CD Player in a 2017

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Eagles

Member
:
2014 GT
I am old school and have hundreds & hundreds of CD's. I'd (much) rather not have to purchase, burn, and play everything the new school way. This is a new 2017 CX-5 GT. Some of the CX markets come equipped with CD players installed - the USA market does not. The 1/2" DIN bracket is, however, in (and behind) the dash. Easy to access and see.....I am, however, running into difficulty finding a body shop/upholstery place that is willing to 'cut' the rectangular hole needed to mount the CD player in and thru the dash (and I can understand that...). Once cut, the particular piece of dash will need re-upholstered, etc. Has anyone done this 'hole cutting'? I'm fairly handy, have dremels, tools, etc. The problem I see is lining up the rectangle hole so as the CD player slides in with perfect alignment with factory metal bracket. I suppose I could start small and make the hole bigger - little by little....is there an easier way?

I'm taking the car by another recommended upholstery shop this afternoon - but these places tend to very much shy away from what I am asking them to do. Mazda seems very reluctant to order me in the foreign market dash piece - and the one quote I did get was pretty astronomical.....

I'm really quite surprised at the trouble I am having getting a seemingly 'simple' hole cut proper thru the dash. Maybe I'm caught up in the one week turn-around shows where they transform completely trashed cars into beautiful works of art with virtually every facet of the car modified, enhanced, perfect, etc. I mean, I get it and T.V. editing works.....but this is a 'simple' rectangle hole cut, no? Once mounted, an audio place (several actually) have said they'd be happy to install the rest of the aftermarket equipment I already have: J/L Sub & Amp, In-Line converter, Focal mid/highs, etc.

Anyone done this??
 
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Xeler8ing said:
Save your self the trouble and grief and just buy a portable cd player and run it through the current sound system
Click to expand...

Good advice. You also might want to accept the inevitable and start ripping your CDs now. It's not as big a chore as you might imagine.
 
Well, I understand the 'inevitable' - but I don't understand it in a car where half the market has them built in, and half do not. The bracket's there, the software and aux input are there....but the player is not. I'm gonna get the player in one way or the other and to me the very logical place is in it's pre-existing bracket exactly where it should be - front/center of the dash. The audio places (and I knew they would) suggested I put it in the glove box or the console - and those options are not appealing to me. I like the sound quality of CD's and I like reading the liner notes, musicians, producers, etc., etc. That does not happen with flashes.

Everyone has their likes/dislikes and reasons for/against various formats of music. Mine seems pretty simple and reasonable - I want to use a 1/2 DIN CD player (I have already purchased it...) and pop in discs as I want/when I want. A simple rectangular hole cut is all that is required....but I need it aligned with the bracket - and that seems to be the hold up with auto places. They shake their heads with doubt - Chip Foose would have this done already - so if you know the secret, or have the template, let me know.
 
I'm with you an CD's vs. streaming. However, I might be looking at giving in and ripping all my CD's to a lossless format on a flash drive with a capable read/write speed to see how it goes. Luckily, my 2014 does have a CD player.
 
wow I'm really surprised none of the audio shops youve been to will do the work. To me thats car audio install territory, we did plenty of more custom and complicated things when i was in the industry a decade or so ago. Seems like an easy task. Mount a cd player to the factory brackets and either cut the pre-existing dash piece or fabricate a new one. Glass/bondo/sand/paint to finish if needed. Got any pics of the your dash and where it goes? I haven't seen the new interior yet.
 
Eagles said:
Well, I understand the 'inevitable' - but I don't understand it in a car where half the market has them built in, and half do not.
Click to expand...

I've said this before and will say it again... the relevant country's Mazda HQ/marketing section is responsible for having/not having this and other things (auto up/down power windows, folding mirrors, proper DRL's, the list goes on)
 
Eagles said:
Well, I understand the 'inevitable' - but I don't understand it in a car where half the market has them built in, and half do not. The bracket's there, the software and aux input are there....but the player is not. I'm gonna get the player in one way or the other and to me the very logical place is in it's pre-existing bracket exactly where it should be - front/center of the dash. The audio places (and I knew they would) suggested I put it in the glove box or the console - and those options are not appealing to me. I like the sound quality of CD's and I like reading the liner notes, musicians, producers, etc., etc. That does not happen with flashes.

