How-To: Wire a Sub to stock MAZDASPEED6

[Koenig]

WOW I've been gone for a while, sorry!

ECLIPSE: to answer your question, well BADFISH did just that (Thanks BADFISH) I just used audio wire myself to give more leeway because I've tucked all the wiring away and out of view. But essentially you can just splice those wires together and you don't need the extra audio cable.

PEZ: Good find bro, how about some pics to post (and I'll edit into the main post) so that way others know where to look?

 

[MontegoRx]

well I just wired up my Infinity Reference 12" Sub and amp. I've gotta say, I'm not horribly impressed. I'm not sure if it's just not getting enough juice or if it's not getting through the leather seats, but it's really not a huge improvement, it takes up alot of trunk space, and it looks bad (cause I didn't want to make it a permanent install at this point). I guess I'll drive with it like this for a while and decide if I want to clean up the install or pull it out.

 

[Koenig]

well I just wired up my Infinity Reference 12" Sub and amp. I've gotta say, I'm not horribly impressed. I'm not sure if it's just not getting enough juice or if it's not getting through the leather seats, but it's really not a huge improvement, it takes up alot of trunk space, and it looks bad (cause I didn't want to make it a permanent install at this point). I guess I'll drive with it like this for a while and decide if I want to clean up the install or pull it out.

HMM... strange (boom06).... I'm really not sure either. Mainly because I can't see the wiring (yes mistakes on wiring can happen, I accidently did it on my GF's Mazda6 even though I did it perfect on my speed), and because I can't see the amp's settings.

It's possible that the AMP's settings might be off. Does your amp have a gain screw/switch? You should try twisting that a little to see if the bass comes in more.

I mean I have no issues and my bass CHURNS, and my gain is like less than half way.... so does my GF's. And I don't think others are having issue either, though I can't say for certain. Best thing I can say is double check your wiring and check the AMP's settings, for your frequency and gain.

 

[MontegoRx]

wiring looks like this...

RCA wires coming from amp's input, with center cores twisted and taped. The outer wires were twisted together and connected to the Black/Red wire on the Bose plug. The remote input to my amp is connected to the pin on the Blue/Red wire on the Bose plug.

Ground is going to the bottom-left pop-out fastener, which has been replaced with a bolt and wingnut (just had it laying around).

Power is naturally coming straight from the battery. My question would be if the inner wires should be connected to the negative signal cable (next to the Black/Red on the plug) instead of just being taped off.

 

[MontegoRx]

think I got it. It's just temporary right now, but I'll tape it up and see. what I did was take the negative from the RCAs and plug it into the brown wire. I noticed that it was the only wire on the factory plug that wasn't being used, and the RCAs had a wire not being used. So, basically, I use the factory power as my remote, factory ground is redundant since I'm already grounding to the chassis, and now the RCAs are using both the black/red and brown signal wires.

 

[Koenig]

think I got it. It's just temporary right now, but I'll tape it up and see. what I did was take the negative from the RCAs and plug it into the brown wire. I noticed that it was the only wire on the factory plug that wasn't being used, and the RCAs had a wire not being used. So, basically, I use the factory power as my remote, factory ground is redundant since I'm already grounding to the chassis, and now the RCAs are using both the black/red and brown signal wires.

Um, I think maybe that could be your issue? Maybe you got confused with all the posts.... Are you tapping into BOTH the black wire with red stripe, AND the brown wire?

For the Mazdaspeed6 you only want to use the Black w/ red stripe wire as your audio signal..... you don't need to worry about the brown.

 

[PeZ3o3]

Hey here are some pics of where i put the power cable for the amp through the engine bay to the interior of the car. Its kind of hard to see, but the wire is the black rippled one attached to the clear fuse container. I pulled the grommet out and made two cross cuts in it then put the wire through. Then I replaced the grommet where it was with the wire going through it. The wire then falls through above the gas pedal.

 

[Koenig]

Kind of hard to see but uh, aren't you using the same grommet that the wiring harness is coming through?

 

[MontegoRx]

Um, I think maybe that could be your issue? Maybe you got confused with all the posts.... Are you tapping into BOTH the black wire with red stripe, AND the brown wire?

For the Mazdaspeed6 you only want to use the Black w/ red stripe wire as your audio signal..... you don't need to worry about the brown.

Originally I was using only the Black/Red. It sounded kind of like muffled poop being pushed through a strainer. I tied the negative (outer portion of the RCA connection to the amp) to the brown. If there are two signal cables running to every other speaker I've seen in my life, then I'll stick with two to this too.

