raphy3

lol nm. major brain fart

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Ok, because if I could get the cable for $10, I'd be SELLING THEM.

WVBoosted8

iTrader: (5)

Im installing tomorrow could anyone give me any input at all :/

rollerbldes

If I'm right.. I think you're looking at the left rear cable coming out of the metra box. I believe that one is mislabeled, look at the metra labeling guide.. I think its something else.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (3)

I have no clue what you are talking about bro. Everything on my kit was perfectly labeled and color coded per the metra chart and standard stereo wire coding.

The bose amps take the 4 speaker signals and divide them up among the 5 speakers automatically.

WVBoosted8

iTrader: (5)

I believe it is mislabeled too but it is green like the left rear should be....I am not sure what it actually is.



It is coming from the axxess box harness which consists of :

12v constant - yellow
illumination - orange
Chassis ground - black
12 volt switched - red

Then it has a pink and pink/blue wire with a connector on the end, i figure thats the one for navigation, I dont have navi though
also another long pink/blue wire which im not sure what it connects to
and above that is a single green left rear positive..... Not sure what to think about it.

WVBoosted8

iTrader: (5)

I figured it out, apparently the green one is the reverse output for navigation vehicles with auto tranny.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, I think that is covered on another page in the manual, for vehicles with nav head units going in.

raphy3

I had some wires that were not really mislabeled, but they said in small gray type on them "rear left + / rear left -" on the insulator, even though according to the wiring diagram they were for something else (forget at this point, I think one was for the speed sensor and the other for I don't know). Anyway, you do not in fact have double the rear speaker wires. I'm guessing if you go back through your wiring and look closely at the wiring diagram you'll see exactly what needs to go where. Some of your wires are not going to be connected since you probably won't use every single feature, like speed sensor, etc.

edit: D'oh you figured it out just two posts down. Should have read to the end of the page before replying.

WVBoosted8

iTrader: (5)

That install was a pain.... First I ordered a Kenwood 512 and didnt realize it only had 2 total sets of preouts.... Oh well, ill have to use a splitter. Also, why didnt metra include wire extensions so you could hide the access box farther back, the tiny wires on the hvac controls are REDICULOUS!

rollerbldes

Cuz they be hatin

No seriously.. probably cost reduction?

raphy3

I took the top of the plastic box off and covered my axxess board in electrical tape for insulation to make things fit better. Even without all that extra plastic which was just enclosing air and taking up space, it still was a tight fit cramming everything back there. Wire extensions would have helped immensely.
The little white tabs on the faceplate that clip into the dash are pretty cheap too. One of the bottom ones popped off after everything was installed. Luckily the screws that are also at the bottom hold everything in place anyway.

InfiniFC

iTrader: (8)

Mine happens randomly most of the time. However it might be a function of the head unit too, since switching to certain items like "Bluetooth" seems to further precipitate the problem. I'm sure when I get to the point where I replace the Bose amps and speakers with good stuff (while replacing the linouts I made), things will sound much better.

WVBoosted8

iTrader: (5)

mines whining also, I guess I have to redo the ground :/

raphy3

Was the audio pilot thing on the old bose system controlled from the amp, or from the HU itself? I swear sometimes when I accelerate away from a stop sign the music gets louder, and gets a little quieter when just idling, which is what the auto volume control on the old Bose HU was doing...

I've been meaning to redo my ground for a while now, but it's been way too cold outside for a while (no garage). Installed in early November, probably won't touch it again until April, lol.

J_Owens

hey everyone good news, so i have been bugging my contact for some extensions for the axcess box and they did make some and they sent some out to me and man they are so much better, i wish they had this when the kit originally came out, one thing though my temp does not display anymore, could be a connection problem? i don't know yet i will take apart and take a look when i get some time, i wasn't supposed to tell anyone on here about them but i just got an updated email from him so here is it


"Metra now has extension cables for the RX8 kit. Kits that are shipping now have them, kits previously produced do not. Installers who call Metra support could probably get a pair (Metra may be selling them, I don’t know). I previously sent a pair to Jeremias, and he liked them."


so if you want some more room back there or if you would like to move that pesky box around, hit up metra and see what they say =) i love the extensions, i put that box in the very far right corner so its a big help now that its out of the way =)

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

J Owens, yeah the wires are ridiculously short, and the purple wires on the fan side connector on mine broke off at the plug. They left so little room to do any work, it really irks me. I suppose I will call Metra and see if I can get exrtension wires. BTW I also have no temperature display anymore.

