Budget stereo upgrade

[— Agent☣Orange —]

The goal of this project was to upgrade White Knight's (member of our local GearheadsMiataClub.net) antiquated 1996 stock stereo system with a modern, quality one on the cheap without sacrificing quality. Some folks hesitate at the thought of upgrading the stereo because of cost, complexity, myriad of options but it shouldn't be that daunting. Upgrading a stock stereo can be done inexpensively

After some research, he opted for this Kenwood ($90 on Amazon) along with my favorite speakers: Polk db651s ($60 on Amazon) and received everything in just a few days. Also ordered: wiring harness and dash installation kit (more on that later) and an optional stubby antenna.


This budget Kenwood is loaded with minimum modern features such as both USB and 1/8 jack on the front panel which is great for connecting both an iPod/iPhone which the Kenwood can control or user-selectable iPod/iPhone control. the 1/8" jack provides for connecting any devices output to the stereo. I personally prefer the iPod route and create different playlists on my computer for mood or drive length.

For this price point, the Kenwood is surprisingly loaded with features such as the aforementioned front interfaces but also sound tailoring via an EQ plus has three sets of pre-amp outputs for front, rear and subwoofer if you go that route. There are a few more features like hands-free telephony and Pandora music streaming as well. This install does not take advantage of any amplification but the option is there for future expansion for rear (or headrest) speakers. Another feature that is never advertised is how quickly the Kenwood can read a memory stick's contents or how quickly it interfaces with an iPod which in this case is very fast.

Cheaper stereos list a lit of cool features on the box but never tell you that they take a couple minutes to read your flash drive every time you want to listen to your stereo. That is a real drag and gets old on the first day. I'm surprised Kenwood doesn't mention how fast it is in this regard. The lesson is, don't skimp for the cheapest stereo or you'll regret it.

The only miniscule gripe about this particular Kenwood is that its brightness does not dim nor brighten with the dash-light control knob but does contain a manual adjustment to dim on the unit itself. Not a big deal unless you take a lot of trips in the middle of the night, otherwise you really want a bright display during the day which the Kenwood does. To offset that annoyance, this Kenwood offers a myriad of lighting colors that you can use to match your dash lights.

The speakers are my absolute favorite in this price range, Polk db651s. These are quality, two-way speakers utilizing some pretty fancy woofer material along with a 1-inch "silk dome" tweeter that sound decent using the Kenwood's built-in amplifier as a minimum but truly wake up with an amplifier. The silk dome tweeter is not a marketing gimmick because the only other option is a half-inch or so, tin-can piezo tweeter that cheapo speakers offer and if you ever compare the two, the piezo is tinny crap. The bigger silk dome tweeter transitions beautifully toward the poly woofer cone to produce seamless and realistic sound. Again, a small amp would really make a night and day difference here, not for loudness but for quality and nominal listening levels but that's an additional cost at another time. Luckily, the Kenwood is already equipped for it.

We did connect the stock headrest speakers to the high-level output of the Kenwood since it only took a couple minutes but compared to the new Polk door speakers, the headrest speakers were just an annoyance so we faded everything to the front. I would prefer a nice set of Polk 5.25" on the parcel shelf and a decent, mini 4-channel amp in the future. Some popular advice is that rear speakers are not needed because after all, you'd never sit at a concert with your back to the stage however, I'm not in a concert hall, I'm in a raucous convertible and considering the noise, I prefer to be surrounded by sound.


On to the photos:


The Kenwood head unit



The beautiful Polk 6.5" door speakers (*footnote: I've installed a few sets of these into Miatas in the past but this latest set omits the speaker wires and connectors in exchange for better materials. This was a real annoyance that sent White Knight scrambling to the local Radio Shack for spade connectors so we could finish. If you get these speakers, get some connectors before installing)



Here is the difference between stock 1996 and aftermarket 2015s. Check out that Polk tweeter!



This is the wiring kit. Even though I could do without, it's so much easier to have something I could disconnect if needed



Finally, here is the dash install kit. Even though it lists 1996 as compatible, this kit was absolutely unnecessary since the '96 uses a standard, single-DIN chassis whereas earlier Miatas used an unconventional and larger opening requiring this kit in order to mount an aftermarket stereo. I learned something new and wasted some of White Knight's money.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Onto the work:

We backed in since there was going to be a lot of trips between workbench, table and Miata. It's so handy to have a foldable table to set stuff on.



Probably the most time consuming part is getting the wiring harness worked out. This is not difficult, just tedious. I stock shrink tube out of habit but if you're doing this for the first time, better to get some beforehand. Basically, you're just going to interface the factory wiring to the aftermarket wiring dongle regarding power, ground and speakers. If installing an amp, of course, you wouldn't splice for speakers but use the RCA pre amp outputs on the back of the head unit instead



A little stripping (the wires!) and some shrink tubing and voila, good connections. You could opt for soldering but that's more time and expense.



