DAB Radio upgrade Fit to Mk1 NA Mazda Eunos

Technical Area Electrics & ICE
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DAB RADIO FITTING TO MX5 MK1

WELL WORTH DOING

I have been thinking of up upgrading for some time, and over Bank Hol weekend I decided on the Pioneer DEH-S720DAB ’ about (£110 )

and can certainly recommend this unit, LOTS OF FEATURES .

I decided to buy from Halfords, and fit myself and found it very easy ,I had read that I would need a separate Dab Antenna but did not want something stuck to the window so I decided to ignore this and to fit a splitter and use the existing electric antenna and take my chance without the Dab antenna.

The splitter from Cartronics ( re ebay) £13.99 requires 12volts.

(I connected the +12v to the extra blue/white cable marked remote this is also the feed to your electric Antenna so is only live when you turn on the radio I also added a toddle switch under steering column to break this feed (personal choice) this stops the antenna popping up if switch is in off position it stops the electric Antenna opening every time I turn on the radio , there is no need to pop up the electric antenna if you are using the radio for Spotify/ipod,/BT / USB/AUX making or receiving calls , or using the CD player. that is just my preference. I also fitted the Mic in a central position on top of the tomb stone See the picture this is a good place to fit the Mic. And easy to run and hide the Mic cable .Fixed in place with car badge quality double side tape under the Mic. Clip.

I am 100% happy with the set up, great sound, and easy to set up for iPhone pairing and has a good display screen for radio and phone info easy making and receiving calls

the splitter is excellent the Dab signal is good (I can receive all 3 Absolute radio stations and Virgin on Dab inside my garage with the orig. rear wing Mazda fitted Antenna in the fully closed position !!! so that should give some idea of what signal from dab to expect using your original antenna and fitting a quality splitter

important : IN INITIAL SET UP with a splitter set up you must select DAB ANT POWER TO OFF, if you select power to ON you will not get any DAB stations just a message ANTENNA ERROR .

To correct to power off you need to do factory reset . I made this mistake on first set up

Also a must is to find on Pioneer web site the operating instructions as the quick guide provided in the box is only basic for what it says quick setup…

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i just fitted an alpine unit and fitted the mic in the cubby below the radio (will have to get a oic) - works perfectly in that location too with no wire showing

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Yes please to pics :slight_smile:

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Gosh, that’s a very long way out of your driving line of sight.
Not that there’s much you can do about it…

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Not sure if the mic needs to be in the line of sight … certainly isn’t in the majority of new BMWs that I have had

On performance it works absolutely perfectly with the roof up or down so I am happy

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The mic is fine.
It’s how far from driving line of sight the 'radio’s is that struck me.

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Oh I see … well obviously that cannot be changed easily … good thing with the alpine is that the iPod / phone etc is all Bluetooth so normally when driving the only thing I need to adjust is the volume

Also this alpine has a completely customisable colour so I will tweak it to match the Mazda green

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