rx7babygurl85

i got rid of my stock cd player that came i my 90 vert.. im planning on getting a reallly good aftermaket cd player like an alpine or something along those lines, but my question is that is my headrest speakers, are they ever going to be able to work off of another sterio without rewiring everything?, also what about the factor amp that i have does that need to be wired the the sterio too? and if the headrest speakers do work will they run off the switches in the middle (between your seats ) or off the sterio?

rx7babygurl85

anybody?

AUGieDogie

iTrader: (4)

I've been toying with the idea of wireing up a stereo to the headrest speakers( of course i dont have those seats right now) so i have givin it a little thought. Both of wich will require aftermarket amps.

1st thought was to wire up the speakers to a 4 channel amp and just set it up so that the other speakers front/back/subs complement the head rest speakers. You would not be able to change the volume in relationship to the other speakers this way so the volume would be tied into ALL of the speakers in the car.

2nd thought was the wire it up exactly the same but to use a switch to shut off all of the speakers in the car but the sub and the headrest. I could switch between "normal" speakers and and the head reast speaks.

3rd thought was to use a **** to act as a volume for the head rest speakers to adjust up and down. These type of reostats (?) are pretty cheap at radio shack so it wouldn't be too hard to do.

4th was to try and "hack" the stock speaker controls so that i could use them the same way as they would have been stock.

as you can see these are all pretty hard ways to wire it up. but i think it may be the only way to do it. I'll check my FSM to see if there is any thing that looks like it may be an imput for a standard signal.

Hey what size are those speaker in the head rest anyway??

X-JaVeN-X

ok...i've never had a vert...are there 2 speakers per headrest or just 1 speaker or headrest? If they are dual speakers in each headrest. I would buy 2 sets of aftermarket speakers with 2ohm coils. Wire up the front speakers normally. Then use 1 rear channel per set. Make sure you wire the 2 left speakers from each headrest together in SERIES (this should give you the 4ohms that your deck is using). Do the same for the 2 right speakers of each headrest. This will let you have left/right fade if you want it.

You could also do this with the factory speakers off an aftermarket deck...you'll just be getting half the power as the speakers will be presenting an 8ohm load to the deck.

TurboSE

^^^ listen to him....He knows whats his talking abOOt

rx7babygurl85

what about the factory amp in the back? is that worthless now? can is just get rid of it?

BLKTOPTRVL

I have a kenwood installed to replace the stock system.

The kenwood has a front/back fade.

The front runs the door/dash speakers
The rear runs the seat speakers

I can fade back/front to adjust the headrests.

The headrest amps, (maybe other amps too), and the center headrest control switches are no longer used.

Works well, installed by Circuit City.

I just gotta find a new use for the center controls.

If I knew more (anything) about stereo, I would put the center controls back into the circuit to make it easier to manipulate the headrest volume, but the fade will do.

fingers123

Does anyone know what size the headrest speakers area? Any suggestions on how to easily slip off the headrest covers without damaging them? I know they have dual zippers on the sides, but they still seem pretty tough to get off.

Any help / advise is appreciated.

rx7babygurl85

no sorry i dont know of any easy way i was going to replace my speakers in the headrest awhile back and found out that it was as easy i thought that it would be, so i decided just to wait untill i was to get my seats all redone.. i couldnt even get to the speaker part when i tryed, it was too hard and i think that they are sown in kinda.. sorry.. but if anyone else knows something... let us know thats

Ballin_is_a_Habit

anybody know what size speakers you can fit into the doors of a 1990 convertible? ebay says 5 1/4"and cruthfield says 6 1/2"while ive heard that the stock speakers are 6" i want to buy some new ones so any help would be appreciated.

stacher

If you want your headrest speakers to work with the switch on the middle console, you must keep the stock amplifier.
Because of the difference in signal (from the stock stereo and the aftermarket), your headrest speakers will have low volume compared to the rest. You may use pre-amp to bring the signal up.
The process to have this done is simple.
I have a 4ch amp running my rear and front speakers off the rear output of the stereo and the headrest speakers runing off the stock amp through the front output of the stereo.
If you do it this way then all you need to do is feed the stock amplifier with a on/off signal

stacher

In my 91 vert I have Pioneers 6 1/2 in the doors. I had to drill new screw holes.

Ballin_is_a_Habit

-- how do you run an on/off signal to the stock amp -- could you give me some details on this? ive heard you cant run the stock amp off of an aftermarket headunit for some reason as well...

Tournapart

iTrader: (4)

well i havent actually hooked mine up with the stock amp i just spliced them into my current connection when i rewired my rear speakers, it was a bit easier for me to do that considering i already had the wires there.

But i guess in theory that you could just hook up your remote wire from your aftermarket deck, either split it if you have one or some even come with two and hook it up to the amp, the deck will bascially treat it just like any other amp and turn it on and off when the deck goes on and off, and as for sound, i havent really looked at the stock amps hook up capabilities but im sure you can hook up some audio cables from one of the available audio out plugs that are on the back of the deck and you may have to slightly modify the ends of the audio cable where you would be either splicing or pluging into the stock amp.

this all of course having the proper wiring schematic(sp?) for the stereo system, which i do have if anyone needs it

correct me if im wrong, i dont like giving bad advice

Ballin_is_a_Habit

omg -- yes i do need those schematics just send me pm or better yet start a new thread or somthin but yes that would be incredibly helpful!!!

