Aftermarket speakers...be careful

[bluntman]

If anyone is going to swap out their factory speakers with an aftermarket set, please remember to purchase some \"rain guards\" or \"baffles\" to protect your new speakers from rain or a car wash. I did that with the front speakers, with the rear I taped their baskets with some duct tape as per an installer\'s trick that I found on the internet. The stock 6x8 speakers have a \"half shield\" that lets water run off to the sides. Some people have been able to remove the factory shield and attach it on their aftermarket speakers, provided they buy 6x8 as well.

[Xenon]

When I test drove the 3, I brought a CD with me. I didn\'t have a problem with the sound system. Is it that unbarable that you need to swap out the speakers?

[bluntman]

Originally posted by Xenon


When I test drove the 3, I brought a CD with me. I didn\'t have a problem with the sound system. Is it that unbarable that you need to swap out the speakers?

Don\'t take this the wrong way (I hate bragging), but listen to my car and you\'ll hear the difference.

[Xenon]

Originally posted by bluntman

Don\'t take this the wrong way (I hate bragging), but listen to my car and you\'ll hear the difference.

Oh I don\'t doubt that... I\'m just wondering if it\'s so bad that a change is necessary.

[sw0rdfish]

Originally posted by Xenon



Originally posted by bluntman

Don\'t take this the wrong way (I hate bragging), but listen to my car and you\'ll hear the difference.

Oh I don\'t doubt that... I\'m just wondering if it\'s so bad that a change is necessary.

If it\'s too loud... you\'re too old... well in your case... you\'re just... well you see you\'re...bah!

[bluntman]

Originally posted by Xenon



Originally posted by bluntman

Don\'t take this the wrong way (I hate bragging), but listen to my car and you\'ll hear the difference.

Oh I don\'t doubt that... I\'m just wondering if it\'s so bad that a change is necessary.

Don\'t let me taint your impression of the sound system, only you can make that decision for yourself.

[miggiddy]

I\'m just to cheap to buy new speakers and HU at this time haha:D I\'ll just avoid sitting a car with a nice system installed, that way I don\'t know what I\'m missing. Denial will save me some money.

[Xenon]

LOL... \"Denial will save me money\"... that\'s one that goes into my books of \"Funniest S__t\"

[zdrei]

Since I\'m new here I have to be careful what I say since I can be taken to be a newbie (which I am to this kind of stuff) but I digress..

I\'ve spent a lot of time on the Mazda3forums site lurking around but since I got my new 3 I was itching to upgrade the sound system. So after much listening to speakers in the local stores and research I decided to replace only the fronts and add an inexpensive sub. I\'m not an \"audiophile\" by any stretch but OEM sound systems are crap.

Anyhow, I bought a pair of new Infinity 6802\'s for the fronts. They are a drop-in replacement for the stock units, even the stock water-shields fit right on. Simple install, only took me 45 minutes and I reused the stock plug connections too. I really dislike blade connectors). A really nice sound improvement but now I need some low-end.

I\'m not one to lose a lot of trunk space to a sub box and amp (I have the sedan) and I don\'t want that ricer 80Hz heart-stimulator thump but I do want to fill in the low-end with something decent. I heard a lot of good things about the Infinity Basslink (here we go again with the Infinity stuff) and I don\'t anything to do with that old Bazooka brand. Found one locally on eBay (brand-new, still in the box). I hooked that up yesterday. That took a while longer but its was a simple install since all the panel trim comes off so easily. I\"m a stickler for clean looks so everything was unobtrusive (you don\'t even see the battery cable under the hood, I did it) and all the joints were shrink-wrapped. The sound from this thing really impressed me!!

But before I did the speakers the first mod I did was hook up my iPod to the HU unit. I thought about different options like FM tuners (CRAP!!) and a LOC but in the end the cheapest and simplest was soldering a cable into the HU unit input circuit board. Sounds just as good as CD-quality and totally hidden (the cable comes out eh ashtray and tucks in when not in use).

Total spent on all this... under $300.

[Xenon]

Originally posted by zdrei

But before I did the speakers the first mod I did was hook up my iPod to the HU unit. I thought about different options like FM tuners (CRAP!!) and a LOC but in the end the cheapest and simplest was soldering a cable into the HU unit input circuit board. Sounds just as good as CD-quality and totally hidden (the cable comes out eh ashtray and tucks in when not in use).

Total spent on all this... under $300.


How did you get into the circuit board? did you have to take off the front panel or something? (I\'m totally ignorant about electronics and circuits and stuff like that)

[bluntman]

Originally posted by Xenon



Originally posted by zdrei

But before I did the speakers the first mod I did was hook up my iPod to the HU unit. I thought about different options like FM tuners (CRAP!!) and a LOC but in the end the cheapest and simplest was soldering a cable into the HU unit input circuit board. Sounds just as good as CD-quality and totally hidden (the cable comes out eh ashtray and tucks in when not in use).

Total spent on all this... under $300.


How did you get into the circuit board? did you have to take off the front panel or something? (I\'m totally ignorant about electronics and circuits and stuff like that)

I think he posted this in the MZ3forums under ExRAV4owner, he posted pictures too. You will have to remove the CD unit from dash and \"pry\" your way into the unit as well. I\'d do it too but the soldering makes me feel uncomfortable. That and the fact that I have an MP3 player instead of the CD player may make a huge difference.

Clever mod though!

