the radio and a/c in this car suck! as you know they are one unit. do not do what i did....i ran wires for a bass system and connected a line adapter to the rear speaker wire in the dash. i used quick connect line jumpers so's not to cut the wire. my brother, an electrician who has over 5 years experience installing car audio, was there helping me. the next day after the install, before i even had the speaker box, the stereo and a/c went out! after a week of trying to find the problem i figured the stereo itself had gone out so i made an appointment with my local dealership to see what was wrong. they charged me $90 to tell me my stereo was broken and won't cover it under warranty! so i am out $90 and still no better off then i was. my suggestion would be, if you want something done to your stereo, pay a shop the $50 just incase this kind of thing happens. that way they can be held liable.

on another note, they are replacing my headlights under warranty.

 

Why did it go out?

 

i still don't know what is wrong with the stereo and a/c. i do know they want to charge me $300 for a new one.

 

If you have the Bose system and tap into the harness wires that go the the amp, you need to be careful not to short the Negative signal wire(s) to ground, because this will trash an output IC...

 

no this is the basic stereo/cd. i wonder, could it be repaired?

 

Post a wanted in the parts section for the stock non-bose hu, you might get one really cheap. I have a Bose one I'd sell ya cheap if you had bose.

 

good idea czr, thanks. you know what sucks, i have a killer pioneer premier hu in the drawer that i can't use.

 

many have done it...stop scarrying people!

first off...a shop to do it for $50? anywork costs WAY more then that

DIY is the way to go...just be patient and prepared (and read the forums cause tapping the rear amp for bass is on here somewhere)

alsoyou can get a new HU for MUCH less then 300 (try rx8garage.net and talk to the owner thew who lives on this forum :p), second adding a bass system is easy as pie just tap the rear amp (located in the trunk...you don't even need to pull out the HU

you can use your Pioneer system, but if you have the BOSE you will need to replace all your speakers

if you do use the Pioneer system you just take the HU core out (it is small) and hide it where the huge OEM hu was...this way AC controls remain intact...then just hookup your whole system

 

I tapped both front and rear speaker levels with a PAC OEM-2 output converter and ran RCA's to the amp in the rear. No problems whatsoever(and I have 0 years experience as an electrician).

 

haha :P good job

 

truemagellen, thanks for the advice. i still don't know what is wrong with the car. i don't think the mechanic knows either. they had the car for 3 hours and all they could tell me was the "aftermarket device to system caused radio unit failure." i installed a PAC brand 10:1 output adaptor model sni-15. i jumped it off the rear speaker wire just behind the harness. and that is all i did. i still don't see how that could cause the entire stereo and a/c to go out. anyway, truemagellen, could you tell me a little more about hooking up that pioneer unit or direct me to a thread that will?

 

what happens if you put everything back exactly the way it was?

 

already removed the adapter and nothing

 

I AM SURE your HU is repairable. You could have your dealer do an out of warranty exchange or research the companies they use for said exchange and deal directly
Maybe Thew could help you?

 

i currently have a 8" solar baric square and a kicker 150x2 in my winter car that
i want to try out in the rx8 but i will make sure to read on teh rear amp connection
thanks truemagellen

 

take it out and send it to me.. let me see if its toast or not..

you have nothing to loose now.. and i can save you some bucks

email me and well get it fixed

 

If all else fails and you still want a stock Bose HU w/1 CD (never used), let me know...

 

Email me if its new and in box i will buy it..
Do you know the firmware ?

 

^Must have slept in a holiday inn express last night...:D..

sorry i had to do that...

 

Sorry, I'm such a clod... it's just the CD player itself... not the whole radio.