Exige

Anyone have the specs.... How many speakers are in the car? Is it possible to change to a sony? Would it be 1 din or 2 dins? Thanks

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Hercules

There are up upgrades for the audio system it seems at this point. What you *could* do is change out the speakers and the amplifier if you wanted, but the head unit is a part of the center console and thus is pretty hard (but not impossible) to swap out cleanly.

However, your choice to put Sony in, instead of keeping the stock system leaves me curious... you do know that Sony's car audio is terrible in comparison to most stuff out there right

Oh and to answer the other Q... there are 9 speakers in the Bose system, 6 in the standard system. Personally I believe that Mazda will have left a good number of outputs on the stock system so you can just plug and play your speakers and amp and get better sound (if you're not happy with it) and leave the dash radio unchanged. It won't matter because none of the clarity will come from that stereo, but rather the amplifier that you'd replace and speakers you replace.

Exige

WOW thanks for the clear info.
How many speakers are there in the stock car?
I will heed your advice and not change the center console.

Hercules

I mentioned it.. there are 6 in the standard system, 9 in the Bose.

KAuss

Well, this is my first post, but long time lurker...

ok, enough with the introduction...

I just want to know if anyone knows about a replacement center console for the RX-8? or are we all doomed to wait for an aftermarket replacement which will probably fit with the worst of them?

I'm a straight up audiophile and the stereo in ANY car stock must go. The only things I hate about the new fleet of cars due out lately (G35 both coupe and sedan, 350Z, RX-8) all have custom fitted stock systems.

So hopefully some of you guys with your "trusted sources" can search an answer as how the stock system gets swapped out. Besides custom work.

BTW, All of the sounds generated in any car system gets generated at the HU, everything else between the HU and the speaker just adds distortion. Amps filter, and amplify, they don't help with sound quality. So if you're gonna be stuck with a crappy stocker H/U, no matter how you filter it, you're gonna end up with crappy sounds.

I'm looking forward to the RX-8 IMO the best looking car ever produced by any car maker... (Maybe except the R-34)

Donny Boy

Seems to me as if the car manufacturers are intent on keeping the CAR BUYING PUBLIC stuck with whatever systems they and their bean counters deem appropriate. This is unfair and any forward thinking car company would make their cars MORE MARKETABLE if there is an easier way FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS AND THE CAR OWNERS to customize their car stereos.

Come on Mr. Manufacturer, let us have some freedom of choice, it will benefit YOU in the end.

RX8ER

Apparently, from what I've researched, the HU will have all kinds of automated equalizations going on. It is supposed to adjust the sound according to the conditions/noise levels inside the cockpit. It sounds cool but I don't think I like the fact that a deck is going to tell me how my music should sound.

sKy^WiNGzErO

Sony C90 was one of the best H/Us ever, shame they dont make it anymore. Failing that, look at the alpine 7998, thats pretty damn sweet. Hopefully someone somewhere will make an adapter kit so any aftermarket H/U can be fitted. Here is hoping the stock locations are sound deadened and are ideally placed within the car :D

MrWigggles

I don't know if it will be the head unit or the Bose amp/processor doing all the equalization.

My guess it will be the seperate Bose electronics.

-Mr. Wigggles

KAuss

My last car was a WRX wagon, and I purchased that car with the audio in mind... That always came first... Then I totalled the car. I've always doubted my purchase on the WRX but it was good for the money...

But now I lost my audio car and might have to skip on the RX-8 just because of the unfriendliness of the H/U option. I might just op out to buy the STi instead (But no STii Wagon has been announced yet )

I love the RX-8 to death, (ever since the release of the yellow concept, the first concept for pretty hidious IMO) hopefully in their 3rd year minor changes they'll make a standard center console...

But what is with the trend of the new H/U consoles? The new accords have the same crap besides those other cars I've named in the previous post... Are they plotting something agianst after market stereo?

And Bose can kiss it as far as car audio goes, I mean how many trophies have they won lately in the car audio department? Why don't car companies group up with Kicker, JL, SoundStream, Pheonix Gold, or any other company that actually have competition proven tech? Much like race proven cars? (a la Rotary)

But how much would a custom center console cost you guys think?

been lurking too long and someone just hit the right topic for me to rant... sorry guys....

Sputnik

Chicken!

---jps

CraziFuzzy

If all you really want is a car for Audio, you should probably save your money and pick up a used Escort Wagon... There are many other reasons to want an RX-8 besides the Stereo... And I really think, from a marketing standpoint, it is more of a benefit, worldwide, to have the Bose name on the car, than to advertise that it has a standard DIN sized radio.

Another note, if replacing the Head Unit, you will lose the use of the Red LED Display at the top of the dash. I have no worries about the quality of stock radios, and anyone who does probably hasn't bought a post 2002-2003 car >$30,000.

My only concern is having a Line In for my XM tuner... but, since i listen to XM, obviously the audio quality isn't of prime importance to me.. :D

Of course there will be some aftermarket kits for the RX-8, but they will be VERY expensive, as they will include the Ventilation system controls.

KAuss

Well, I've sat in my friend's GS300 and that thing with its stereo didn't impress me much, I mean don't get me wrong, for the average Joe, Bose will be more than enough for them... Nissan SE-R has gone with Rockford for their stereo, but they used the cheapest of the cheap to put together a system also... But even in home audio, Bose is a love them hate them company, since their bread and butter line of speakers are usually those satalites which are so small, even though they make a lot of sound, in audio terms bigger usually have their physical advantages..