Everyone has their likes/dislikes and reasons for/against various formats of music. Mine seems pretty simple and reasonable - I want to use a 1/2 DIN CD player (I have already purchased it...) and pop in discs as I want/when I want. A simple rectangular hole cut is all that is required....but I need it aligned with the bracket - and that seems to be the hold up with auto places. They shake their heads with doubt - Chip Foose would have this done already - so if you know the secret, or have the template, let me know.
Click to expand...

(2thumbs)

Looking forward to seeing you finish this project. Lack of CD player on the 2017 and up North American model drives me nuts. Would love to see a reasonable solution.
 
Eagles said:
Everyone has their likes/dislikes and reasons for/against various formats of music. Mine seems pretty simple and reasonable - I want to use a 1/2 DIN CD player (I have already purchased it...) and pop in discs as I want/when I want. A simple rectangular hole cut is all that is required....but I need it aligned with the bracket - and that seems to be the hold up with auto places. They shake their heads with doubt - Chip Foose would have this done already - so if you know the secret, or have the template, let me know.
Click to expand...

Here, have a look at Anchorman's post from the other thread if you want to go down the path of importing the whole assembly from Europe:

Anchorman said:
OK, I pulled up the two screens for the parts and keep in mind they are subject to local tax and need converting to USD, I reckon you are in the $2500 ball park and that doesnt cont any screws and nuts etc..

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Click to expand...
 
okay now I get it. I looked at a bunch of pics of the factory US spec CX5 and found the pic of the CX5 with the cd player on that other cd player thread. That does look like an very tricky situation with where the cd player is positioned on that long dash piece. What a pain in the butt!
 
Indeed. So unless one is really wants it, probably best to either rip to mp3 or buy a portable player and hook it to MZD connect
 
Spoke with a fellow that seemed to know and have good confidence to what I was looking for. An upholstery guy - and his audio guy is to call me this next week. The idea is: cut a slit to start the process. Carefully peel back the leather and then enlarge the rectangular hole to the size needed. Then trim excess leather but leave enough to 'tuck in' around rectangular hole and purchase a surround piece that will secure the leather. A few dabs of glue here and there (on the inside and hidden), etc., etc. Sounds like a plan to me.

The dash does not need to be removed nor replaced (I hope). It's simply the long piece of dash where the two center vents/emergency flasher button resides. This piece pops off in literally 2 minutes. The long dash piece that holds the starter button must come off first, and it pops off in just a minute as well. The section where the 2 vents and emergency flashers are - has a small wire/quick connect to uncouple (for the flashers). Voila', you are now holding the piece that needs the hole cut. There is an odd shaped piece of plastic that covers the CD's metal bracket (and I assume supports the now removed piece of the dash). This plastic piece sits directly in front of the CD metal bracket and is held in place with two screws - remove the screws, plastic piece come off and the now exposed inner dash and the 1/2 DIN metal bracket is directly in front of you. I would think this plastic piece is not shipped with CX-5's that have the CD player as stock.

My 1/2DIN CD player is just a bit wide for the bracket (of course it is! - and I thought these would all be a standard size). But nothing either myself, or a decent audio guy can't file or grind down 1/16" on either side.

Hmmm, this sounds like a lot of work - but really, I think with a decent plan, it's just a hole cut. Secure the CD player and then it's a standard wiring job and switch out speakers, add the sub, amp, in line converter. This after market system came out of my old CX-5 and sounded great to me....so it should sound the same in the new vehicle.
 
mazdadude said:
It was the same way in the 80s trying to get a cd player into your car. LOL
Click to expand...

Difference is you could remove the old unit thus having a slot to put the player in.

Current CX-5 has nothing to be removed hence no slot!
 
Xeler8ing said:
Difference is you could remove the old unit thus having a slot to put the player in.

Current CX-5 has nothing to be removed hence no slot!
Click to expand...

Yes, but even before they were able to make CD players that would fit into cars, we had to find ways to rig up the PORTABLE CD player to play in a car.

Typically mounting one end of a flexible arm like this one to a piece of the dash or center console so you could mount your CD player on the other end of the flexible arm, and play CD's thru your CASSETTE Tape slot. Of course all of this would only work on smooth roads without any bumps. (nana)

A true audiophile will always find a way...

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