some Infinity speakers hooked up to the normal speaker wire and stock deck. Sounds like **** =) Speakers are good though. But what's up with the 2/4 grounds and that ****?

Liquid Anarchy

iTrader: (2)

you don't have (-) speaker wires to 2 of your speakers, I'd guess...

silly installers, thinking that a (-) on a speaker is a ground...

NZConvertible

Both positive and negative speaker wires go back to the deck, so I have no idea what that guy was on about.

There's usually only one ground wire for an aftermarket deck, which needs to be bolted to the chassis, as the stock deck was grounded directly through it's bracket.

Liquid Anarchy

iTrader: (2)

When he says 2 of 4 grounds, that makes me believe he's refering to (-) terminals on the speakers....

I know just as well as you do what the terminals are marked for, and that a deck only has 1 ground/earth. Hence, I'd assume that he means 2 of the 4 speakers have all of their wires correctly ran. (For the 2 that arn't ran, they would only have 1 direction of movement, making them sound like ***)

Ezekiel702

Well... the highs sound real nice. But the bass... or lack there of ... is amazingly bad. Why do I have absolutly no base? Because the stock deck? I wouldnt think with the speakers I have in now that my stereo would sound so bad, even for a stock deck. When I installed the speakers, all I did was unhook what was hooked up to the paper speakers and hook it up to the Infinity ones.

Raptorchef

Let them install it, then it will be done correctly, then they can sit and figure out how to hook it up

Fingers

you might have reversed the phase on one of the speakers by mistakenly putting - to +.

go over your wiring and ensure that you have connected + to + and - to -. This is the #1 mistake of every stereo install, because people think polarity doesnt matter on a speaker ... well it doesnt as long as all the speakers are the same

techbrute

Ok, I don't wanna hijack this thread, but maybe AreEx will get some questions answered by mine, as well. My current RX is a 91vert. The CD player skipped really badly up until it quit altogether. I'm in the process of installing a DIN unit, and it's not really going as planned.

First, the power antenna won't go up. I haven't started troubleshooting, but does Mazda switch the negative side instead of the positive side of the circuit?

Second, the dimmer doesn't work. Is there anything I should know? I'm assuming it's a bad connection or something, so I'll just get the multimeter out and get busy.

Third, I have the headrest speakers, and I know where to bypass the amp near the spare tire, but behind each seat, near the floor, there are two things that look like speaker grills. What are these things? I had an 88 vert a while back, and it didn't have them.

Forth, what's up with the Metra install kits from Best Buy? I can get the kit to fit the dash, but then the sides of the kit are too far away from the radio for the screws to hold it securely. Right now the radio (a Pioneer DEH-P7500MP) is in there with the factory bracket, but of course I have the odd sized gaping hole below the radio. You'd think someone would just make something to cover the hole, since the radio dropped in perfectly after giving up on the kit after 3 hours.

Ezekiel702

You might be right. But tell me, how should the stereo sound with $200 speakers and a stock deck? Actually decent? Maybe I do have them hooked up right and just the stock deck sucks *** with their little factory amp **** and all that. And if just one of my speakers + and - were off would it throw the rest of them off? Because none have good bass.

techbrute

A quick way to check for phasing of regular speakers is to balance all the way to one side. If the bass increases, then they are out of phase. The theory of phasing is solid, however in real world applications, like 2 speakers in opposite doors with seats, consoles, people, etc, in between the two, phase cancellation is minimal. If you have 2 subs right next to each other, opposite phasing is definately more noticable.

AreExSeven

HAHA.

I didn't mean to sound like an *** or anything
I thought you were saying you somehow plugged the stock connectors into the new deck. Nevermind me then


Funny you should say this, because I was looking for the ground wire on the stock harness and couldn't find it. When I was testing it I found out that the ground can be disconnected if the antennea wire is plugged in. Does it recieve its ground from there?

Ezekiel702

I can check the phasing I guess... but do any of you run aftermarket speakers in a stock deck? or did you for a week or whatever? How did it sound?

NZConvertible

No worries man. The image of stuffing bare wires into the plugs made me laugh, but I have seen it done. That's weird. I know the stock unit's grounged though it's frame, but maybe the antenna's sheild wire is a path to ground. Probably not too good for the signal though.