Glovebox is probably too small in the Miata; It barely holds the owners manual and the case for the current head unit’s faceplate. But there is PLENTY of room in the back of the dash behind where the stock head unit goes. So stick a small amp in there and BT setup and it will be golden.
Replied to your PM. Thank you!
I wanted to do this years ago!!! If the search function would work I would find my thread…
I love the idea of this. link to where I can purchase from?
http://www.nyspeed.com/search.php?searchid=2542377
Search is working perfectly. It’s there somewhere, I just don’t know what you tilted it.
Plugging an 1/8" to RCA directly into an amp will result in shit sound quality unless you use certain newer (i.e.: JL XD series) amplifiers that have a switch and the ability to accept a low-level input.
With that you would use JL’s volume level knob (HD-RLC) to adjust the volume through the amplifier. That said, I am not sure who else offers such technology since I haven’t paid much attention to car audio in a few years now. A friend did that in his air cooled Beetle and it worked out really well.
Edit: didn’t read enough in here.
I still have friends & family at Daryll’s, dude.
Manhagen, that is the route I am going to go with as long as an OK quality amp doesn’t cost too much. (ie $50 bucks from eBay or Amazon). Looks like that JL amp will set me back too much. So cheap amp, volume control knob setup and the cable for Bluetooth and/or AUX and call it done. Any music is better than no music. And for me I don’t mind the AUX cord, sometimes I’ll prefer it due to issues I’ve read with BT stuff not connecting or re-connecting. And I don’t need it to charge my phone or device, just need music output.
Not trying to spend hundreds of dollars on a 25 year old car that only has 2 little speakers that only gets driven to and from work for 6-7 months out of the year. It sucks that I cant spend a lot of money on this but it is what it is. If it costs too much I’ll just have someone (Daryll’s) fix the current issue in the head unit which is what I think is a bad power wire connection in the harness. (I suck at wiring and electronics)
I will be calling Daryll’s tomorrow to figure out a solution for the Miata. Sounds like there are some options I can go with to get something going that will work without costing too much money.
Have @LUKE_L take a look at the current issue?
I would just buy a head unit. It seems like way too much work for a 25 year old car that has two tiny speakers and isn’t driven very often.
At the very least you have a 1/8" jack or USB right on the unit and it plays just peachy. I wouldn’t trust a $50 amp from amazon period, let alone making this idea work in a worthwhile fashion.
I wanted to do something similar in the scirocco, but it was easier to put a tiny head unit in the glovebox where nobody could see it and just ran a long aux cord to my phone.
@manhagen installed it while laying on my roll cage upside down in 20 min and it worked perfectly
I’ll be doing something like this to the mustang. Want to keep the stock am radio unit while hiding the actual amp and BT unit to use for the speakers.
I have a head unit that has aux and usb input in the car, I just need to get it working. I’ll talk to darylls tomorrow and see what they can do for me. It’s probably really simple for someone who is good with electronics.
However I Do not want a head unit any longer and want to eliminate it from the dash board center stack and replace it with a solid panel. Aesthetics. Miata interiors look much better with nothing there in my opinion. If it’s budget friendly enough it will be well worth the hassle to me. Not gonna spend $300 on sound equipment for a $2000 car lol I have heard and seen inexpensive marine Amps from Amazon work just fine for this application I just don’t know the details on how it all works.
I really dont see a head unit fitting in a Miata glovebox. Besides that thing is so thin and flimsy I now keep just the reg, ins and aux cord in there. People have to get very creative to get a 52mm gauge to fit in there let alone a head unit so that is not an option I will go with. Besides, I no longer have a center console for storage so glovebox is handy when needed.
a call will be made tomorrow to see what my options are and what prices will be through darylls. If this avenue doesn’t work, I’ll get my current setup working and all this will be for nothing lol
It also comes with a remote volume control knob.
I found a build thread on a Miata forum with the amp in the link. Guy says sounds quality is not the best but is sufficient for the Miata. This is what I am trying to accomplish.
Photos from his build:
After installation, finished product will look like this but with a single din blank off plate and a single din OEM cubby. On this blank plate the plan would be to possibly mount the AUX input and in the future the power window switches etc.
It just seems silly to go through all that work for a blank piece of abs.
What is silly to you is bliss to me.
That abs piece would be half that size (single din) and it is possible to have a blanking piece made of aluminum. Abs is just cheaper easier and more readily available to buy. And that abs piece would be used to hold aux hole, and eventually window switches, s2000 start button, gauges, a clock or whatever I feel like.
Looks like you got it figured out. :tup:
Can’t go wrong for $45! You could be into a full bluetooth solution under $90.
If you can get me the dimensions of that blanking plate, I’ll get it cut at work. I have some scrap acrylic that we can rough up and spray flat black…
Last time I made a single-din ABS panel, I just purchased it on eBay for SUPER cheap and cut it to spec.
Should have some time tomorrow or Friday to work on this and get you some dimensions. Ive got the JDM spec tombstone so it fits radios perfect but its also difficult to source proper blanking kits. At the same time I’ll give you my template for you to cut that we talked about last year. lol
That’s kinda what Im thinking!