Hi,
90, vert, N/A. I still have the stock deck which has a CD/Tape/Dash amp w/mute, and I like it cause it looks good. It works fine (though the CD hangs if you roll over a toothpick), but I want to change out the door speakers, amplify them, & add a sub w/ amp.
Searches have revealed lots of info, but I still have a couple of question I couldn't find specific answers to.

1) The white wire out the back of the deck is the remote on switch for the stock amps. can I just tie into it to turn on the new amps? If not, which wire to switch the amps on with the deck?

2) Is the amp for the fronts most likely in the passenger door, and when I bypass it am I also bypassing the "mysterious crossover" so the resulting speaker wires are full range/line level? Or is it in the dash under the radio with the mute button? It doesn't appear that I have dash speakers & some of the posts said the right side dash speaker has an amp for the front co-located with the switches you can remove from the amp & plug into each other.

3) Can I "Y" the 4 front speaker wires into 8 wires for 2 amps; 4 for the new front's amp & 4 for the sub's amp? Thats to say, I have 1 amp for the new fronts & 1 amp for the mono sub. I'd like the fronts to feed the mono sub, whats the best way to get that accomplished?

Thanks in advance.
Bob

 

I checked my 90 FSM for the convertible section and couldnt find a white only wire. Regardless, as long as it supplies 12vdc when the deck is on, you can use it.

I checked the FSM again. The coupes have the amp in the passenger side, looks like either the door or far right dash. The covnertible has it int eh left side, either the door or far left dash, its hard to tell fromt eh diagram.

I guarantee that if you run your own wires from the deck to the speaker, or from teh amp to the speaker, you'll bypass the myterioous crossover. I did it this way.


Im assuming you want to run your door speakers AND dash speakers off the amp, right? 1) you could locate your amp up front if there is enough room. 2) otherwise you'll HAVE to make 2 wire runs...one from the deck to the amp, and one from teh amp to the speakers. I would make a single supplky run, up front, them "Y: it off to whatever speakers you want to run, unless you have to run a 4 channel amp or something.

IF I had your car, this is what Id do:

-leave the headrest speakers hooked up how they are.
-get a single 5 or 6 channel; amp. I got my audiobahn 6601x for $299 shipped and it is chrome plated, has a blue neon backlit display with voltmeter, cooling fans, has 3 full way crossovers, is bridgeable, and puts out 100x6 rms.
-tap into the speaker leads up front, and make 1 wire run to the back form each speaker wire. This sill be the supply for the whole system.
-get a speaker level-to-rca adaptor, theyre like $15. You can adjust the rca's output as well to prevent distortion. IT is thebest way to keep a stock deck and use a nice amp, cause most amps with speaker level inputs are garbage.
-get 2 or 3 RCA splitters for use with the 4-6 channel amp, unless your amp has capability to swap input modes(most multi-channel amps do) so that one set of rca's can run all 4-6 channels.
-Now run each channel to a set of speakers, and use a DVC sub for the mono sub.

Now you still have the stock deck, a nice amp, you got rid of the door speaker crossovers, you got a subwoofer channel, and your headrest speakers still work and are controlled byt eh stock deck, and you can use the rear fader to make them more or less pronounced inrelation to the rest of the system(since hte rest of the system is run off the front channels)

 

I would buy a good 4 channel amp. and buy a REALLY good "line level converter" this takes the big input from the deck, and turns it into a "little" input for the amp. I am not going to talk about a sub woofer. it is too hard to get good bass from a vert. But if you want to make it easier to add one later get an amp that has a crossover built in.
take the out put from teh line level converter (it is in RCA type now) buy some slpitters that take your two into four. connect them to the 4 channel amp and then the out puts from the amp to the speakers.
Another tip, don't use the stock speakers. find the best speakers you can afford and put them in. I would do this first. just amplifying the stock speakers will only make that bad sound louder. I would strongly suggest a good pair of component speakers. this has the external two way crossover to keep the bass from your tweeters and the highs out of your mids. use these in the front and then just a set of two ways in the rear. also get way from oval speakers! they sound like **** compared to round. they flex at the end and couse distortion. squeeze the largest round speakers you can into your holes. I try to go with 6.5" all the time, but this is very hard to do in these cars. I think you can in the doors, but mine are in teh kick panels for quality reasons.
go to good stereo shops and just talk to them. they will be more than happy to help you design a system around your budget and needs. even if you don't buy yet. if the shop doen't want to help go to another. these guys are usually very helpfull and nice so give them a call.

