[mzmtg]

After the untimely demise of my Honda Pilot, I'm going to be reinstalling most of the gear I had in that car into my CX-9.

My CX-9 is a Touring model without Bose. At this point, my plan is to install the following over the next few weeks as I get time:

Head unit: Kenwood KMM-BT318U media player
Front speakers: JBL GTO609c components
Front tweeters: Dayton ND25FN-4 1-inch silk dome
Rear speakers: Factory, only turned on when the kids are riding back there and want to hear their music
Subwoofer: Kicker 40CWS124 12" Comp S in a prefab box (for now
Amplifier: MTX Thunder 4244 4-channel

 

[mzmtg]

This week's project is getting the front speakers installed and running off the OEM head unit.

I'll just be mounting the Dayton tweeters into the factory tweeter mounting plate in the dash, here:

20171004_183909 by ben.garner, on Flickr

The JBL crossover passes a full range signal to the woofer by design, so the OEM door speakers are still getting a full range signal. The tweeters are crossed at about 5 kHz with a 12 db/oct slope.

A little chopping and hacking with a Dremel was all that was needed to get the tweeter brackets ready for me to glue on the Daytons.

20171015_135208 by ben.garner, on Flickr

20171015_135157 by ben.garner, on Flickr

20171015_154012 by ben.garner, on Flickr

20171015_154021 by ben.garner, on Flickr

This shot is looking up from under the dash towards the tweeter location. As you can see, it is wide open. I was able to reach my whole arm up in there. The driver's side is a little more crowded, but still has LOTS of room to work.

20171015_154028 by ben.garner, on Flickr

Crossover tapped into the factory wiring at the passenger kickpanel area. The driver's side was done similarly.

20171016_115322 by ben.garner, on Flickr

Tweeter connections.

20171016_123020 by ben.garner, on Flickr

Driver's side tweeter mounted.

20171016_123158 by ben.garner, on Flickr

The Daytons protrude just a few millimeters more than the OEM speakers, but the factory grills still snap right back on with no contact.

 

[mzmtg]

I mounted the JBL woofers to the Scosche SA68 adapter plates for the front doors. I used foam gasket tape to isolate the speakers from the adapters. I used some of the self-tapping screws that came with the JBL set for fasteners.

I have read several reviews online saying that the Scosche adapters do not actually fit 6.5" speakers. Well, they definitely fit the JBL 6.5" woofers just fine.

20171015_173106 by ben.garner, on Flickr

20171017_204014 by ben.garner, on Flickr

I mounted the speakers to the door with rope caulk isolating the adapter from the door panel.

20171019_123511 by ben.garner, on Flickr

 

[mzmtg]

Added some foam to seal the gap between the speaker and the door panel:

20171020_130755 by ben.garner, on Flickr

 

[mzmtg]

Finally got back at it this week.

I got the main power wire run & started working on the head unit wiring.

20171228_151334 by ben.garner, on Flickr

20171228_152202 by ben.garner, on Flickr

20171228_152143 by ben.garner, on Flickr

I'm using the Metra 70-7903T vehicle wiring adapter and the 40-HD10 adapter for the powered antenna.

20171229_102336 by ben.garner, on Flickr

(Using the Posi Twist connectors till I finalize things like whether or not rear speakers get head unit power and installing a steering wheel control integrator....hey at least they're not regular wire nuts...)

 

[DavidRam]

Looks good man! It's surprising how similar the internals on your Mazda are to my CX3...

 

[mzmtg]

Looks good man! It's surprising how similar the internals on your Mazda are to my CX3...

Thanks man. I'm trying to make sure I get everything done right and done neatly the first time around (for once).

There aren't a lot of CX-9 install threads around, so I've been digging up anything I can on any contemporary Mazda for tips and clues. The first gen CX-9 also shares a lot with the Ford Edge, so some useful info can be found there too.

 

[mzmtg]

I installed my trusty old MTX Thunder 4244 under the driver's seat this weekend.

Man, I hate this black carpet. It doesn't show stains, but it shows EVERY speck of dirt, sand or whatever else is laying around. It seems impossible to keep clean.

First, clearing out some room to work:

20171231_132134 by ben.garner, on Flickr


Ground point under the B-pillar trim in a factory threaded hole (That OEM wiring harness retainer can just dangle ):

20171231_134043 by ben.garner, on Flickr


I did slice a new hole in the carpet for running wires over to the door sill area:

20171231_140938 by ben.garner, on Flickr


Front speaker wires & the turn-on lead run forward with the main power wire. The subwoofer speaker wire runs to the rear under the rear door sill trim:

20171231_141535 by ben.garner, on Flickr


RCA cables come from the center console area, under the carpet:

20171231_145311 by ben.garner, on Flickr


All wired up with the amp velcro'd to the carpet (Front of the car is at the bottom of the photo):

20171231_145858 by ben.garner, on Flickr


With the seat back in:

20180101_091556 by ben.garner, on Flickr

 

[sirbOOm]

Please put a lock washer on that ground (not the split type, the star-looking crush type) to prevent it from ever coming loose. Great way to kill amplifiers when that happens. And ideally use a bolt that can be torqued more than a simple screw. Great that you found a threaded hole.

