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.