 

If your dead set on retaining the stock deck, just ignore me, but...
15yo stereo technology is stone-age stuff. You are seriously compromising the quality of your system's sound by retaining it. For starters line-level inputs carry a lot of noise, which will be nicely amplified by your nice shiney new amps. And that's before we talk about the superior sound quality a modern CD player produces compared to a CD player not much older than the format! Do you really want to spend all that money on the rest of your system when the damn thing skips over every bump? This shouldn't be a cost issue, decent CD/tuners don't cost much. Looking at the other bits you want to buy (which all sound really good) you want a decent sounding system, so I can't see any good reason to keep it. All the flash components in the world can't help a signal that's poor from the start. I really hate to sound negative, but I think if you go this way, you'll regret it. If you want to check out a sweet system in a vert, go to www.v8rx7.com, it's really impressive, expecially considering you can hardly see it!

 

Hypntz7,
Thanks, thats pretty much what I'd imagined doing (leave the head rest/mid subs, enhance the door speakers/include a sub, run wires to the back where there's room for amps & such), I just needed some validation. I have no dash speakers. I looked high & low, listened close; if they're there, they're the stealthiest, quitest speakers on earth. I have a Haynes which is pretty useful if you already know the answer to the question. I'm gonna call Mzda & get a Factory Service Manual; quit fiddlin' around ;-)

Tweaked,
Thanks, I actually have a crossover enabled amp for the sub & intend to convert, then split the signal into 4; 2 ch fullrange for the doors (6/5 Infinity), then stereo-to-mono the other split into the crossover enable amp.

NZConvertible,
I agree that this deck isn't as cool as the newer decks, but it appears to be one of the higher end ones of its time & sounds pretty good. I'm gonna slowly replace all the speakers & amps. This is the first step in several.

I've found that my setup is somewhat unique & so I've decided to photo-document this adventure & post it on a new thread when I'm done. Thanks all for the input (no pun)

Bob

 

I was going to keep my vert's stock head unit, but ALL backlighting just went out 3 days ago Before just the station readout wasn't backlit.

Cd player GENERATION 0, so it doesn't work right with the newer copy protected cds.

I agree on NOT replacing the OEM headrest amp, control panel, or speakers. This is because YOU NEED the spacializer effect only found on the stock setup to keep the headrest speakers from "blazing" too much.

Haven't figured out the preamp to the OEM headrest amp setupyet, but so long as it can take 4 volts that should be good enough.

I'll probably be going through this eventually.

Note I don't recommend using splitters unless your head unit has 4.5+ volt preamp outputs. Personally I'm going to get a head unit with 3 preamp outs. If digital ever makes its way into car audio I'll probably setup a car audio network and attach several amps, EQ/crossovers, processors, & head units.

Defintily going with full ranges seperates on the doors (vs the OEM subwoofer door speaker setup). Wish I can find some midranges that could "bolt on" to the dash. Underdash speakers are just good for fill, so probably some nice full range speakers.

Haven't decided on a subwoofer setup yet, but probably bazooka tubes (competition grade not the POS amplified version) or one of those square "small footprint" subs. Lightweight is definitly the key here, but you have to have enough fill for when the top's down.

-- vaughnc

 

Bob, I never said anything about "coolness", only performance (I leave **** factor to the ricers!). You're right in saying the deck was very high-spec 15 years ago, but now it's an antiquated pile of junk. My 'vert had the top stereo in the RX-7 range (same as yours) and the skipping alone had me ripping it out two days after buying the car. I've read hundreds of car audio magazine articles over the years, and all recommended the head unit as one of the first things to replace, NEVER the last.