In the end, you have a nicely assembled and tucked harness ready to go



Yanking the stock stereo was fairly uneventful. A couple of release clips lets the stock radio free



and then out where it can be unplugged and the new harness pugged in. We didn't even have to remove the tombstone trim!



The next step is to mount the included cage and bend the tabs in so they bite the stock opening



and then after testing output, slide the new stereo in and lock into place. Wow! Not a single bit of trimming or modding necessary to get the Kenwood into place which is a nice change. It sits flush without any adjustment.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

The next step was to upgrade the speakers.

You already saw a stock speaker sitting next to the Polk but the previous owner half-assed installed a single aftermarket speaker in the driver door. Pretty odd considering you have to buy speakers in pairs, might as well do them both.

Nevertheless, this is how not to install speakers: Do not just twist wires together and use masking tape and do not twist just wires onto the speaker terminals. Buy shrink tubing and either solder or buy spade connectors






No!



Fixed that




*Giving credit where credit is due:
Stock Miata speaker wire is high quality and sufficient for even amplified applications. You do not need 8-gauge Monster Cable for new speakers. It adds cost and a lot more work drilling through the door wiring connectors for no noticeable benefit. Cheaper, aftermarket wires can also oxidize inside the insulation whereas stock wiring, besides being already conveniently routed is reliable even at 20 years old. Only replace stock wiring if it is brittle and flaking apart. It can more than handle the 35-50 watts of aftermarket amplification with room to spare.



The stock speaker mounts via three anchoring points but aftermarket 6.5" speakers use four mounting points. No problem. Just mark the speaker opening where the new holes will be drilled. There are no problems with mounting-depth problems with these Polks even flush on the door metal.



Then using a $2 Harbor Freight spring punch, make your indentations and drill



Even though the Polk speakers are marine certified, a good thing considering the rain forest the inside of a Miata door can be, we chose to add speaker baffles to protect the speakers. Speaker baffles are not bass boxes and can actually muddy bass if they're not vented enough so don't buy them hoping for better bass response. We cut large openings, aimed them downward and commenced mounting the speakers. The reason the plastic sheet was pulled back was to be able to stick our hands in and crank down on the speaker screws using clips. This is much better than just screwing into sheet metal as the screws can work themselves out eventually and start to rattle



All done and looking good, sounding good as well!



Last, White Knight wanted to replace his malfunctioning power antenna with a fashionable stubby which turned out pretty nice although reception would suffer in rural areas so he keeps a spare, full-length mast in the trunk for a quick swap if needed

[RustRat]

Thank you! No, really, thank you VERY MUCH. I am about to install a new radio and some speakers along with my 1600dash, since the previous owner removed every bit of audio equipment, and I am starting from scratch. This is extremely helpful. Thank you.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Wow, I appreciate your enthusiasm! It's not really a how-to but a fun, low cost project and my buddy is very happy with it.

[— Phatmiata —]

I have a radio from Europe I wanted to install. Know anything about changing frequencies to accept us FM ?

[mazdarati1]

That is a fine avatar, Agent Orange.... My eyes are ... down here!

[Stealth97]

It's amazing what you can do to a stereo on a budget these days.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

I have a radio from Europe I wanted to install. Know anything about changing frequencies to accept us FM ?

I have no idea what radio you have but generically, radios can be switched to US frequencies via their settings menu or a switch on the chassis or on the board.

It's amazing what you can do to a stereo on a budget these days.

Not bad huh? Used to not be this way. Well actually, you could always buy a cheap stereo but if it didn't break down, it would suffer other problems like long initialization.

[— Phatmiata —]

I have no idea what radio you have but generically, radios can be switched to US frequencies via their settings menu or a switch on the chassis or on the board.

This was a Euro only Pioneer, ill have to check, but just assumed it would have to be converted somehow.

[roadsternut]

This was a Euro only Pioneer, ill have to check, but just assumed it would have to be converted somehow.

Doubt its that easy. JDM radios can't be made to work in Europe without a converter box. But for FM, the only difference between US and EU is the steep between frequencies; Euro is even numbers only. It will "work" in the US if your stations are on an even frequency. AM/MW is just the same. Nothing worth listening to on FM only anyhow. I doubt station identification will work.

[MotoCARR]

Doubt its that easy. JDM radios can't be made to work in Europe without a converter box. But for FM, the only difference between US and EU is the steep between frequencies; Euro is even numbers only. It will "work" in the US if your stations are on an even frequency. AM/MW is just the same. Nothing worth listening to on FM only anyhow. I doubt station identification will work.

Have you looked on the back and see if there is a switch somewhere? Or power it up and click through some of the radios. Although rare, I have seen some radios that have the ability to flip.(Note: However I have never seen this on US market Pioneer radios.

[MotoCARR]

All done and looking good, sounding good as well!

Great to see someone else using speaker baffles! They really do a great job protecting the speaker from the elements as well as recapturing some of the audio typically lost out the back of the speakers.

I just replaced mine last weekend