Miata Seat Speaker Wiring

lookforjoe

lookforjoe

True Classic
Has anyone here used the built-in speakers? I'm sure I can figure out the wiring by trial & error, but I'd prefer to know.
 
The Red/Yellow and Red/Blue wires should go to the left speaker and the Blue/White and Blue/Orange wires should go to the right speaker. This should be the same for both passenger and driver side seats. This is for a '92 Miata. Let me know what MY car the seats are from and I'll make sure it's the same.
 
Matthew said:
The Red/Yellow and Red/Blue wires should go to the left speaker and the Blue/White and Blue/Orange wires should go to the right speaker. This should be the same for both passenger and driver side seats. This is for a '92 Miata. Let me know what MY car the seats are from and I'll make sure it's the same.
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I was told these cam from a '92 Miata.
Mine are blue/black, blue/white, blue/red, blue/yellow.

Since I'm wiring to a aftermarket (Kenwood) CD head unit, should I wire both left/ both right in parallel? Someone mentioned on a Miata forum that the speakers were 8ohm as opposed to standard 4ohm speakers..
 
Not sure if they are 8 ohm. The deck may be okay with that. If not I'd run them in parallel. The Kenwood manual should say if 8 ohm is okay or not.
 
personally,

I would not run speakers I am not sure of in series off of any deck. Amplifier, maybe, but not the deck. If you do and they turn out to be 4 ohm speakers, you could overheat or fry your deck, and the speakers.

Are the speakers removable? I would be interested in seeing how large the seat speakers are. Might be nice if there was a way to replace them with a dual speaker setup so each seat had stereo. Just a thought...
 
Each seat does have two speakers for stereo. It's easy enough to determine the resistance of the voice coil with an ohm meter.
 
Also, running 8ohm speakers off an amp or deck designed for 4 ohm shouldn't hurt it but the other way around it could. It probably won't sound right and the speakers may not get loud enough but It's not going to ruin the deck.
 
was thinking parallel, not series...

Sorry...was thinking parallel, not series...series, you should be safe. ohm load will double in series. In parallel you risk dropping ohms lower than the deck can handle.
 
If that is the case,

If it was me, I would personally get a 4x25 amp just for those speakers, mount two aftermarket speakers in each seat (I am assuming they are either 4x6 or 3.5" round speakers) and run them that way, with maybe a 3 channel amp for front speakers and sub.
 
Well, the speakers are cr*p

...this is what I removed...

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Anyway, I gave up on them, since I already have speakers on the shelf, and wired two Volvo coaxials to the front channel stereo output

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..what's annoying is that the Kenwood KDC MP8017 deck is 'intelligent' (bloody complicated) which means it has no obvious manual L/R or fader balance, and since the rears are right next to one's head, there is no real 'balance'.

EDIT: Just found a way to adjust it, buried in a menu setting :rolleyes2:
 
well....

......now that I have the balance/fader figured out, I'm reminded of why I removed these from my Volvo a few years ago :rolleyes2:

I ordered a pair of Rockford Fosgate 6.5" P1653 's to replace them :grin:
 
Put in the RF front speakers 2 days ago,

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and put in the Blaupunkt 3.5" seat speakers this afternoon...

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..still have to trim the foam & drill more vents in the speaker cover panels.

Used some Bosch connectors I had for the seat connection, speakers are wired in paralell..

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...using a Volvo amp to power the seat speakers; converted the alpine din plug to RCA so I could plug it into the head unit's RCA output.

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The problem is, I'm getting interference with the seat speakers connected. Sounds like alternator whine rather than ignition. I may have to try a choke coil on the constant battery feed to the amp.

I didn't try unplugging one of the seats, to see if running the speakers in parallel is causing the problem.....
 
should not be an issue...

especially since they are by your ears, should be able to get them plenty loud. The whine can be more difficult. I assume you have cleaned all your grounds? I mean all of them. You really want a beefy cable for the ground and power to the amp and make sure the ground connection from the amp to the car is clean and tight. Do not run power/ground cables near rca or speaker/signal wires. Also check the head unit ground. Do the BWM if you have not and go around cleaning all of your grounds. A bad ground (one that is grounded, just not equal to the need of the device) could be the issue. A noise eliminator may help too, but in my experience with the X, any whine can be cleaned up with good grounds.
 
lookforjoe said:
They are 4ohm - but if I run in series, the resistance will increase to 8ohm - you think that is less likely to be an issue?
Click to expand...

Most car audio amps aren't designed to run much less than 4 ohms. The only issue with running 8 ohms is that they won't get as loud, but as Carl noted, they are right by your head so that will probably be a good thing.
 
Matthew said:
Most car audio amps aren't designed to run much less than 4 ohms. The only issue with running 8 ohms is that they won't get as loud, but as Carl noted, they are right by your head so that will probably be a good thing.
Click to expand...

I started with a RCA choke/suppressor on the output to the amp, and that took care of the whine.

I may rewire in series, but not right now. I just arrived in Orlando, to work on my daughter's Volvo wagon :rolleyes:
 
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