Miata Mailing List: July 1993, Message #165
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   From: Dore Brian K 
Subject: Re:  Stealth Stereo
   Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1993 11:26:00 -0400


I used to have something similar in my Mustang.  When I bought it, the
previous owner wanted to keep her stereo, so I had a gaping cut out hole
in the dash with wires hanging out.  I left it.  I mounted an amplifier
under the seat, fed the output of a sony walkman/diskman directly into
the amp, and intalled speakers in the stock locations behind stock grilles.
I used a lighter cord to power my portables for some time, but the wire
was a dead giveaway, so one day I installed a fused lighter socket in line
with the amp under the seat and plugged in there.  The amp turn on was
wired from the factory radio turn on wire, so it came on when the key was
in accessory or running position.   My portable receivers never worked
very well, either in the car or otherwise.  I suspect that the newer
models with quartz tuning may work better.  Usually I just carried all
of my cds, tapes, and portables in my booksack, plug them in when I was
in the car, and run them on batteries with headphones while on campus.
There were anoyances, like wearing out the headphone jack on my diskman,
and the wear and tear on those first portables wore them out in two years,
but it was worth it at the time.

With the Miata you have the added advantage of putting in headrest
speakers that don't even show.  I'd mount the amp near the battery in the
trunk, and pass speaker wires and the line input wire through to the
passenger comartment.  I'm not sure where I'd put the portable, just
remember that you will want to be able to control the volume on it
conveinently.

I've noticed lately that a lot of portables and boom-boxes have remote
control available.  It might be easy to just figure out a way to mount
a boom box in the trunk/behind the rear seat, and use the remote to
change stations/volume/ etc.

I'd be real interested in hearing other responses.  I may need to do this
when I get my Miata.