alright, so I've had it with the head unit. crappy features - no RCA out or in jacks, crappy sound. you guys know the deal.

I want to connect my ipod and eventually Sirius and I know all about the dension and neo, but we have to jump through hoops to make it work and it still doesn't work the way we want them to - ie, no song display (artist, song name, etc), still have to use the ipod for the play lists and some other stuff.

Meanwhile, Pioneer makes an ipod kit that plugs right into any of their head units (which by the way, although not the best, still kick the s*** out of the factory rx8 head unit).

With the Pioneer ipod adapter, you get full features with your ipod for an extra $100. The Dension with it's "it works good enough with your crappy rx8 stereo so be happy" - $230.

Now, the head unit could probably be replaced if the climate controls weren't integrated into the same unit - thanks Mazda.

Has anyone successfully removed the climate controls and then installed a good head unit and actually "replaced" the factory unit - Not installed in the glove box, not where the NAV system is, not in the cup holder, not above the stock stereo...

Installed in the dash board, where it belongs.

Any pictures and advice on how to do this mod so it still looks good without chopping the entire car?

Love my 8, but the stereo thing is so frustrating.

Thanks, everyone.

The search function is your friend.

Besides, I don't find the sound quality of the stock head unit to be THAT bad. It certainly could have more features, but it sounds decent if you have good speakers and amp hooked up.

I'm with you on the good speakers, but I've been holding off because I really want a different head unit so the speakers would get a clean signal

I'm probably just going to splice the amp in and upgrade all of the speakers and a sub, but I despise the head unit... and the cd player skips whenever I hit a marble.

The skipping can be fixed if you get the mp3 player module from mazda for around $200. $227 from Canzoomer. It displays the id3 tags and info. I don't know about play lists though.

You can buy adapters to add on RCA's. (PIE adapters work pretty well)

For info if anyone sucessfully installed a HU in the dash, here is a pic:
http://www.rx8club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=43081

Here is the Thread on it:
http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=54695

Besides, I don't find the sound quality of the stock head unit to be THAT bad. It certainly could have more features, but it sounds decent if you have good speakers and amp hooked up.

Yeah, I think sound quality is pretty good for a stock head unit.

alright, so I've had it with the head unit. crappy features - no RCA out or in jacks, crappy sound. you guys know the deal.


I have yet to a see a factory HU that has any of this. Also, the Bose HU does have differental outputs, so they can be converted to preamp outputs with the right converter.

yeb replace your speakers.. and get a Pie adapter !!..

I know that Nissans have rca outs and ins for their stock head units. My sister has a base Nissan Titan which came with 2 aux ins and 2 sections with rca's and dual zone.

But then again, nissan head units are made by rockford fosgate...well some nissans.

ferris, you're basing your opinion on the features of the HU, not the sound quality. Hook up some decent speakers to it...it really does deliver great clean sound, perfect input to an amp. Never had the CD skip problem you mention.

I'll take your guys advice.

I know the PIE adapter is good for RCA in, but as far as I know, nobody has RCA out jacks - of course things can be spliced to go out, but seems like such an effort for something so simple.

I'll put the new speakers in and an amp and sub and hope for the best.

Thanks, guys for responding to my rant.

You may want to look into a device like JLs Clean Sweep device--it supposeddly remedies the issues your are having with the headunit. Me personally I don't have a problem with the base headunit; currently I'm running Infinity's off of it--I have an alpine amp, lightning audio capacitor, and polk momo 8" sub coming. I plan running it all off of the Alpine amp.

I'll take your guys advice.

I know the PIE adapter is good for RCA in, but as far as I know, nobody has RCA out jacks - of course things can be spliced to go out, but seems like such an effort for something so simple.

I'll put the new speakers in and an amp and sub and hope for the best.

Thanks, guys for responding to my rant.
If you buy the Soundgate LOCB.2 you can convert the differental outputs to pre amp outputs...I did it and it works great. FYI- This is not a standard line converter, the outputs are true preamps, this unit also has a built in ine driver to fix the issue with the low gain levels from the Bose outputs.

I have the plain jane stock stereo. do you know if this works with the stock stereo? says that it is good with almost any "amplified" system. Since the stock stereo does not have a seperate amplifier, I'm not sure if this will work. But this might help the cause. I'm asking logjamelectronics about it, now.

I think the JL cleansweep will be a good solution. I just sent them an email waiting for when it will be released along with the pricing on it.



i'm going to email logjamelectronics now

JL will be available in May, although they didn't say how much. Will be available through local JL dealers.

I have the plain jane stock stereo. do you know if this works with the stock stereo? says that it is good with almost any "amplified" system. Since the stock stereo does not have a seperate amplifier, I'm not sure if this will work. But this might help the cause. I'm asking logjamelectronics about it, now.

I think the JL cleansweep will be a good solution. I just sent them an email waiting for when it will be released along with the pricing on it.



i'm going to email logjamelectronics now

It will not work, or if it does, it's not going to be very good.

Hi Guys i am from south africa. here's what i did and it works great. I got hold of a audio control EQL - it takes hi power input and acts as a line driver, this way i use the EQL as a "processor" and not the atual radio. the eql can boost the line voltage to around 11v this on my rockford amps sounds great.

I spoke to a company called audiocontrol - (http://www.audiocontrol.com)
They have a device called the LC6 which cleans up the signal and adds some aux-outs for amps. It appears that it will function similar to the cleansweep - You can get a second product (the 4.1) to allow aux-ins.

I think this is what I'm going to go with because
1) it's available now
2) with all of the features, including seperate bass control, and the aux-in stuff, it's only about $300 (I think - I figured it out the other day, but I couldn't remember)

JL's will definitely be more expensive, and it didn't seem nearly as flexible. I don't know about the quality difference, but these guys seem to have some very high-end equipment available.

There is a relatively simple solution to adding an aftermarket headunit, which I did with my Maz6, and am about to do with my RX-8. You put the new HU in the glovebox, and operate it through the steering wheel controls.

Although all functions are available with the glovebox closed, you will have to open it to insert a CD (although with MP3's you can get multiple hours on one disk), and you can't see the display. The stock radio remains to supply the electronics for the climate control display display, etc.

THe stock HU isn't terrible, but it does have a big volume spike between the 4 and 5 setting, and there is no subwoofer control.

I forgot the name of the module that goes with the steering wheel controls, but it can be used with any HU that uses a remote control (I believe infra-red).

I ordered a new HU which will be shipping next month, so I'll post pictures after all is installed. With my Boston Z6's, JL 300.4, Elemental Design 13OV2 sub and JL 500.1 sub amp, I should be back in business.

http://www.cardomain.com/item/JVCKDSHX750

I'm not crazy about the head unit in the console design.

I might put an EQ in there, but I don't think that I'd like the head unit in there.