Miata Mailing List: May 1998, Message #317

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Steve Smith <ssmith@extremenetworks.com> Mon, 4 May 1998 13:57:16 wrote:
> 
> A friend of mine just bought a used
> 95 Merlot. It only took two test drives
> in my 91 to sell him.  Anyway, the
> headrest speakers don't work in his
> car. He was over yesterday and on
> investigation I found that under each
> seat there was a square four pin
> connector from the HR speakers and
> a flat six pin connector coming from
> under the carpet.  Do these get
> connected by another missing harness?
> The radio has a connection to the HR
> output which goes into a large harness.
> 
> Thanks,
> Steve
>
 
Steve, your friend's 95 Merlot apparently has a H.R. speaker wiring
harness intended for 90 - 92 Miatas.  Starting in 93 Mazda changed the
under-seat connectors for the H.R. speakers from a 4-pin square type to
an in-line 6-pin flat type.  

The first thing your friend should do is confirm that H.R. speakers have
been installed in his 95 Merlot seats.  They don't come from the factory
with H.R. speakers because the standard place they are installed in
Miatas does not exist in the 95 Merlot's special type seats.  Your
question would have been clearer to most if you would have specifically
mentioned the Merlot's special seats.   (The need to do this is so
obvious, I wonder why you didn't?  Could it be that the seats in the 95
Merlot have been replaced with seats from a 90 to 93 Miata?)

So, assuming:
o  standard H.R. speaker wiring in the car w/o changes
o  the Merlot has the standard type pre-96.5 Miata radio 
o  H.R. speakers are some how installed in the Merlot's
   special seats (indicated as a possibility because of
   the existing 4-pin H.R. connector type harness found
   under the seat) 

what's needed is a proper H.R. speaker wiring harness for the 95 Miata
year car.  A properly wired H.R. speaker harness is available from
Performance Buyers Club (apx $25) but not from Mazda, nor most other
places.  

It'd also be possible to cut the existing connectors off and replace
them with a matched set gotten from Radio Shack or elsewhere; or, the
wires could be spliced without using a connector.  A problem you'd have
doing this is knowing what connections to make because the OEM
documentation for the non-Merlot Miatas will result in mis-wired H.R.
speakers. That problem could be solved by filling in one of my forms
that I provide as part of the radio H.R. service I offer. 
  
-- 
Jeff Anderson            @   @     @     @   @@@@@   @      
Arlington, VA           @ @ @ @    @    @ @    @    @ @
MCA, Capital Chapter   @   @   @   @   @ @ @   @   @ @ @ 
91B, Silver           @         @  @  @     @  @  @     @
92B, Blue
 VA Plates: 
 HIS MX-5/HER MX-5
                  1) I CURE THE MIATA'S BAD HEAD REST SOUND.
                 =========== re mid-96 and older =========== 
 2) Miata special high performance ANTENNA SPLITTER for CB use too. 
    Ends scratching your Miata with magnetically mounted CB antennas.
e-mail for info: janderso@erols.com
  See:  http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/5361/Jeff.html