Hello all! I'm new to the forum because I just bought my first RX-8, a gently-used '04 in Velocity Red. Years ago I had 2 different gen. 1 RX-7's, so I'm no newbie to the brand. How I love this car!

I'm writing to see if any of you RX-8 fans have ever tried to swap out the stereo system in the car? I am an audiophile who's about to swap in my DIN-sized headunit into the RX-8.

Corksport.com sells a kit for $480 that I've seen people mention in here, but the kit seems made more for someone who wants to put a DIN head unit in the car and then wire it into the factory amp and speakers. In my case, the speakers are getting swapped out for Kicker Reference Series and the whole new system will be over-wired on top of the existing car wiring. Essentially, all I really need is a DIN-sized dash kit for my head unit and then I'll take it from there for the wiring. I also have an interface for the steering wheel controls.

For general info, my head unit is a Pioneer DEH980BT. I'm planning to run RCA outputs from the head unit to an 1100-w 5-channel Soundesign amp in the trunk, with a Kicker 10" Super Comp sub and all Kicker Reference Series mids/tweeters.

My questions are, in order:
A. Has anyone already done this swap, and if so how did you go about it?
B. Would a better route be to buy a replacement stereo faceplate from Mazda, then hack it to fit a DIN head unit?
C. If I go the B route, will removing the factory stereo affect any vehicle operations?

 

This is such an indepth question that has already been discuessed i will not even try..sorry use the search button you will find tons of info, or just search through the audio video section of the forum.

 

scroll down and perhaps try the audio forum..

 

you can buy a kit for the car that cost like $400 just for the mounting plate. im sure it would sound better, but for upwards of $700 for a good system, the questioin is are you willing to spend the money. As others mentioned, this topic has been beat senseless in the audio forum. check it.