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Car Forum / Mazda / Mazda Miata / October 2004So, why did they drop the headrest speakers ?
I must admit, while shopping for cars, I thought the headrest speakers were the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. THEN I bought a car with them!! they are COOL! I can actually HEAR the stereo while blasting down the freeway with the top down! Now that I've experienced them, I wouldn't want to be without them. In fact, the whole stereo with the ALC, etc is actually pretty cool :) I don't know about your year but in 92, the headrest speakers are square pieces of cardboard which, until I knew better, I thought sounded pretty good (doesn't take much to reproduce NPR and talk radio) until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW! If they were still using the square cheapies in your year, you might want to consider an upgrade. As to why they stopped - cost? safety nazis? Ford influence? Tom 92 Red > I must admit, while shopping for cars, I thought the headrest speakers were > the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. THEN I bought a car with them!! [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > In fact, the whole stereo with the ALC, etc is actually pretty cool :) >until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW! What size Infinitys did you get to fit? I've put a set of Polk Audio speakers (I listened to several and decided I liked the Polks, the Infinities were a little too bright for my ears) in the doors and as you said Wow!. I'm now thinking of the headrest speakers. I know the ones on the passanger side are shot. Any recommendations? Gus (91 BRG) If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std set up sounds so bad is because the speaker wiring setup is most often all screwed up (out of phase). Whatever you do, get his help to get the wiring right . Secondly, I used his recomendation for people with an eye on value (Maxx-5), he says that they sound as good or better than most speakers that might run you multiples more. I haven't heard all the available options, he has and I haven't regretted taking his advice. He's a super nice guy, very helpful and reachable (at least he was at the time) thru miata.net. He fixes several issues with the M1 factory stereo unit including the most frustrating one that keeps the unit from functioning when there's a touch of humidity in the air! Good luck, Chris 92BB&T > >until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW! > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Gus (91 BRG) > If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff > Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std set up [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Chris > 92BB&T I've always been confused about this. I have a 96.5, which supposedly doesn't have the wiring problem for which Jeff Anderson offers a fix. I added Infinity 3.5" speakers to the driver's headrest (there was space for them but no OEM speakers). What I found was that they don't make a damn bit of difference. I had read reports of people adding headrest speakers and crowing that could hear the radio clear as a bell at high speed with the top down. In my case, the speakers are barely audible unless I scrunch down and put my ears directly in front of them. If I fade toward the headrest speakers to make them louder, I have to crank up the volume so that the door speakers still completely dominate. I can't get a comfortable balance, like in a regular car with front and rear speakers. I'm still using the stock front end and the OEM door speakers, so that could be an issue, but I don't see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this. Well, I don't know if it has anything to do with the stereo itself, but I can tell you that now that I have experienced the headrest speakers, I wouldn't want to be without them ! Mine came with them factory installed, along with the "sensory sound" or whatever Pioneer head unit and it all works great together. I am definitely planning on replacing the speakers with better ones, as it's been my experience that even low end aftermarkets are usually better than any OEM's. Not sure why you can't get your system to balance out ?? maybe you put the wrong impedance speakers in or something ? just a thought. Anyway, keep pursuing it... it's worth it IMO! > > If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff > > Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std set [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > front end and the OEM door speakers, so that could be an issue, but I don't > see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this. At the risk if asking a really dumb question, is the upolstery material in front of the speakers perforated to let the sound out? My first Miata had the headrest speakers and there were perforations in the upolstery in front of them. My 2003 has no such speakers, and there are no perforations in the upolstery leather. Randy > > If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff > > Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std set [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > front end and the OEM door speakers, so that could be an issue, but I don't > see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this. Worth a look, I guess. The headrests had cut-outs in the foam for speakers, which I had to enlarge to put the 3.5 inch Infinities in, so imagine the seat material should be a problem. > At the risk if asking a really dumb question, is the upolstery material in > front of the speakers perforated to let the sound out? My first Miata had [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] > don't > > see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this. Worth a look, I guess. The headrests had cut-outs in the foam for speakers, which I had to enlarge to put the 3.5 inch Infinities in, so imagine the seat material should be a problem. > At the risk if asking a really dumb question, is the upolstery material in > front of the speakers perforated to let the sound out? My first Miata had [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] > don't > > see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this. I'm not familiar with the strengths and/or limitations of the stock stereo system. When I bought my '97 the original owner had already installed a Blaupunkt head unit and disk changer, but not the speakers. Due to a dead left front channel, I upgraded the entire system. I have installed a Kenwood Excelon MP3-capable head unit capable of driving the 6-disk changer in the trunk. The headrest speakers are Sony X-Plod 3-1/2s and the door speakers are Kenwood 6-3/4 components with 1-1/2 tweeters. The head unit allows me to cut all signal below 200Hz for the rear channels, and because of the crossover in the components up front, bass ferqs are generated soley by the 6-3/4s. End result is a "forward" faded setting, with crystal clear sound at 80 mph with the topdown utilizing 60% of the headunit's capacity. (And this is with the FM N/A Dual-Exhaust to boot!) - L >> If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff >> Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std set [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] >front end and the OEM door speakers, so that could be an issue, but I don't >see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this. '97 STO, "Chouki" // Change TEJAS to TX to reply via eMail // I put the 5" in the doors with the adapter from Crutchfield and the 3" in the headrest. Just about any 3" or less speaker will fit in the square hole in the headrest. This was five years ago so there may well be better/cheaper speakers available now. >>until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW! > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Gus (91 BRG) In my '91, I went with 3 1/2" polks that I bought from partsexpress dot com. Great improvement! I had to cut some of the factory foam away. That took a few seconds! Sony headunit, Sony door speakers, polks behind my head. Good stuff! >I put the 5" in the doors with the adapter from Crutchfield and the 3" in >the headrest. Just about any 3" or less speaker will fit in the square [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >> >> Gus (91 BRG) > In my '91, I went with 3 1/2" polks that I bought from partsexpress dot > com. I've been to the PolkAudio website and can't find reference to any 3 1/2" speakers. I also took a look at partsexpress.com without success (several other brands but not Polk). Perhaps you got them at time when Polk made 3 1/2" speakers? I'd like to find Polk's so they are sonically match with the 6 1/2" I have in the doors. Guess I'll have to go listen and see what works. Thanks, Gus (91 BRG) |
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