So I picked up a new Mazda 6-CD changer from a dude off of ebay.. nice guy... anyway, here's the results: Phins, this is why I was asking about your new Protoge's deck.



Out:

 

and Installed:

 

hmm not bad. does it work ? how does it sound ?

 

Looks noice.

 

Wow...great install. It looks like it belongs their!! Did you switch from a bose system? Did it plug in directly to the external amps if so?

 

Vosko - yes, it works.. sounds great, too! Better than the Bose CD player.



Leetheslacker - Thank you!



Joe Flo - Thanks for the compliment! It's factory Mazda (manufactured by Panasonic); that may explain the natural look! It was a drop in, minus the *tad* mod I had to do to the dash - between the 2 DIN stereos on the Bose system (Cd and tuner/tape), there is a seperator bar (of molded plastic), in the under-trim on the dash.. I had to *gulp* cut it off. I also had to remove the stabilizing plastic from the bottom of the stereo (one screw). I used the Scoshe (sp) Factory Amplifier Integration ($49.99 Crutchfield) to reduce the impedance and gain.



There is only one little tiny problem I've experienced, and that's with the lighting. Seems the dimmer on the later Mazdas works differently than in the FD.. When the lights come on, the stereo display goes dark.. I'm going to work with this and try to resolve it, but otherwise I'll just unplug the dimmer wire. Oh, and the display is green, so it does not match the factory backlight. I believe it's an LED-backlit LCD, so I may try and change the LED's out to an amber color.. we'll see.



Six CD's in the dash is fookin' noice! and the unit was $173 shipped, with a labeled and color coded wiring harness!! made the install a breeze!

 

Looks nice, mine doesn't have the tape deck add on. I know I can get a mini disc add-on as well. You'll really like, it's really nice having the in dash changer.

 

i was playing with the single din mazda decks a couple of years ago, the 2001+ miatas light up orange.

so i was gonna swap the orange part, it turns out that the face plate beween bose and not bose are different. i never got around to going further though



mike

 

its normal for radios to dim a bit when you turn the lights on

I wouldnt let it bother me if I was you.

My Sony has a wire just for dimming purposes.

They dim because you dont need the radio as bright

at night.

 

Thanks Rob, That's not what I meant..



As soon as the "dimmer" wire is triggered (+12V), the display uses THAT as the voltage for the LED backlit LCD.. Since the wiring is different, the LED backlight goes BLANK, making the LCD invisible. None of the stereo's function lamps come on (no lite-up buttons). I think the key is to ground the (1F) wire to the radio chassis. That *should* complete the circut and allow the dimmer to control the stereo... If I read my schematics correctly. I'll try it as soon as the weather clears, otherwise... no dimmer, it's not that bright.