Okay...I had installed my Kenwood CD in my car last week...I did the antenna relay mod...

NOW....I cant get my head rest speakers to work. I had gone though the mazda spec in my book...buy I am getting cross eye'd.

Does anyone know!!!! Anyone!!!

 

The headrest speakers are powered by their own amp that will only run with the factory head unit.
My 4 speakers are run off an 4 channel amp under the rear deck so I'm going to hook the headrest speakers up to my head unit speaker outputs to see how it sounds.

 

It is not correct to say that the headrest speaker amp only works with the stock head unit. My 89 convertible is using a Sony CDX-M770 head unit and the stock headrest speaker amp driving the stock headrest speakers. This is nice as I can still use the headrest speaker controls on the center console. As I understand it (my installer actually did the work) the headrest speaker amp won't work with just a line level signal output from the head unit. You have to use a speaker level output from the head unit.

If interested, the rest of my system is made up of a Phoenix Gold XS6600 6 channel amp and a 10" Rockford Fosgate HE2 sub installed on a custom "floor" underneath the spare tire cover. I took the spare tire out, but you can be creative and keep the tire as well as fit an amp and sub back there as long as you choose a reasonably sized amp. The Phoenix Gold amp was just too big. For front speakers, I had 6.5 " MBQuart coax speakers installed in the doors behind the stock grills and 4" MB Quart coax speakers under the dash, also behind the stock grills. With the exception of the head unit, the system is entirely hidden from prying eyes (as long as the spare tire cover is in place).

Good luck.

Dave

 

Dave, I didn't know that, now I wish I hadn't ripped mine out! With all the wiring going to that amp I figured it'd be some special setup. Any idea how he did it? I'd like to be able to use the factory controls for the headrest speakers.

 

A buddy at work designed a setup for me so I can incorporate my headrest speakers into my system part of the time (which is what I wanted).

During normal operation (top up) my main speakers would be driven by the head unit and the headrest speakers would be inop.

During top down operation (which would then include wind noise), I flip a little switch, which kicks over two 4-pole DSDT relays that switch my main speakers over to a 4ch amp and send the head unit signal over to the headrest speaker amp.

Unfortunately, I believe there is a problem with my 4ch amp because I got bleedover between the channels when it powered the main speakers. I was in a hurry to get my car back together so I just unhooked the amp and have not had a chance to look into it further.

The other thing I am still unsure about is if I can feed the 18w signal of my deck straight into the headrest amp or if I would need some inline resistance. But if I read a previous post correctly, I would feed it straight in. Then I would still have stock speaker controls for the headrest speakers.

Perhaps if anyone is interested, I could scan in the schematic and post it. It's pretty simple though. It would have to be in a couple of days, when I get back to work.

Downside is all the wires. The relays and two amps (one for sub) are all located beneath the tire cover so there are a lot wires running from the front to back to front etc. I have been interested in relocating my sub to the same location as well so I can free up trunk space and also have less sound loss at highway speeds.

Anyways, sorry for rambling. Good luck with yours.

Dan

 

Jason,

I don't know exactly how he did it, but as I understand it, he first tried a low level output from the head unit and the speakers didn't work. I believe all he had to do was connect the rear speaker-level output from the head unit to the headrest speaker amp. Everything worked fine after he did that.

I do have to say, however, that the only reason I wanted to retain the headrest speaker functionality was to keep the car as operationally stock as possible. I hardly ever use the head rest speakers, even with the top down. The MB Quart coaxes in the doors and dash have excellent tweeter dispersion and the sound stage is excellent. I was very pleasantly surprised at how good of a sound you can get in the relatively noisy convertible environment.

Dave

 

i put a set of t2 seat in my vert.. elminitaed those speakers all together..

scott

 

Okay guys, I have the wire diagram from my Factory manual and had identified all wires. You will have to match the polarity correctly to make it work.

I will let you guys know the outcome.

Thanks!!!!!