Noddyunplugged

Hi all,

Looking for a little help.

I've got an '04 RX8 HP with oem satnav and the premium bose 9-speaker audio system with a non-mp3 6-disc changer.

I've been aware for a while that mazda had an mp3 playing version of the 6-disc changer. Two versions in fact: a bose-friendly version and presumably a non-bose version. The part number for the former being: BS0C-79-EGX but the damn thing was never available outside of the US.

But..........I've recently purchased a 6-disc mp3 unit from a guy on ebay who is a mazda techinician for a reasonable sum. Its only 3 months old and was removed from a brand new mazda 2 demo vehicle before its sale. Its the same unit that would go into the new mazda 5 and I'm assuming its the same unit that is available in the face-lift '09 RX8.
Its part number is: DF76-79-EGX.
With this thing came the cd deck and a new 'headunit' or brain box. Now I know that from reading various how-to's the two can be seperated. So what i'm wondering is, if say this unit isn't compatible with my bose system, could I not just simply seperate the cd-decks from the respective 'headunit'/brainboxes and swap them over?

Nodd.

Kafka

bump for you since I would love to have the same thing done into my car as well!

Noddyunplugged

Thanks Kafka,

I'm doing it this weekend anyway - with or without a reply lol, just not a fan of "going in blind" lol

Noddyunplugged

Bump, anyone?

Kafka

bump, ANYONE?

ac_rx8

any news?

wonderful-life

Is there a 6disc mp3 player for the RX8?

Eight

iTrader: (2)

No theres no 6disc mp3 player for the rx8, unless there are in a different country.

Anyways,
read around the forums about Mazda CD players being interchangable with other models, but in fact they're not! In my case.

I remember somewhere in the forum someone said they had a mp3 6cd changer swapped from a different mazda, so I went ahead found a used mp3/6CD changer unit from a mazda3 and installed it, and it didnt work!

First off the cd player deck itself "looks" exactly the same for all models 3, 6, 8 even the sockets at the backm but there are grooves or tabs that are pointing out so it won't fit into the wrong bracket.
The mazda 3 deck had a couple tabs I had to bend inorder to fit it inside the rx8 bracket.
After I got it inside with the 2 row connector snug into the faceplate I made sure my harness had the same pin out as the one that came with the maz3 deck and, powered it on, and it works! but the buttons are screwed!!
Even though the mazda 3 and the mazda 8 have the same exact buttons they are not connected the same way. Buttons would do different stuff than labled, and some won't work. The only thing that works properly are the Load and Eject buttons and all of steering wheel controls, vol, mute, track, mode. I can probrably live it that but its not a clean install and I dont like it.

Did you install yours right? howd it go?

I'm wondering if I did something wrong, but I dont see and problems with connection since everything fits perfectly.

Some people say the decks are interchangable but I've failed to find any solid proof here, too little info on this. fack, I'll just resell it on ebay.

Noddyunplugged

Hi Eight,

I'm sorry to hear about the outcome of your experiance.
I actually never got around to doing the swap and actually traded in the 8 for an E53 BMW X5 4.4i Sport, November 5th.

It does seem really very counter-productive for the pin-outs to have changed so that buttons/functions don't match up across a range of vehicles that use identical audio equipment! I do know that at one point the manufacturer of the units changed and it also depends on weather or not your vehicle has Bose premium audio system, for example in the mazda 6 there are two different part numbers for MP3-enable changers; one for a Bose equiped system and one without! But that has something to do with the bose amp so that factor shouldn't effect pinouts. Did your unit come from the same generation/era of mazda, i.e. before any face-lifting/updating went on? (As an example, I'm currently buying-in parts to retro-fit the OEM sat nav set-up into the X5, and during my generation of E53 X5 the radio (brain unit) actually changed - the later ones referred to as "BM54" which gained an aux-in the earlier unit didn't have one, and this was BEFORE the E53 X5 got facelifted!).
So sadly I have no idea if the unit I have will work completely fine or if would have had a similar result to yourself, Eight. And on top of that, my 8 was an '04 (in other words, the first iteration of RX8) but the changer I have is found in the BRAND NEW '07 onwards little Mazda 2 and seems to be identical, i don't think any tabs would need to be altered.