[zdrei]

Originally posted by bluntman
Originally posted by Xenon
Originally posted by zdrei But before I did the speakers the first mod I did was hook up my iPod to the HU unit. I thought about different options like FM tuners (CRAP!!) and a LOC but in the end the cheapest and simplest was soldering a cable into the HU unit input circuit board. Sounds just as good as CD-quality and totally hidden (the cable comes out eh ashtray and tucks in when not in use). Total spent on all this... under $300. How did you get into the circuit board? did you have to take off the front panel or something? (I\'m totally ignorant about electronics and circuits and stuff like that) I think he posted this in the MZ3forums under ExRAV4owner, he posted pictures too. You will have to remove the CD unit from dash and \"pry\" your way into the unit as well. I\'d do it too but the soldering makes me feel uncomfortable. That and the fact that I have an MP3 player instead of the CD player may make a huge difference. Clever mod though!

bluntman is very clever ;)

ExRAV4Owner IS me.

I didn\'t post pictures but there are plenty to see on the mazda3 forums if you do a search of \"ipod\". bluntman, the hack is REALLY easy. The hard part is disassembling the radio to get to the board. Lots of brackets and stuff. Tell you what, if you want me to do it for you lets see if we can hook up at a meet and I can assist somehow. If you have an MP3 player its a no-brainer to do and certainly worth the 1 hour of your time to do it.

[bluntman]

Originally posted by zdrei



Originally posted by bluntman
Originally posted by Xenon
Originally posted by zdrei But before I did the speakers the first mod I did was hook up my iPod to the HU unit. I thought about different options like FM tuners (CRAP!!) and a LOC but in the end the cheapest and simplest was soldering a cable into the HU unit input circuit board. Sounds just as good as CD-quality and totally hidden (the cable comes out eh ashtray and tucks in when not in use). Total spent on all this... under $300. How did you get into the circuit board? did you have to take off the front panel or something? (I\'m totally ignorant about electronics and circuits and stuff like that) I think he posted this in the MZ3forums under ExRAV4owner, he posted pictures too. You will have to remove the CD unit from dash and \"pry\" your way into the unit as well. I\'d do it too but the soldering makes me feel uncomfortable. That and the fact that I have an MP3 player instead of the CD player may make a huge difference. Clever mod though!

bluntman is very clever ;)

ExRAV4Owner IS me.

I didn\'t post pictures but there are plenty to see on the mazda3 forums if you do a search of \"ipod\". bluntman, the hack is REALLY easy. The hard part is disassembling the radio to get to the board. Lots of brackets and stuff. Tell you what, if you want me to do it for you lets see if we can hook up at a meet and I can assist somehow. If you have an MP3 player its a no-brainer to do and certainly worth the 1 hour of your time to do it.

Being a former RAV4 owner myself, I remember these things. :)

You offer is very tempting, thank you.

[sw0rdfish]

Originally posted by Zdrei

Tell you what, if you want me to do it for you lets see if we can hook up at a meet and I can assist somehow.

Oh Oh!! Me Me Me!!!

[Xenon]

I\'ll keep that in Mind Zdrei... I\'ll see how things go. Maybe a little later, I\'ll give you a call.

[sw0rdfish]

Ok I really want to do this soildering the iPod piece onto the\" HU Unit\"... problem is I have no idea what the HU Unit it, where I can find it... nor what I need to soilder to it.

Care to help me out Zdrei?

[bluntman]

The CD player/radio is the headunit.

The instructions can be found in this thread of the RX-8 forum (the headunits are similar so the principals are the same).

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=50ac1fec1da47ac231397ed75f1489ed& postid=239804#post239160

[sw0rdfish]

shouldn\'t I be able to plug the iPod in to the Tape/MD channel of the HU?

Don\'t they have connectors for this stuff.... like if I bought the tape, doesn\'t it just connect on to the HU?

[bluntman]

Originally posted by sw0rdfish


shouldn\'t I be able to plug the iPod in to the Tape/MD channel of the HU?

Don\'t they have connectors for this stuff.... like if I bought the tape, doesn\'t it just connect on to the HU?

Yes you can, but there are \"cleaner\" alternatives to connecting your iPod to the HU...too many wires showing (one for the tape adapter and another for the charger). People in the iPodlounge forums have found that not all tape adapters are compatible with their tape units so their other alternatives were either FM transmitters (yuk), FM modulators or hard wiring.

[sw0rdfish]

When I say the tape adapter, I mean inside the circuit board... there must be some way that mazda uses to connect their tape decks to the sound system. So should I not be able to use the same method in order to connect my iPod? This way I don\'t need to worry about \"burning a CD with no music\" I can just press the Tape/MD mode on my system and play the ipod.

The other part of the question was, I\'m under the understanding that Mazda doesn\'t hardwire the tape decks in... they come with a connector that just clips on to the board.... so in theory, if I can get that connector, I can attach the wire to my ipod, and go that route.....

I think....

[bluntman]

Originally posted by sw0rdfish

The other part of the question was, I\'m under the understanding that Mazda doesn\'t hardwire the tape decks in... they come with a connector that just clips on to the board.... so in theory, if I can get that connector, I can attach the wire to my ipod, and go that route.....

I think....

This is where DenisonUSA comes in. They\'ll use this connector to allow an AUX input for our iPods. The only question is...WHAT\'S TAKING THEM SO LONG? Supposedly, the Ford radio adapter that they are working on will work with the 3\'s radio.

[MZ3_GS]

If you push the Volume up higher u\'ll notice that the stock speakers distort. So I\'ve replaced all four with infinitys.

They\'re great cause with the swivel tweeter it makes the voice much more cleaner! :p
And yes I used the stock water sheild