But I mean I'm the type that spend more on audio than some people would getting a new set of rims w/tires (Talking SSR comps) for their RX-8 :D

Thing is, I'm still very much for the RX-8, I just gotta see who is gonna be greatful enough to support my audio needs and solve this little problem of mine

Regardless though, I'm still gonna wait 2 years before buying the car just to have some road test done by the masses... My insurance record with the accident don't help either

Well, If all else fails, I'll just have to mount the H/U in a custom Din box, which will most likely take over the unused space left by the nav system (if I don't get it)... I plan on getting a sun roof anyway

MrWigggles

Most good head units these days have seperate power amplifiers and for that reason typically have good output going to the sepreate amplifiers. Even if they are trying to save money with the stock radio (which is usually built by Fujitsu (ie. Eclipse), Matsushita (i.e. Panasonic), etc..), it isn't hard designing decent electronics to get a good signals out of them.

It is typically the seperate amplifiers where the bean counters at the auto makers start pinching pennies and the performance starts to suffer. This is wear the bear minimum in electronics are used to suit the requirements. 200 Watts of factory stereo power is rarely as good as what can be found from the aftermarket.

For this reason, I would recommend if someone is really serious about improving the sound in their RX-8 that they tear out everything after the head unit. The head unit should work well enough (even for the picky ).

Good luck,

-Mr. Wigggles

Ps. I gutted everything but the head-unit in my '99 Toyota Solara and the results were excellent.

KAuss

Well, I dunno how the audio is setup in the RX-8, but I can't stand stereos with internal amps, and most if not ALL stock stereo have internal amps... They literally fry CDs when playing extremely loud... I've got my old deck which is ampless, and it plays cool no matter how long you play it. Thats why I want to switch out the stocker...

As for preouts, I'm not sure if the 8 has preouts from the stock deck, every company that I know of so far has line level out to their pre amp subs and still leave the consumer having to convert line level to RCA outs to get to most amps... Line level conversion just don't compare to clean preouts..

And a final note, stock stereo systems are usually measured in peak power, and not RMS, so a 400 watt system will only be 200 RMS watts at most if you're lucky, actually a lot less, but in a perfect world 200

using a stock system is like driving a manualmatic... LOL it just ain't a stick!

CraziFuzzy

I don't know about that these days, even my '98 escorts stock stereo had a seperate Amp under the driver's seat...

RX8ER

My 2001 Grand Prix has a Bose system and the amplifier is in the trunk under the tray. I just tapped into the input to the amp and fed it to my soundstream sub box amp and it sounds great. Everybody thinks that I have a stock system so nobody has ever tried to steal it.

I am going to try and do the same thing in my RX-8. I don't think anyone would steal the factory deck from an RX-8. There wouldn't be much of a blackmarket for a deck custom made to fit an RX-8.

MrWigggles

Since the auto manufacturers like to use multi-pin DIN-type connectors for all contacts, coaxial connectors are almost never used.

For this reason, the head units in factory systems usually output "speaker level" signals to the amplifiers. This keeps noise floor down when not using proper coaxial connectors. But it doesn't mean those "speaker level" signals are meant to drive actual speakers.

-Mr. Wigggles

Sputnik

I did a similar setup in my '98 Grand Prix (but with the earlier setup I had to use speaker-preamp converters between the head unit and aftermarket amp), and it had a very clean sound with a very good frequency range. And it was stealth, and it kept the use of the HUD and steering wheel controls w/o expensive and complicated conversions. Whether we'll be able to do this with the RX8 though...

There are plenty of car systems where the wires between a head unit and external amp are preamp lines, instead of "speaker level".

---jps

RX8ER

Quote from Car and Driver article re: 350Z Bose audio system:

"The Bose stereo was a huge disappointment, sounding as though its seven speakers were packed with dryer lint. No amount of adjusting could "improve the sound to the level of an AM clock radio"

I hope that this isn't an indication of what we get to look forward to.

KAuss

Are you sure the seperate amp isn't for JUST the subwoofer? I'm like 99% sure it is. The reason being is because the regular deck would never have enough power to drive a subwoofer, so they'll have to put in a preamped sub if they desire to have one.

What I'm talking about as internal amp is the one that'll power your speakers, not subwoofers. This amp will still be in the car and it'll run hot while your amp seperately if you choose to.

Well, all in all, there'll only be a hand full of people that really CARES about their audio enough to switch certian things, most will be greatful they get clear reception in ANY car... :-D

I guess I just lucked out...

P00Man

LOL!

lets just REALLY REALLY hope that the Bose HU is tuner freindly, and comparable to a high quality aftermarket deck.

as much time and effort as went into the rx-8, i really doubt that they would have scrawed around with the sound.
________
LovelyWendie

ddtran46

can you change the stock stereo with a new one you buy at the store?

DDJFLW

Yes and no. BTW you do realize you responded to a thread that was opened back in 2003?

Anyways you cannot rip out your deck without an expensive kit because the A/C controls are part of the head unit. If you do want to replace the headunit you need to buy a "Corksport kit" which runs around $400 bucks.

nycgps

WOW! SUPER OLD THREAD BACK TO DA LIGHT !

Well, the op did use the Search function (I think) but he just never check the date of post ...

Anyway, Mazda is really *fuxking* dumb in this one, why do they have to do it this way ? I mean why do they have to combine HU and HVAC together into 1 piece. god damn losers. I wanna know who designed this crap, my baseball bat is ready.