 

Okay, so I did what you want to do, on a 1990.

My goal was to get audible sound at 80, with the windows and top down. I hate hate hate the stock head unit. Mine skips under acceleration. And I have an automatic!

After five months of experimenting, which included 3 subs, 2 amps, and 2 new head units, I have the following changes made to the stock setup.

1) Component set of speakers for fronts (doors). There are no dash speaks, that is a Canada/International install. US got speakers in door, behind seats, and in headrests. Flush mounted the tweets on the flat area above the vent in the door. Replaced stock mid-woofers with decent mid-woofers. This set included crossover (Ultimate Platinum 6.5 set). Yes, this was budget - $99 for all of it. And it sounds great.

2) 8" Eclipse 8708-4 sub in a 3/4" mdf box in the larger of the two bins visible when the cosmetic cover is removed (driver side). I also tried a 10" and 12" in the box. The 8" (37mm total x movement) is better than either. SQ of course, this is not an SPL setup - I put the cosmetic cover over the sub, for instance. I built the box to match the angles of the well, and figure it is almost .5 cu ft. Drilled a bunch of holes in the cosmetic cover directly over the sub. Eggcrated the entire underside of the cosmetic cover. Asphalt matted most of the underside of the cosmetic cover, as well as the plastic liner between the cab and trunk. Asphalt matted any vibrations in the trunk area too. Relocated the headrest amp that was in this bin to the side well, just unbolt it, wrap it, and stuff it in there. Sub was $150, box I built, figure $40 for the mdf, a terminal plate, sealant, paint, etc. It gets covered, so it ain't pretty. It sounds really, really good. I get flat response (with the amp boost at 45 hz) down to around 35 hz. Accurate bass.

3) Stock HU. Damn, nothing else looks as nice, what can I say. And not having a faceplate removed says to thieves that I have a crappy stock stereo. I leave the top down everywhere, I almost never put it up. I've had the tonneau cover on for 2 weeks straight. I live in central California, it never rains. it's always warm. what can I do - top down! None of my stereo upgrades, except for the tweeters, are visible.

4) Clipped the front wires at the HU Harness. Tap the brown/red. This is the power switch for the stock amps, use it to remote your amp (s) as well! Line level converted the front speaker outputs. I forget the colors, but I have a schematic if you want it.

5) Run RCA from the HU to the amp. Of course I have 4 gauge from the battery, a 1/2 farad cap, etc. But that will vary with your installation. Then run speaker level to the front speakers. The HU feeds the rear amp and headrest amp still. I have the rear speakers unhooked, cause they are useless and rattle and go down to only 80 or so anyway. With the sub and new fronts, they are superfulous.

6) Buy a 4 channel amp. I did stages, so ended up with a 2 2 channel amps, which is hard to fit under the cosmetic cover. Oh well. The new Blau T series is incredibly small, and inexpensive. I agree with the above comments, for keeping the stock HU, there is no need to drop $2000 on amps.

7) Get a sub amp with remotely adjustible gain. The Bazooka 250pro2 has this. It is clearancing right now at Circuit City for $100. Bridged into 4 ohm 170 W rms. No it is not top of the line. Yes it works. The remote fits perfectly into the between the seats console.

8) Power the fronts at least 100w rms a channel. A new HU with '20' W rms will not fix your distortion or volume troubles. I know. I tried. With a $300 Premier and a $200 Jensen.

9) If you can find a HU with ISO install, you can use the stock HU brackets to install, but you'll need to fab a cover/pocket for the 2 din opening. This will recess the HU too, which is a huge plus. I did not try this.

10) So with 370 W rms, new fronts, a sub, and the stock HU, it sounds really good. The remote gain on the sub amp is necessary, because top down at the setting that is bearable top up, it can't even be heard, so crank the level top down, subdue it top up. Perfect.

11) I am happy to field questions.