i was just wondering if there has been a write up posted for a hooking up the headrest speakers to an aftermarket stereo, i just installed mine tonight, took pics and stuff and i could make a write up, but if there has been one posted i wont bother, thanks

 

In the stock headrest?
Theres a Star Wars videogame that uses these. It sounds really good actually hehe. It would have to be tuned though.

 

Thats a awesome idea

 

Dooo it!

 

I would like to see a write up on this, complete with pics.


I would also like to see a write up on replacing/upgrading the headrest speakers. I haven't tried real hard, but have made a couple a half-hearted trys at removing the stock headrest leather covers. After they are removed, I think it would be fairly straitforward.

 

Im not aware of any particular write up but its pretty simple so ill try to explain how i did mine. When i installed the aftermarket deck i used the front channels for the door and under the dash speakers. The rear channels i used for the headrest speakers so its got balance and fade and all. If you reach your hand under the seat and fish around on the carpet you will feel a wire with a plug. That wire is what supplys sound to the speakers. If you cut that and then splice it into the rear channels with new speaker wire you run from the deck under the carpet then you will have them working with the new deck. The only downside is the buttons on the console are now useless but thats what the deck is for anyways. There will be 4 wires under each seat and i took a double A battery and touched those wires till the speaker would crackle so i knew which one went to which speaker. I then would take the positive from the left side speaker of the headrest and the positive from the right side speaker on the headrest and splice them together and id do the same for the negatives. This way for the drivers seat for example they would run off of the left channel on the deck. It took me mabe 30 minutes to do and they sound alot better on an aftermarket deck then attempting to run them through the factory amp. If ive confused yall enough say something ill try to rephrase it hehe. Its really not hard at all though. I dont have any pictures to illustrate it though. The good thing about doing it this way is you dont have to touch the seat. Its all right under there. As for the speakers themselves miata speakers are the same size and a company sells speakers called clearwater speakers that should go right in. Ive been told they are worth every dime. But chances are the speakers are fine, the amp was dieing. Thats how mine were.

 

I;ve got my headrest torn apart right now for just this project. Only problem is that i cant seem to find 2X3 speakers. I was hoping to get some decent 3 1/2s in there but i will have to rebuild the whole thing. Cut the foam, build a new box for it etc.

I will look up clearwater though to see what i can find

 

I emailed clearwater some time ago and asked if their Miata headrest speakers would fit our RX7 convertible headrest. They told me that they had not tried the fitment or tested them in the RX and so could not guarantee the fit. They said they had customers that had done it and it worked for them, but clearwater did not know if there were any fitment issuess.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Clearwater-Mazda...QQcmdZViewItem

 

/\ Ive never personally tried them ive just been told they are the same size by several vert folks on here in the past. Im also a member of the miata forum and they say the same thing. Whether its valid or not im not sure so if its wrong dont blame me hehe

 

How did you take the headrest apart? I see that there are some zippers, but I could not find a headrest release or the start of the zipper with just a quick look. Any tips on this?

Thanks

 

if you click the "check wether these speakers will fit it your car" button on the ebay add and pick say a 91 rx7 vert they say they don't fit.

 

Its only checking the door speakers, not the head rest speakers.

 

just keep in mind when you wire speakers in parallel you're cutting the resistance in half, so if you have 2 4 ohm speakers you're deck is now going to see 2ohms which can burn up the amp in alot of decks. SO, if you buy aftermarket speakers, I'd probably recommend getting 2 8ohm speakers so that when you wire them in parallel it presents a 4ohm load to the deck. Now if you're running these off an aftermarket amp that can support 2Ohm loads (stereo) then yea...just use 4 ohm speakers

 

Thats what I figured.

 

Do you believe *EVERYTHING* you see on ebay???

 

Ok those clearwater speakers are 3 1/2 inch they WILL NOT FIT. The headrest speakers are 2x3 inches. I have yet to find anyone who sells 2x3s, and even if i did i would want them to be good quality, so i think we are out of luck for an upgrade.

To take them apart you mush first, remove the headrest. It is held on by a screw that attaches to the backrest. it is a phillips head and mine was on so tight i had to use an impact screwdriver to remove it. The you can pull it off and reach the zippers to remove the insides of the head rest. I removed it in two peices by pulling off the back section of the foam with a dull knife, that gave me room to pull the front peice out. After that its pretty simple to figure out.

 

OR, you could wire them in series, LOL.

 

I've wired my headrest speakers to the rear channels of my head unit (14Wrms each) with the two left speakers wired in series with each other and the two right speakers wired in series with each other. This doubles their impedance and stops them overloading the head unit's amp like Javen said, but it also halves their output power to ~7W each. It sounds okay with the head unit's front channels powering the 4" dash speakers, but I've also got two channels of a 4x50Wrms amp powering the 6" door speakers, and these drown out the headrest speakers. I'll soon be adding an 8" sub to the amp's other channels as well. I might try wiring up just the driver's headrest speakers so they get the full head unit power.

FYI, if you study the wiring diagram you'll see that most of the wiring to do this is already in place, because the stock headrest speaker amp was fed directly from the stock front speaker wiring. I just plugged the head unit rear channel wires into the stock stereo harness (4-pin plug) and then added the necessary jumper wires at the headrest speaker amp plug to complete the circuit. I didn't need to run any new wires.

 

I would have loved to do that but the only harness they sell in my town was only for the dash and doors speakers. Almost like its for a coupe but its claimed for a convertible. I dont know but i found it easier to run new wires and i figure as old as these cars are theres no sense in running a new deck on 17 year old wires. But as long as it sounds good thats all that matters

 

I agree, which is why the only speakers using the stock wires in my car are the headrest speakers. Given the low power this is not an issue.

 

**** NO! I've known so many people that get burned from ebay buys. I trust nothing on Ebay.

 

how come nobody ever says the simple way here? when i got my stereo, i just hooked up the amp wire to acc power wire right in the dash. then, the rest of the installation is the same. the headrest speakers sound the same as if the system were stock....because the old amp is still powering it. your "rear speakers" are the door speakers just like the stock radio setup. and the convertible wiring harness IS the same as the hatchback type. they are just fooling you to make money.
i dont understand why you would want louder headrest speakers. they r in ur ear!

 

well, when i have the top down, with the stock system, i couldnt hear a damn thing, now, anyone with some sound tuning knowlege would easily beable to even out the system, the way i have mine tuned is you can move your head anywhere in the car and the sound intensity is the same, its actually pretty cool. I wired my speakers in series with the rear channel, and the stock amps in the car are CRAP. not only are the headrest speakers louder (if i want them to be) they sound ALOT clearer