I recently purchased the Infinity Kappa 693.5i 3-way speakers to replace my rear speakers and the Kappa 60.5CS components to replace the speakers in the front. I have an Alpine Flex5 5 channel Amp I want to use to push these speakers a bit. I dont know much about installation so I called around locally to see about having the setup installed and I was told that "they didnt reccommend this set-up with the stock head unit". I told the guy my quandry about Mazda screwing us all by making it so difficult to replace the stock stereo and I didnt have any other option at this point. Does anyone have any thoughts on my additions and why the guy didnt reccommend this particular setup other than wanting to sell an aftermarket headunit... (Which I would gladly buy if I could put one in, Thanks again MAZDA )

 

Which car do you have (year, Bose, etc)?

 

It isn't a mazda thing. I work for a car stereo company and most car companies match the radios to the interior etc so that replacing with a aftermarket unit is very hard to do. Well, unless you want to rip out the original and put in something that looks like crap. The days of the easily replaced double din are going away!

 

I have a 2004 model with no bose. I just didnt understand why the guy would say he wouldnt recommend this setup when I believe there are others here with the exact same setup(Infinity speakers) minus the amp. What would be wrong with the setup I am trying to put in?

I mentioned Mazda because I bought an RX-8 not any other car from any other car company, they could have designed something with a little accesibility in mind as well. The design is nice but the audio quality could certainly be better right?

 

I have a 2004 non-bose. I have all Inifinity's (692 kappa's in the rear, 6.5 reference components in the front, 10" Perfect sub in trunk) and the Inifinity 6-channel amp powering it all. No probs whatsoever.

 

He was telling you that to get you to try and buy some **** from them--thats how they do at these mobile entertainment shops. I have a friend that is an installer for Mobile One--he does all my stuff at his house. It'll work fine--especially if you don't have BOSE.

 

Was he simply not recommending any amp with that head unit? Or something more specific. Does that amp have speaker-level inputs? If not you'll need some sort of converter, maybe that's what he's getting at. Some Alpines do have this built-in though...the one I bought does (haven't installed it yet though).

jds

 

the installer was just being dumb. all of us who haven't installed an aftermarket hu use either a line output converter or have an amp with line-level inputs. there's no other way around it. i'm not the biggest audiophile, but i think the setup sounds great as long as you get quality components. your setup sounds fine and it'll totally transform your music experience.

it was a good idea posting here. there are a few shady audio shops around that will tell you anything so that they can make a sale. good luck with your install and be sure to post some pics.

 

Thanks to everyone for their advice and thoughts. I figured the guy was just saying that to try and sell a headunit. Like I said I would be all for it cept for the fact that if I want to add an aftermarket headunit its going to cost me an arm and a leg for custom work that is almost impossible to get done. I am putting in the Alpine Flex5 5-channel amp to push the new infinity speakers a little more than the stock headunit can.

Here is a PDF file that tells about the amp (model MRP-F356) not sure if it has the line level inputs but I think it does... check it out and let me know Thanks again!

Alpine MRP-F356

 

From the manual, the model you cite looks like it will accept both speaker level and line level inputs. So, the amp should work fine with the base stereo system. No speaker to line level converter is needed.

 

Thanks again for the help everyone!