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Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:16 pm
by hethro87
Hi everyone,

First post here on the forum and before I dive into my problem very impressed with its content and very helpful members. :D

Ok so here we go.

Yesturday I bought my first mx5! Its a 1999 NB8A Mazda mx5, silver, hardtop, leather and 16inch factory alloys with 107thousand kms on it for $15,000.

Its in immacualte condition for its age and when this damned sydney weather clears up will get the mother of all cleans.

Anywho only major gripe with the car is that it has the 1DIN factory tape deck :x still in it so obviously needs replacing.

Im heading off to Ryda tomorrow and are getting these for it:

http://www.ryda.com.au/Kenwood-KDC-139- ... kdc139.htm

http://www.ryda.com.au/Fusion-EN-FR5720 ... fr5720.htm

Will those speakers be a direct replacement for the ones in the door? Will the depth etc be ok?

Also im not the best when it comes to putting these things in so if anyone is willing (will pay person with case of Coronas) to help put these in would be greatly appreciated!

Im located in the inner west of Sydney but would obviously travel to the persons house if they could lend a hand :D

Thanks in advanced,

Hethro :)

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:22 pm
by sliq
welcome to the forum.

both should fit fine. but i'd rather do an upgrade instead of a direct swap for the speakers. get some 8" speakers. should be fine. a few people on the forum here have them. from recollection bigdog and okibi.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:31 pm
by Garry
There isn't much depth in the stock plastic splash guards though there's heaps of depth in the doors. So if worse comes to worse you may need to trim a bit off the back of the splash guards to fit the magnets in. I fit a set of Pioneers to my car a long time ago and they fit though the magnet was right up against the back of the splash guard. But Sliq is right, the doors are made to suit an 8" round speaker. All you need to do is remove the plastic 5*7 adaptor plate. I have 8" clearwater splits now and the main speaker even uses the same mounting holes in the doors as the adaptor plate. I had a set of 8" Phillips/VDO before that and they also used the same mounting locations as the adapter plate.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:01 pm
by wun911
cut up clothes hanger and get a crow bar to remove oem hu.

I fit 20cm subz in the door so im sure you can fit your speakers in, if not cut up or buy some speaker rings.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:09 pm
by Jeo
There will be a world of guides floating around the interwebs for installing the head unit, google is your friend here. If you have some soldering skills and some confidence you should be right here.

You should be able to fit the speakers without too much trouble. Small mdf speaker ring will get the job done correctly.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:19 am
by hethro87
Hey guys,

Thanks for the input!

Im a bit iffy with soldering so maybe ill wait for an audio minded person to offer some help in trade for booze before i butcher the thing.

Cheers,

Hethro :)

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:48 pm
by Okibi
What they said, go with a 8" round speaker, much better sound and there's load of room to fit one.

Also look at some "cross overs" to use the factory tweeters or upgrade them too.

I made up a very thin MDF backing plate to make it seal better but you can just whack on some silicon to fill the gaps.

Image

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:49 pm
by hethro87
Hey,

Thanks for the input guys but I ended up going to Ryda and getting those Fusion 5x7 's as i couldnt source any 8inchers locally and they had ran out of stock on the Kenwoods but got this instead:

http://clarion.com/au/en/products/2008/ ... 43575.html

$150 all up, happy with that!

Also if I have no luck with trying to install it myself do people have any recommendations of workshops that install this stuff? Ryda qouted me $140 to do it all.

Located in Sydney.....

Cheers,

Hethro :D

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:15 pm
by Jeo
Ryda is a "one stop" style shop yea?
Not that I've ever been to that shop before, but most of those style shops don't give the best results. Kind of a jack of all trades, master of none situation.

I'd be heading to a dedicated car audio shop.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:14 am
by Garry
If you decide to install it yourself you should try to get an adapter plug. I plugs into the factory wiring harness and allows you to connect up the new headunit wiring without having to butcher up the factory wiring. It makes life a bit easier and quicker. Available at most autoparts stores and some car stereo places.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:38 am
by Okibi
Garry wrote:If you decide to install it yourself you should try to get an adapter plug...


HELL YES !!! Awesome advice. I spent many hours on the weekend rewiring and extending a loom because the one in the car had been chopped really short and the one on the 2nd hand stereo was really short too.

It's so much nicer to be able to unplug your loom when you want to change head units.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:27 pm
by crzymx
Ill help you mate, you said you dont mind driving down. Im in melbourne so give me a day or two notice :P

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:48 pm
by hethro87
Hey guys,

Well after 5 hours of poping off trim, working under a torch and fart arsing around with screws it finally went in with some help from a friend last night!

Clarion head unit is quite nice, a bit sensitive but getting used to controls.

Fusion speakers are ok - not much meat to them but its either spend $50 or spend over $150 and thats something im not willing to do. They do the job!

Thanks for all your help, now last thing to do is to do the brake pads this weekend and she is as good as new :D.

Will post up pics of my ride soon, where is the best place for that?

Cheers,

Hethro.

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:23 pm
by sliq
inner west sydney..

olympic park?

Help with NB speakers and Headunit removal.

Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:01 pm
by Jeo
Good work. Always satisfying to do things yourself

I read that as "where to post pics on this forum"
I'd be running with the garage chat section and of course the the garage itself