 

[mzmtg]

Please put a lock washer on that ground (not the split type, the star-looking crush type) to prevent it from ever coming loose. Great way to kill amplifiers when that happens. And ideally use a bolt that can be torqued more than a simple screw. Great that you found a threaded hole.

I had the exact same thought. If I had been able to find a matching nut, bolt & washer in my garage at the time, I would have used them. I also need to find my dielectric grease to cover the bare metal, it will definitely start to rust down here in FL.

Securing that ground better is staying on the to-do list...

 

[mzmtg]

New toy came in yesterday The Dayton IMM-6 calibrated microphone.

Maybe now my "tuning" can be just a little more rigorous than, "Hmm, I think this sounds better now..."

20180102_175400 by ben.garner, on Flickr

 

[sirbOOm]

I had the exact same thought. If I had been able to find a matching nut, bolt & washer in my garage at the time, I would have used them. I also need to find my dielectric grease to cover the bare metal, it will definitely start to rust down here in FL.

Securing that ground better is staying on the to-do list...

Just give it a toot of spray paint... hot pink for all you care, not going to see it.

 

[mzmtg]

Just give it a toot of spray paint... hot pink for all you care, not going to see it.

I can never seem to keep spray paint in stock...

 

[mzmtg]

Head unit is in and running. It turns out I did not need the power antenna adapter that came with the kit.

I am happy with how easily and securely the Mazda interior pieces come out and go back together. Nicely done.

20171231_144227 by ben.garner, on Flickr


The Metra wiring adapter includes a side connector so that the OEM head unit can be plugged back into the car with the aftermarket unit still in place. Why? Because the only way to adjust the clock in dash is with the buttons on the OEM unit. I located the side connector behind the fuse & filter access panel in the back of the glove box.

20171231_144533 by ben.garner, on Flickr


Here's the Kenwood in the Metra dash kit. The Metra piece matches the finish on the OEM dash really well. Unfortunately, the little pieces and trim rings that actually mount the head unit to the adapter don't match. Still pretty decent overall.

20180101_091524 by ben.garner, on Flickr


The bluetooth mic sneaks out here by the steering column.

20180102_123708 by ben.garner, on Flickr

 

[mzmtg]

New goodies in the mail yesterday



:inquisitive::inquisitive:



:idea3:



epper:epper:

Wiring from KnuConceptz is on the way too...

 

[mzmtg]

And there she sits, mounted under the passenger seat:



I did end up running a turn-on lead from the head unit because it turns out that JBL's auto turn-on function sucks. I had to turn the sound way up for the amp to recognize the signal and kick on. Then if I turned it down to a normal listening volume, the amp would shut off. PITA

I am using the 4_channel MTX amp to biamp the front components for now. So the front channels power the tweeters through the JBL passive crossovers. The rear amp channels power the midrange speakers with no low pass crossover. The JBL passive put a full range signal to the midranges already, so they are meant to run this way. (See here and here)

So now the whole tuning rigmarole begins anew...

 

[mzmtg]

Well, I can put away the microphone and the analysis software.

I have another toy from JBL on the way



I'm also going to try using this JL Audio Bluetooth receiver as my only input to the new processor. Then I can just do away with the head unit entirely since I don't really need it for anything at that point.

 

[mzmtg]

So the MS-8 is in the car and running.

Right now it's just sitting in my passenger footwell while I get used to using it. So far, after a few days use, I like it A LOT.

This is the (obviously) temporary setup, also including the JL Audio bluetooth receiver as the source.



[/QUOTE]

Its ultimate location is going to be in the rear storage compartment below the floor. Also, the Kenwood head unit is coming out since I don’t need it for anything anymore. All audio is over BT from my phone. I plugged the BT receiver into channels 1 & 2 on the MS-8 and ran the input calibration. So, it’s as good as it can get.

 

[mzmtg]

Got the MS-8 installed a bit more cleanly this week. I also took some measurements of what it's doing to the sound, see here.

I put the factory head unit back in since Bluetooth is my only source now. I still have the MS-8 remote mounted next to the shift lever as I use it for my main volume control. The MS-8 display is mounted in the glove box. I rewired the main unit and slid it up under the front seat from the front. I still need to make some brackets to reposition it slightly so the wiring connections will be less vulnerable to kicks.

 

[mzmtg]

It turns out that my hot-glued tweeters can't handle the Florida heat. After re-gluing them a few times, I've replaced them. P-E had the same tweeter with a built-in wave guide on sale last week, so I picked up a pair. These drop right in and won't fall apart....hopefully.







I did retune the MS-8 afterwords. Everything sounds pretty much the same, as I would expect. If anything, these tweeters have a theoretical advantage in the upper dash location as they direct all the sound energy at the glass. This way I'm not hearing both reflected sound and direct sound.

But like I said, they sound the same to me.