adainty

Getting a company to install a nokia car kit into my RX8, the kit can be connected to the stereo system to mute the music and play the audio of the call though the speaker system.
has anyone else done this??
does anybody know the make and model of the stereo used in the RX8 and if it has a internal amplier in the head unit?

adainty

Is there not one person out there that knows the make and model of the stereo?
Come on guys this is where we are ment to share information with each other.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

I am not sure of the make and model of the head unit. I used to do some work repairing Sony c.d. players in the Automotive division. Most of our stuff came from Ford Motor Co. so that might be a possibility. I have the Bose speaker system in my RX and it sounds like the power amp is outboard and always switched on when the key is on. If you listen close with the engine off you might hear a bit of amp idle noise. My guess is that the factory audio system is of a modular variety, which means there should be aux. inputs and control circuits for the cell kit of which you speak. Hope this helps you.

Good Luck,
C.R.

Sputnik

Do a search. That information has been mentioned several times already.

---jps

OverLOAD

The RX-8 HU is not friendly to modification. Good luck for them to do it. It will be expensive and time consuming for them to do so.. most probably, but if they find a way to do it, even at great expense, I would be curoius as to the approach that they take.

Regards,

OverLOAD

mhopley

It is always harder fit a car kit to the Bose systems with amplifiers but it is possible as there is a solution for the TT.
Dashmount sell a mute lead for the RX-8 but no one has used it yet. The system is very similar to the Mazda 6 with the Bose system. The head unit has line level outputs to an amplifier that is under the rear parcel shelf.

I ended up fitting my car kit with a seperate speaker as I did not want to risk damaging the head unit.

Mark

bobclevenger

Thank you for the link to Dashmount. I have contacted them just tonight and requested information on purchasing their mute lead harness. If and when I get it I shall let you know how it works out.

adainty

Just been speaking to the sale manager for BOSE in the UK who has advised me that an adaptor will be releast soon so that this will be possiable. got to call him back next week once the contact manager for mazda is available.
Said that the Nokia kit will work once the adapter is available as the head unit was made especially for the RX8 and mazda need to give the OK for them to use it to sell to the public market place.

bobclevenger

I just installed the kit I bought from the Dashmount company in the UK. It required a few minor modifications, notably changing one connector and changing the pin arrangement on another -- nothing anyone who is technically savvy can't do.

The unit works very well. When the phone is active the stereo mutes and the phone plays through the 8's speakers.

Oh, there is no cutting required to the car's wiring! Everything is plug-in.

The kit is called a "dashlead" and they do ship to the US, but it's not cheap! About $70 with shipping, but the stuff works and it is good quality.

I've been told that they have a "non-damaging" cell phone mount for the 8 now too.

sixspeed

Bob,

I have the mute lead from Dashmount , but haven't fitted it yet! Can you tell me which pins you had to swap to get this to work?


-andy-

bobclevenger

You may not need to do any swapping. The folks at Dashmount told me it was due to UK vs. US specs on the Motorola car kits. BTW, use their "method 1" for the mute connexion.

adainty

Thanks, bob!

TheDosDog

I just finished installing Dashmount's mute lead. Works great and no modifications were require to the 8s wiring. As BobClevenger alerted me, the mute lead is not designed to play through the Bose system amps. Therefore you have to step down the signal a bit. Bob provided the specs for a voltage divider to accomplish this. I used a 100k ohm 1/2 watt resistor in series with a 1k ohm potentiometer adjusted it to 220 ohms. Connect the resistors across the speaker output of the car kit. Connect the mute lead audio input across the 1k pot only. After the install you can fine tune the volume. Volume is controlled by the phone and the pot and is not effected by the 8s audio controls. The radio does not need to be on to use the phone but the ignition has to be on or in the accessory position to energize the amps. I'm getting a little engine noise in the speakers when using the phone but I can probably eliminate this with a filter. Now, when I make or receive a call, the radio mutes and the phone plays clearly through the sound system.

bobclevenger

Hey DosDog, good to hear you got it working.
I also have a bit of noise in the amps when using the phone, but I'm just living with it. Let me know if you get a filter that works, OK?

TheDosDog

Yep, filter killed the noise. I installed a 20 amp in-line noise filter (picked up at the local autoparts store) on the red power lead going into the motorola control unit.

Omicron

This is a sweet mod folks. Now I have to hunt down the car kit for my Motorola T720 and pay Dashmount a visit.

Bob or DosDog, I don't suppose either one of you would like to put together a "DIY" thread on installation and the extra components needed would you? This is a definite candidate for the DIY forum. You do it, and I'll put it there in a heartbeat. :D

bobclevenger

Thanks DosDog-- that filter's next on my list.

bobclevenger

DosDog -- your install is the newer; did you have any of the issues I had except for the audio level?

I'm sure that between us we can put together a DIY for this. Of course it requires a rather pricey custom cable assembly from England to begin with, but it's definitely worth it if you use your cell phone in the car a lot.

TheDosDog

Bob - There were no other issues. The cable included a short pigtail that reoriented the power input to the Motorola control unit. I spliced the filter into this pigtail. The pot I used (radioshack $1.99) was a 15 turn bar type that I was able to solder and integrate into the harness which placed the adjustment on the audio out cable just a few inches from the controller. Then I just had to splice in the Motorola audio connector from the cart kit. The harness cost me just over $90 with shipping (that's inflation) but still more than worth it.

TheDosDog

Parts used:

Dashmount Lead
100k 1/2 watt resistor
1k 1.2 watt potentiometer (15 turn)
20 amp noise filter

Total cost was ~ $100

Here is schematic of voltage divider required for 8s with Bose:

msrecant

Dumb question. Could the Dashmount Lead be used to provide a generic AUX input to the RX-8 sound system? I understand that Dashmount feeds directly into the Bose amps so that volume control would have to be provided by the accessory (and not the RX-8 volume control).

watte??

I've just bought me this mute-module from QuBit.
(www.qubit.dk => this company is located in Denmark, Europe)

It is especially designed for the BOSE-systems used in the Mazda's. (Mazda6, Mazda3, Mazda Rx-8)

Just plug and play ! No need to cut any wire !!!
You have the option to select only front or front + rear speakers.
Speaker-signal from mobile-phone is converted to audio-line signal from wich you can adjust the volume.
I will be installing this to use with my Nokia-carkit as soon as my new Rx-8 will be delivered.


Question :
with the mute-systems that you use (dashlead etc), when the system mutes, does "MUTE" (or something like that) appear on the radio dash LED ?

I'll post some pictures as wel as a technical sheet (2 pages).


PAGE 1 :

watte??

PAGE 2 :

watte??

PICTURE :

bobclevenger

This looks like the same system as the Dashlead, but with improved electronics in the "black box".
Please let us know how well it works when you get your 8.
No, the display on the radio does not change when a phone call is in progress.
I wish I'd found out about this one sooner!