Incidentally folks there is an MP3 enabled changer for the RX8 for definate, but its found in the new face-lift '07 onwards models and there is also a factory ipod functionality of some description available too. Maybe this unit will have more chance of being backwards-compatable with the original 8s?

.......One thing I do regret about changing to the X is that the kit is soo darn expensive! The loom/ harness i need for the sat nav install tends to go for around £250! The 16:9 screens: £350, the radio/main unit: £300, Sat Nav DVD unit £250/300, then the GPS antenna, thankfully only around £20. Then there's the install itself - the interior very nearly ends up being stripped and re-wired and would probably take me more than one weekend to do.
Am I crazy? Yes.
The only way I can afford to do it is buy a bit at a time lol!

Hope you come to a solution Eight! Sorry I couldn't be of much help. The unit i bought is still sitting in its OEM mazda parts box. I should get the thing back up on ebay - would be another £130 towards the kit I need lol.

Regards
Dave

Noddyunplugged

Hi Eight,

I'm sorry to hear about the outcome of your experiance.
I actually never got around to doing the swap and actually traded in the 8 for an E53 BMW X5 4.4i Sport, November 5th.

It does seem really very counter-productive for the pin-outs to have changed so that buttons/functions don't match up across a range of vehicles that use identical audio equipment! I do know that at one point the manufacturer of the units changed and it also depends on weather or not your vehicle has Bose premium audio system, for example in the mazda 6 there are two different part numbers for MP3-enable changers; one for a Bose equiped system and one without! But that has something to do with the bose amp so that factor shouldn't effect pinouts. Did your unit come from the same generation/era of mazda, i.e. before any face-lifting/updating went on? (As an example, I'm currently buying-in parts to retro-fit the OEM sat nav set-up into the X5, and during my generation of E53 X5 the radio (brain unit) actually changed - the later ones referred to as "BM54" which gained an aux-in the earlier unit didn't have one, and this was BEFORE the E53 X5 got facelifted!).
So sadly I have no idea if the unit I have will work completely fine or if would have had a similar result to yourself, Eight. And on top of that, my 8 was an '04 (in other words, the first iteration of RX8) but the changer I have is found in the BRAND NEW '07 onwards little Mazda 2 and seems to be identical, i don't think any tabs would need to be altered.

Incidentally folks there is an MP3 enabled changer for the RX8 for definate, but its found in the new face-lift '07 onwards models and there is also a factory ipod functionality of some description available too. Maybe this unit will have more chance of being backwards-compatable with the original 8s?

.......One thing I do regret about changing to the X is that the kit is soo darn expensive! The loom/ harness i need for the sat nav install tends to go for around £250! The 16:9 screens: £350, the radio/main unit: £300, Sat Nav DVD unit £250/300, then the GPS antenna, thankfully only around £20. Then there's the install itself - the interior very nearly ends up being stripped and re-wired and would probably take me more than one weekend to do.
Am I crazy? Yes.
The only way I can afford to do it is buy a bit at a time lol!

Hope you come to a solution Eight! Sorry I couldn't be of much help. The unit i bought is still sitting in its OEM mazda parts box. I should get the thing back up on ebay - would be another £130 towards the kit I need lol.

Regards
Dave

Eight

iTrader: (2)

Hey dave thanks for the detailed reply. I was thinking the same thing, but the deck is from the same year 06 MS3, unless they changed the audio system between minor changes but that would make it impossible to interchange cd player options between the same model. Anyways, I'm just going to use the base player and do a aux mod.
I guess there's a reason for the different part numbers, but I wish mazda would of made every deck interchangable to keep it simple especially when the buttons are identical.
Bimmers are way out of line for me, I would probrably be afraid to do any modto it.
But goodlyck with you install.
Just out of curiosity do you have a picture of the deck I would like to see how the tabs are set. They are all on the faceplate side where you insert the cd.