416to212

I'm looking to wire my Boston Acoustic components into my front doors in the future when I install my sub and amp. However, I would like to know if it is possible to use the factory wires to carry the amplified signal from the trunk, where my amp is located, to the doors?

This would save me the trouble of running new speaker wire through the doors. I could then also keep the crossovers in the trunk near the amp to make the install nice and clean.

I am assuming that for the Bose system all the amplified signals go from the small Bose amp to the respective speakers.... Has anyone done this while running 100rms to the fronts?

Wilson

The Bose unit has an amp in each door, so this would not be an option. The amp in the trunk just supplies the rear speakers.

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

Any tips for running speaker wire through into the door?

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

It's a pain in the you know what. When I added an addtional tweeter to my headliner & two more tweeters to the front doors I caught hell trying to get the wires for the tweeter in the headliner thru the rubber boot on the drivers door.
I ran the wire under the headliner then down the A-pillar & thru the rubber boot. It pops out but only so far....good luck man.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/stereo-upgrade-center-tweeter-105915/

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

I knew it wouldn't be easy.... and your link doesn't work.

TheBri

I drilled. See pictures in THIS THREAD.

So far so good. I've had no problems since doing my install in June of last year.

jstkilntim

I did my passenger door yesterday by drilling the molex using "forbidden's molex thread" on the12volt.com. It is by far the cleanest route and it isn't that hard once you are started. I had planned on doing a write up in the next few days, but here is a couple of pics for now.

I haven't done the driver's side yet, but there is a possibility that there are no spare holes in the molex and will have to remove a couple of wires used for the bose amp.











I will try to do a write up soon!

jstkilntim

forbidden

I am surprised that my tutorial is not on this site.....

TheBri

I am too. It's a good tutorial and I would have likely done it if I had seen it prior to doing my install. I'm not unhappy with what I did but your method is cleaner plus it would have saved me from sweating bullets as I attacked my car with a drill.

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

I just tried the link in my previous post and it works on my computer.

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

I did basically the same thing.

416to212

Damn I guess there are no short cuts - just like any other rice rocket I used to own!

Oh and where are you mounting your crossovers?

JST - why did you choose to mount your tweeter in the lower door and not at the stock a-pillar location?

What guage wires are you guys using to wire your fronts to your amp? I was thinking 12 but those spaces in the plug look tight!

Wilson

Right behind the speaker is the door cross-member. I used double-sided tape to stick the crossover to it. Make sure your speaker is not so deep that it would hit the crossover in this location.

416to212

I have read manu older threads that the 8 doors fill with water.... is this still true for 2005 models?

Wilson thanks for the heads up!

forbidden

Yes that is still the case. Move the crossover now before you have to replace it and / or whatever is hooked up to it from dead shorting. There is room in the door panel on the proper side of the vapour barrier to install the crossover at that point, that being the bottom rear of the door panel down by the light.

jstkilntim

Nope, there are no short cuts if you want it to be right. The only good place I found for the crossover is mounted to back side of the door panel near the light. I definitely found traces of water behind my speakers so I wasn't going to place it there. If you look at bri's thread, he has a piece of wood where my crossover is mounted.

With initial testing, I was getting too much separation between the mids & highs w/ the tweeters in the sail pods. (For instance, w/ a guitar solo, as the notes were getting higher, the instrument seemed to move from the lower door to the upper door.) This setup was better sounding me. I will eventually be getting 5.1, so I may or may not have to add some tweets to the sail pod to bring the sound stage up.

I used the wiring that came w/ the Eclipse Components. Some may disagree, but I have never used anything over 16 on any components. I don't remember what drill bit I used, but I just used the largest one that would not mess up the sides of the molex and the wires went right through.

Wilson

I did mine the day after one of the great floods. I found no water in my door. There are places for it to drain. Find them and make sure they are clear.

jstkilntim

I'm not saying that they fill w/ water, but I am saying there is evidence of water inside the door where the speaker mounts and where that support is. I'm guessing this is why the factory 9" have a foam surround on them. I will be taking no chances w/ my equipment.

forbidden

The reason that I know 100% that the doors fill with water, we installed the customers speakers onto a clear lexan baffle and cut away the speaker grill in front of it. Thus we could see the speaker and the clear baffle.....and the water level coming up behind it. We get rain here, a crapload of it. It was rain that was the issue here.

jstkilntim

Couple of pics.

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

Sooo..... how bout that write up? lol

I have the whole molex connector unseated from the door frame.... but there is no way in hell is squeezing all the way out so I could drill it.

Well obviously it will because you have pics, but I don't see how its possible. How do you seperate the two pieces? Those little tabs don't do jack. I think it would be 100% easier if the door was removed. lol In forbidden's thread, it appears as he has all the room in the world to move around. I knew this was going to be hard, but if I knew it was this hard......

EDIT: OK. So I did the driver's side door today. First things first. I do not recommend this to anyone. I'm really curious how many people on this board have actually done this. These walkthroughs are meager at best. I appreciate people taking their time to post up what they have, but it's honestly very little help. Getting the molex out of position, separated into the two pieces, drilled out without taking the door off and little/ no slack in the wiring, getting them back together.... and the worst part... getting them to fit back in the hole and getting to boot back into place. Damn near impossible. Those pics of the Mazda 3 do absolutely no justice to the lack of maneuvering room on the 8. And the above pics are misleading. Not only is he using like 20awg speaker wire, it doesn't show anything about getting the two molex ends together again and the boot back into place. Oh and in the molex thread, it states you can just use the large holes in the side of the connector if you have them. BS. The connector will not fit back into place. I thought it was going to be fine... but no way in hell. Try it for yourself. I'm telling you it doesn't work.

In case you guys can't tell, I just got done with it and I'm still extremely frustrated. LOL! After installing in GM cars.... these suck. Plain and simple. I will never do this again.

jstkilntim

Here you go.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/forbiddens-molex-thread-106502/

Unfortunately, forbidden's pics are of a Mazda3 (I believe), which has more room.

If I remember correctly, to separate the 2 pieces, it seems like you have to filp the blue piece (up or down), then they separate fairly easily.

Remember, unless you have some help, you have to disconnect that plug before you remove the door anyway.

Good Luck!

forbidden

Yes my pics were of a 3 but in the 8, I did the exact same thing and ran 14 gauge and 18 gauge into the door using this very method. 20 years of experience trumps first time around is the issue here. Slow down, take your time and all will go well.

<edit> I also ran 4 runs of multi strand wire into each door (the size of a 14 gauge line) to operate his undercar suspension lighting pots that we used to illuminate the door speakers. So I ran a crapload of wires into each door with relative ease.

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

Fair enough. Like I said, by far the hardest part was getting the boot back around the molex and then getting both back into the body of the car. I'm positive it's in place correctly, but my boot now does not have near the seal it once had.... Like I said, I don't recommend this procedure to anyone without A) A LOT of experience and B)A LOT of time. I recommend 1 day per door for newbies. It sucks and I'll never attempt it again.

jstkilntim

If it isn't sealing properly, it is probably crooked and needs to come back out. I had to get the boot perfectly straight w/ a small 90deg. seal pick before reassembly.