 

[Koenig]

Originally I was using only the Black/Red. It sounded kind of like muffled poop being pushed through a strainer. I tied the negative (outer portion of the RCA connection to the amp) to the brown. If there are two signal cables running to every other speaker I've seen in my life, then I'll stick with two to this too.

LOL @ muffled poop.... that's a nice graphic way of explaining it (bowdown)

So does it sound better using the brown cable? I was under the impression according to wiring diagrams that the brown cable isn't a signal wire? I wonder now.....

 

[MontegoRx]

it sounds worlds better. imagine having a three-way speaker with only the middle speaker working. Then the other wire would let all three work. That's about the only way I can explain the difference in sound, at least without excrement references.

 

[Koenig]

it sounds worlds better. imagine having a three-way speaker with only the middle speaker working. Then the other wire would let all three work. That's about the only way I can explain the difference in sound, at least without excrement references.

Hmm, maybe I'll give it a try... and you tapped the negative into that one, correct?

 

[MontegoRx]

Correct. So when all is said and done, the brown wire will be connected to the outer part (negative) of the RCA plug, and the Black/Red will go to the center (positive) of the RCA plug.

 

[Koenig]

Hmmm... I think I may spend some time on Sunday rewiring my car if I can.

 

[PeZ3o3]

Kind of hard to see but uh, aren't you using the same grommet that the wiring harness is coming through?

Yeah, sorry i didnt want to pull it out again cuz its kinda a b**** to get to. I dont remember how I found it but it is just a rubber grommet with nothing goin through it.

 

[Koenig]

Yeah, sorry i didnt want to pull it out again cuz its kinda a b**** to get to. I dont remember how I found it but it is just a rubber grommet with nothing goin through it.

It's cool man.... no worries... I guess... I dunno... make the camera further away to see the stuff better? (shrug)

 

[quattroforlife]

Here is an idea

Im going to wire my sub this weekend. From the sounds of it the black/red and brown are the audio signals. Im assuming that the 4th cable from the stock harness is a ground.

Given that:

Could I take 2 RCA cables, and connect the 3 bose cables to that?

Use the 2 audio signals as positives on the RCAs, and then wire the negative RCAs to the Bose ground...... essentially taking the 3 bose cables and converting it to 4 RCAs...

What do ya think....

 

[Dejan12]

is this the same for a mazda 6 2004 non-bose system?

 

[parabellum]

Thanks for the post it helped me alot.
Installed amp and subwoofer in my 2004 Mazda 6 2.3 Sport (European).
EDIT: It's the BOSE system

The most difficult part was installing the + wire from the battery. I bought a kit where the fuse was already on the wire so inserting it from inside where the pedals are was not an option. After some cursing I finally made it.

Here's how i did it:
*Removed battery (The battery was secured with a brass (?) "hook" which came in handy.
*Used the hook to penetrate the rubber protecting the hole in the firewall.
*Then, using the hook I got the + cable through the hole in the firewall by pulling the hook from the inside. The rubber was rather thick so I weakened it carefully with a knife.

The ground cable for the amp was attached to the screw holding the car jack (?) (Lifting deviced used to change tires). Allows for quick removal of sub and amp if space in trunk is needed.

The 2 RCA->1 RCA was made out of a spare cable i had lying around. (2RCA -> 1 3.5mm plug). Basically used technique described in this article.

The remote signal was picked from the blue cable with a red stripe.
(Amp on when key is in mode 1 or 2)
The audio signal was from black cable with red stripe.

I attached the cables directly at the connector...where the woofer in the spare tire is normally connected. This way there is no problem simply connecting the old subwoofer when it's time to sell the car.

If someone is interested I can publish pics but basically it's the same as described above.

Sorry for poor english...

Again....thanks for this "How-To"

 

[Koenig]

Awesome post... glad it worked for you!

Nice little trick with the brass hook for you. I don't think my battery has one (or not anymore, I don't know).

@Dejan12...... unfortunately this isn't the same. The BOSE and non-BOSE systems have different wiring setups.

A). The color of the wires, from what I've read and have been told are different in color, regarding where the remote, and the signal wires are.

B). This setup is feeding off the amplifier for the "factory" BOSE subwoofer. I do not believe that the non-BOSE systems have a subwoofer, let alone an amplifier.

Sorry buddy... the best thing I can tell you is to check Google or mazda6 club. I believe someone over there did a non-BOSE "How-to"