J_Owens

davey you said you don't have temp display anymore as well, do you have the firmware 1.4 update? mine was fine before extensions but now i have no temp display, i just figure something is not plugged in all the way or something, i dont think it would be the wires or the update since it was fine before, i just have to double check everything when i get some time. if you dont have the 1.4 update i would try that, it might solve your temp display problem, if not then just make sure everything is plugged in and right

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

I have the update.

laythor

The more I read this thread.. and now that I've actually seen a metra kit in person, the more I'm happy I went with corksport. Sorry to turd on the thread but just reminding people who are reading this that there are options for dash kits.

alz0rz

iTrader: (41)

does the corksport kit use it's own programmable module?

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

yes there are, probably one of the biggest differences between this and the corksport is that the corksport is significantly more costly, and we were spared most of its problems because it was available for a pretty long time before anyone in the US could get one which gave them time to fix everything, so by the time anyone here got one it wasn't nearly as buggy as when it was first released. That and it was costly and a risk, so that gave them even more time to work the kinks out since people were apprehensive about spending all that cash on an untested product.
I think some of the issues with the Metra is that it's very inexpensive in comparison, very easy to get, and it does have some issues that I'm sure they probably couldn't duplicate in testing. You can thread crap all you want, but for a lot less money and only minor headaches you can pitch your oem radio, customize your display, and the axxess module can be updated to fix whatever weird issues might be discovered down the road, or if they want to add some additional functionality etc. I helped extensively in developing this kit, along with other members on this forum and owners etc. and I learned a ton about how these kits go from start to finish, to me it's a no brainer to go with this since it offers more for less, but some folks probably disagree since there are some problems with it. As I recall there were/are problems with the kanatech too, some of them have shown up doa, some of them quit working, there's the issue with the faceplate having those gaps on the side that are filled in with abs or whatever, to me, for 500+ dollars just to replace a radio and then have issues on top of it that can only be resolved by replacing everything (from Japan, with no guarantee the replacement will fix the issue) might be an option, but for a couple hundred less I can have something from a US company that has 1,000's of retailers nationwide and that is upgradable via usb and offers more functionality, with much better support. I'm not some billy bad-*** multi millionaire or industry insider, I'm just a normal guy who competes in shows and I just happened to catch their attention and they enlisted my help, and I like that about their company. I know some folks have complained about the finish but with a little work and patience that's easily fixable, even if you take it somewhere to be professionally painted you still come out way under the kanatech. That's just the way I see it, I don't think there's a such a thing as best this or that, people's opinions differ and all, but for me this was the best choice and I'm sure once it's out a little longer and gets established then it will only get better anyway.

bureau13

Fixable programming issues and cost aside, the gaps on the side of the corksport kit were a deal breaker for me. I just don't like the way it looks. Nothing wrong with it for those who do, but for me the Metra kit looks much better.

jds

raphy3

When I first got the metra kit I said "holy crap this thing looks like a cheap peice of crap that costs about $12 to make!" And the axxess box, which is blamed for upping the price to near $200, couldn't cost more than $15 to make (development cost aside). And, well, I am 100% right about that. It is cheaply made and will probably break after a few uninstalls / reinstalls after a while.
But, when all is said and done, it looks really nice in the car, it doesn't look cheap in the slightest once it's in the dash, even with the so called "crappy" finish which isn't in fact bad, it is just different from stock.

I thought about all that and said to myself after reading the couple of corksport posts here "gee, would the corksport have been better in any way?"

Heck no. Not a chance. Know why? Because if I would have got that thing, the first thing I would have thought upon opening the box would have been "Good god this thing looks like a cheap piece of crap mass produced plastic that will probably break if I look at it wrong. Wow, the control box is crap so I have A/C issues just like the metra people (read some of the early corksport threads). And I can't even keep my clock or temp display." Then people say, you have your HU, that is good enough, and what do you use temp display for? Um, I'm sorry, that's not "good enough". I don't pay bloody $400 for something "good enough". It better bloody knock my sox off for that price. And I should think the build quality is excellent, not feel like someone jacked up the price to make a massive profit in a niche market off of a cheap piece of plastic.

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

didn't want to turn it into a debate, I just don't think that just because the kanatech/corksport/whatever you want to call it may have came out with a slightly closer match to the factory finish on the dash makes it the superior option, and that seems to be the vibe I'm getting. Truthfully, neither kit is going to be an exact match, so if you take that away and just look at other factors like fitment and features, cost and availability, support etc. then it makes no sense to me to go with the cs/kanatech kit, hell, how many people in this thread have gotten help directly from metra? compare that to how many have spoken with anyone from kanatech and I bet metra has more people. Corksport doesn't make the other kit, they just sell it, so there's not much they can do if something goes wrong compared to metra. I'm not bashing the corksport by the way, if it works out then great, more power to whoever, I'm just saying that now this is out and easy to get it makes no sense to me personally to go with the other one. I still haven't even installed mine yet, that's going to be a happy day for me as I can finally pitch the remains of my oem radio once and for all