Tournapart

iTrader: (4)

i need to know which stereo setup you have in your car, im pretty sure its the same way as mine was when it was stock, but you never know what previous owners do to their cars

Ballin_is_a_Habit

wow -- there is definantly a way to get at the speakers in the headrests and remove them!! tournapart you are the man!! thatt fsm on the electronics is for sure the bible -- i now have a plan muahaha

dont really care to elaborate but will most definantly post pics of the install and **** -- first i gotta collect all the parts i need


but i do have one more question -- could i fit a double-din cd reciver into that ****** huge dash opening??

88 Rag

ill be doing this shortly with a kenwood deck myself. looking forward to seeing a writeup on this soon.

Tournapart

iTrader: (4)

not sure where you would get the kit for that? if your a little crafty and know how to cut metal im sure you could make a pretty clean looking setup. as far as the speakers in the headrests, unless you want to try to fit some bump in those little openings which i believe are either 3.5 or 4" slots, the stock ones if they are in great condition, like mine, sound great, its an excellent addition to the whole sound system, mine being, Components in the front, stock headrests and woofers in the back, with a 12 inch sub in the trunk, my "8.1" speaker setup sounds pretty damn sweet, top down or up. if anyone gets some snags i have no problem helping out if i can

Tournapart

iTrader: (4)

i hooked them up in parallel and they sound great

Ballin_is_a_Habit

wouldnt that reduce the impendence to 1 ohm??

oh wait no this must mean that the speakers are 4 ohm or higher because im not sure if a factory head unit can run a 2ohm load...

anyway my plans are still moving forward but probobly be at least a few weeks before i get **** together -- tournapart im sure ill be hittin you up for help on this install -- im really thinkin about a double-din that would look sick i think --

found this at car domain
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2126878
probobly my favorite convertible 7 ive ever laid eyes on....

and check out the ****** set-up!!!



you could never leave the top down and park it (at least i would be too afraid of it being stolen!)

this gave me an idea -- i want to custom fit a 12" into that space -- just one.. what is under there? enough room for an enclosure you think?? i know someone who i think could help me fabricate something like that... it would be a hellauva lot better sounding and more bad-*** to have right there next to you...

TurboIIGuy

Last vert I did a system on for a customer got a headunit with all 4 channels wired to the speakers in the seats. I used inline crossovers to block any bass from the headrest speakers so they wouldn't distort or blow out.
Then a 4 channel amp was used to power all the other speakers. The dash and front door speakers were bridged on two channels of the amp and the rear speakers were run on independant channels. The client did not want a subwoofer, it had to all be hidden. So none was installed, but could be at anytime with a Tri-way crossover or additional amp.
The volume on the headunit was turned up as loud as it could go with the headrest speakers still sounding good, no distortion, then i adjusted the gains on the amp to max out the main speakers at the same volume.
Remember when your speakers distort you're listening to ****....
I hate when i come across kids on the street blasting their radio and all you can hear is distortion but it's loud so they don't care that they can't hear the music through the distortion......Okay I just had to vent....LOL

88 Rag

i pulled my stowage panel and spare last night to see what would fit with no cutting / some cutting. i only looked around for ways to do a predominantly hidden system.

*you could (probably) completely hide dual 8's (humor me, they make noise) in probably .75ish cf triangular individual enclosures in the front recess, and the amp(s) on the back tray area. you lose your spare tire, but the panel would fit back where it was supposed to be, and everything is completely hidden. i am confident that decent 8's at about 250-350w apiece will do the job fine, given the small passenger compartment of the verts.

*cutting of course, fits a much larger sub as shown above. amp could be mounted on the leading side of the front recess, and getting crative with carpet covered speaker grills would net you a couple shallow 10's maybe?


again i just did some guesstimation, for a no cutting of car installation (cept the stowage panel on the second option) enclosure would still have to be built, and securing it is another story.

89Convertible

Just came across this thread. I replaced the head unit in my 89 convertible a few years ago. Took it to the stereo guy and told him that I definitely wanted the headrest speakers to work with the stock audio controls - I pointed out the headrest amp to him.


He had a heck of a time getting it to work but he did it. The headrest amp takes a speaker level input, not a line level input from the head unit. If I recall, he had to add some component to the line to get eliminate some noise - maybe an attenuator of some sort - can't remember.

But I have a new head unit with the oem headrest speakers and amp.

Of interest, I also replaced all the speakers (door, dash) with MBQuarts, removed my spare tire and had a sub installed under the rear cover. Car looks perfectly stock (speakers installed behind factory grills and sub hidden from view) except for the new head unit. Very nice install.

Ballin_is_a_Habit

just an update:

recently spent 500 on some nessassary parts for the beast and now need to start saving again... probobly anticipating putting this project into gear mid november and i WILL be askin all you who will answer some questions im sure so stay posted