So, why did they drop the headrest speakers ?

I must admit, while shopping for cars, I thought the headrest speakers were
the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. THEN I bought a car with them!!

they are COOL! I can actually HEAR the stereo while blasting down the
freeway with the top down! Now that I've experienced them, I wouldn't
want to be without them.

In fact, the whole stereo with the ALC, etc is actually pretty cool

I don't know about your year but in 92, the headrest speakers are square
pieces of cardboard which, until I knew better, I thought sounded pretty
good (doesn't take much to reproduce NPR and talk radio) until I swapped
our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW! If they were
still using the square cheapies in your year, you might want to consider
an upgrade. As to why they stopped - cost? safety nazis? Ford influence?

Tom
92 Red

Chief_Wiggum wrote:
> I must admit, while shopping for cars, I thought the headrest speakers were
> the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. THEN I bought a car with them!!
>
> they are COOL! I can actually HEAR the stereo while blasting down the
> freeway with the top down! Now that I've experienced them, I wouldn't
> want to be without them.
>
> In fact, the whole stereo with the ALC, etc is actually pretty cool
>
>
>

"Tom Howlin" > wrote in message
...

>until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW!

What size Infinitys did you get to fit? I've put a set of Polk Audio
speakers (I listened to several and decided I liked the Polks, the
Infinities were a little too bright for my ears) in the doors and as you
said Wow!. I'm now thinking of the headrest speakers. I know the ones on
the passanger side are shot. Any recommendations?

Gus (91 BRG)

If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff
Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std set up
sounds so bad is because the speaker wiring setup is most often all screwed
up (out of phase). Whatever you do, get his help to get the wiring right .
Secondly, I used his recomendation for people with an eye on value (Maxx-5),
he says that they sound as good or better than most speakers that might run
you multiples more. I haven't heard all the available options, he has and I
haven't regretted taking his advice. He's a super nice guy, very helpful and
reachable (at least he was at the time) thru miata.net. He fixes several
issues with the M1 factory stereo unit including the most frustrating one
that keeps the unit from functioning when there's a touch of humidity in the
air!

Good luck,
Chris
92BB&T

"Gus" > wrote in message
news:Htwed.38308$bk1.36891@fed1read05...
>
> "Tom Howlin" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> >until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW!
>
> What size Infinitys did you get to fit? I've put a set of Polk Audio
> speakers (I listened to several and decided I liked the Polks, the
> Infinities were a little too bright for my ears) in the doors and as you
> said Wow!. I'm now thinking of the headrest speakers. I know the ones on
> the passanger side are shot. Any recommendations?
>
> Gus (91 BRG)
>
>

I put the 5" in the doors with the adapter from Crutchfield and the 3"
in the headrest. Just about any 3" or less speaker will fit in the
square hole in the headrest. This was five years ago so there may well
be better/cheaper speakers available now.

Gus wrote:
> "Tom Howlin" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>
>>until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW!
>
>
> What size Infinitys did you get to fit? I've put a set of Polk Audio
> speakers (I listened to several and decided I liked the Polks, the
> Infinities were a little too bright for my ears) in the doors and as you
> said Wow!. I'm now thinking of the headrest speakers. I know the ones on
> the passanger side are shot. Any recommendations?
>
> Gus (91 BRG)
>
>

In my '91, I went with 3 1/2" polks that I bought from partsexpress dot com.
Great improvement! I had to cut some of the factory foam away. That took a
few seconds! Sony headunit, Sony door speakers, polks behind my head.
Good stuff!
"Tom Howlin" > wrote in message
...
>I put the 5" in the doors with the adapter from Crutchfield and the 3" in
>the headrest. Just about any 3" or less speaker will fit in the square
>hole in the headrest. This was five years ago so there may well be
>better/cheaper speakers available now.
>
> Gus wrote:
>> "Tom Howlin" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>
>>>until I swapped our my door and headrest speakers for Infinitys - WOW!
>>
>>
>> What size Infinitys did you get to fit? I've put a set of Polk Audio
>> speakers (I listened to several and decided I liked the Polks, the
>> Infinities were a little too bright for my ears) in the doors and as you
>> said Wow!. I'm now thinking of the headrest speakers. I know the ones
>> on the passanger side are shot. Any recommendations?
>>
>> Gus (91 BRG)
>


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"USAROVER" > wrote in message
...
> In my '91, I went with 3 1/2" polks that I bought from partsexpress dot
> com.

I've been to the PolkAudio website and can't find reference to any 3 1/2"
speakers. I also took a look at partsexpress.com without success (several
other brands but not Polk). Perhaps you got them at time when Polk made 3
1/2" speakers? I'd like to find Polk's so they are sonically match with the
6 1/2" I have in the doors. Guess I'll have to go listen and see what
works.

Thanks,

Gus (91 BRG)

"Chris D'Agnolo" > wrote in message
...
> If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff
> Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std set
up
> sounds so bad is because the speaker wiring setup is most often all
screwed
> up (out of phase). Whatever you do, get his help to get the wiring right .
> Secondly, I used his recomendation for people with an eye on value
(Maxx-5),
> he says that they sound as good or better than most speakers that might
run
> you multiples more. I haven't heard all the available options, he has and
I
> haven't regretted taking his advice. He's a super nice guy, very helpful
and
> reachable (at least he was at the time) thru miata.net. He fixes several
> issues with the M1 factory stereo unit including the most frustrating one
> that keeps the unit from functioning when there's a touch of humidity in
the
> air!
>
> Good luck,
> Chris
> 92BB&T

I've always been confused about this. I have a 96.5, which supposedly
doesn't have the wiring problem for which Jeff Anderson offers a fix. I
added Infinity 3.5" speakers to the driver's headrest (there was space for
them but no OEM speakers). What I found was that they don't make a damn bit
of difference. I had read reports of people adding headrest speakers and
crowing that could hear the radio clear as a bell at high speed with the top
down. In my case, the speakers are barely audible unless I scrunch down and
put my ears directly in front of them. If I fade toward the headrest
speakers to make them louder, I have to crank up the volume so that the door
speakers still completely dominate. I can't get a comfortable balance, like
in a regular car with front and rear speakers. I'm still using the stock
front end and the OEM door speakers, so that could be an issue, but I don't
see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this.

Well, I don't know if it has anything to do with the stereo itself, but I
can tell you that now that I have experienced the headrest speakers, I
wouldn't want to be without them !

Mine came with them factory installed, along with the "sensory sound" or
whatever Pioneer head unit and it all works great together.

I am definitely planning on replacing the speakers with better ones, as it's
been my experience that even low end aftermarkets are usually better than
any OEM's.

Not sure why you can't get your system to balance out ?? maybe you put the
wrong impedance speakers in or something ? just a thought.

Anyway, keep pursuing it... it's worth it IMO!

"Frank Berger" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Chris D'Agnolo" > wrote in message
> ...
> > If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff
> > Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std
set
> up
> > sounds so bad is because the speaker wiring setup is most often all
> screwed
> > up (out of phase). Whatever you do, get his help to get the wiring right
..
> > Secondly, I used his recomendation for people with an eye on value
> (Maxx-5),
> > he says that they sound as good or better than most speakers that might
> run
> > you multiples more. I haven't heard all the available options, he has
and
> I
> > haven't regretted taking his advice. He's a super nice guy, very helpful
> and
> > reachable (at least he was at the time) thru miata.net. He fixes several
> > issues with the M1 factory stereo unit including the most frustrating
one
> > that keeps the unit from functioning when there's a touch of humidity in
> the
> > air!
> >
> > Good luck,
> > Chris
> > 92BB&T
>
> I've always been confused about this. I have a 96.5, which supposedly
> doesn't have the wiring problem for which Jeff Anderson offers a fix. I
> added Infinity 3.5" speakers to the driver's headrest (there was space for
> them but no OEM speakers). What I found was that they don't make a damn
bit
> of difference. I had read reports of people adding headrest speakers and
> crowing that could hear the radio clear as a bell at high speed with the
top
> down. In my case, the speakers are barely audible unless I scrunch down
and
> put my ears directly in front of them. If I fade toward the headrest
> speakers to make them louder, I have to crank up the volume so that the
door
> speakers still completely dominate. I can't get a comfortable balance,
like
> in a regular car with front and rear speakers. I'm still using the stock
> front end and the OEM door speakers, so that could be an issue, but I
don't
> see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this.
>
>
>

At the risk if asking a really dumb question, is the upolstery material in
front of the speakers perforated to let the sound out? My first Miata had
the headrest speakers and there were perforations in the upolstery in front
of them. My 2003 has no such speakers, and there are no perforations in the
upolstery leather.

Randy

"Frank Berger" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Chris D'Agnolo" > wrote in message
> ...
> > If you've delved into the headrest speaker issue, you've run into Jeff
> > Anderson, he's the guru! You also know that a big part of why the std
set
> up
> > sounds so bad is because the speaker wiring setup is most often all
> screwed
> > up (out of phase). Whatever you do, get his help to get the wiring right
..
> > Secondly, I used his recomendation for people with an eye on value
> (Maxx-5),
> > he says that they sound as good or better than most speakers that might
> run
> > you multiples more. I haven't heard all the available options, he has
and
> I
> > haven't regretted taking his advice. He's a super nice guy, very helpful
> and
> > reachable (at least he was at the time) thru miata.net. He fixes several
> > issues with the M1 factory stereo unit including the most frustrating
one
> > that keeps the unit from functioning when there's a touch of humidity in
> the
> > air!
> >
> > Good luck,
> > Chris
> > 92BB&T
>
> I've always been confused about this. I have a 96.5, which supposedly
> doesn't have the wiring problem for which Jeff Anderson offers a fix. I
> added Infinity 3.5" speakers to the driver's headrest (there was space for
> them but no OEM speakers). What I found was that they don't make a damn
bit
> of difference. I had read reports of people adding headrest speakers and
> crowing that could hear the radio clear as a bell at high speed with the
top
> down. In my case, the speakers are barely audible unless I scrunch down
and
> put my ears directly in front of them. If I fade toward the headrest
> speakers to make them louder, I have to crank up the volume so that the
door
> speakers still completely dominate. I can't get a comfortable balance,
like
> in a regular car with front and rear speakers. I'm still using the stock
> front end and the OEM door speakers, so that could be an issue, but I
don't
> see how. I would love it if someone could shed some light on this.
>
>
>