- My model of MX-5 is: __ 2012 Venuture
- I’m based near: __ High Wycombe
- I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __ Stereo
I am swapping out my assumed factory bose stereo for an aftermarket ATOTO. Issue being where I assumed the stereo would be plug and play with the red connector, when I took the stereo our it has this smaller white connector. Any idea what the white connector is (part name/number) and where I can get an adaper (white female to red male). Or any other suggestions. Currently stereoless and have knocked out my aircon in this heatwave
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I assume the Red female plug is your original from the car?
In which case this “maybe” a Mazda adapter plug.
Follow that lead as far as you can go and all being well you will find another plug taped up with black tape.
That should unplug.
Have you bought the actual adapter plug/loom so your steering wheel controls work etc?
You will need to establish whether BOSE or not as different bits are needed.
It looks like you have the plug in the background to go to the Atoto unit, you’ve got to figure out how to connect those loose wires to that orange plug (ISO adaptor) I believe.
Never fitted an Atoto unit before, most units like Pioneer I’ve fitted have just been plug and play with the correct leads supplied or extras purchased.
Usually these Atotos have everything you need + extras.
The white one is original from my car, the red one is the adaptor everything online is telling me should work, but they are very very different.
White is the original from my car, that plugs into the white one shown in my first photo (original photo showing the stereo I took out). Everything online says the red adapter I have should be correct but they are wildly different sizes. If I can identify what the white one is I can buy (or make) a white to red adapter as I have red to Atoto. I don’t know what the white one is.
If you follow back that lead as far as possible, is it connected to another plug perhaps?
May have to speak to the people you got the kit from as obviously something is missing.
Edit.
That plug you are holding looks the same as the one that came out of my unit.
It had to be disconnected “further” back which was a female one.
The new connects 2 lead plugged into that and the head unit to allow all the functions to work.
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I see it’s a NC Venture edition, did it have the Tom Tom head unit pictured?
If so. …
As Scarletpimpernel says, you’ll need to trace back from that white plug you are holding (it may be covered in a foam sheath) to another plug buried in the dash void. When you get to that unplug the loom and that’s where you connect your leads from the Atoto to👍
If it is the TomTom unit you will see these two.
The first one is the female plug which the TomTom harness plugged into.
This one shows the white male plug in the unit.
Sorry, no banana for scale.
Sorry that’s the Dull Men’s Club on facebook. 
Banana for scale - back from the good 'ol time of the inernet!
Right yes that, is exactly what my stereo I took out looks like. So theory be if I follow that back inshould be able to unplug the Tomtom harness and plug in the red to Atoto harness.
Will investigate furthet!
Right, so you do have the TomTom unit.
Therefore, you should end up with all this not required/for the bin.
Not all aftermarket units fit the existing facia, so trial and error.
Good luck.
So have followed back and from what I can see someone has physically altered the wiring (there is some kind of old iphone adapter in the glove box) and in the process has cut out the mx5 adapter and hard-wired in a tomtom harness. Basically the wires I follow back split off and disapear - some to glove box, some up and some steering wheel ways. So to my eyes the tomtom harness now needs cut out, and the atoto one wired in?
Hmmm, I would be very careful before you do any cutting.
The TomTom harness was put in by Mazda in the 2012/13 Models.
It was in the Venture and Sport Tech Nav.
You DO get those extra plugs/wires in the glove box.
ALL THE HARNESS should just unplug as a complete unit.
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If you look at the picture above you will see the male plug that went into the TomTom unit.
The white large female one is the one you need to unplug from the car loom.
As a guess your original photo the RED plug is the one that will plug into the car loom.
It will be Black cloth taped up.
If you don’t mind me asking, “What unit and bits have you bought to fit”?
Yes, I understand what you’re saying and that was what I was expecting to find, but when I look there it seems that someone else has cut out the white female shown in your photo above and hardwired in some iphone adapter in the glove box. That is my assumption as if i follow the white male back the wiring looms split off, they don’t go to any adapters but I will get another pair of eyes on it before doing anything.
Okay, yes I think you are at the stage where you need some help.
Just an opinion if that white female plug was cut off pretty sure the rest of the harness wouldn’t work.
I know there was an iPod adapter in the glove box as I plugged mine into it when first bought.
Good luck.
I’m doing exactly the same swap on my 2012 Venture, replacing the original Sanyo TomTom unit with an ATOTO AG6.
The ATOTO comes with 3 alternative main input plugs: 2 are slight variants that connect to ISO standard connectors, the 3rd has bare wires which you connect individually to whatever wires are in your existing harness.
As Scarletpimpernel says, the iphone adapters in the glovebox were standard factory issue with this unit (however amateur they seem to be!).
I’m still trying to trace the wiring back from the Sanyo plugs but I think I’ve found the large white female plug that needs to be unplugged from the car loom. It’s up at the very top right of the radio aperture. Too late to do more tonight, I’ll follow up tomorrow.
Oh, and no need to bin the standard Mazda facia, the ATOTO fits in perfectly. But the Sanyo wiring loom definitely needs to go!
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Well done and will leave you to it.
If you get stuck with anything will do my best to assist. 
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Ah let me know what you find - I’m going to have someone have a poke around tomorrow eve as I’m at a loss - know what I’m looking for but just can’t see or feel it and feel like a crazy person. The Atoto stereo is perfect, this actual unit was in my last 2012 Venture Edition MX5 so I know the unit/install/setup just failing on plugging the damn thing in!
As Scarletpimpernel said, you need to follow the cabling back from the white plug that goes into the Sanyo unit (the one you’re holding in your 2nd photo). Along the way the cables get tied together with the IPod wires in the glovebox, the microphone on the steering column and the aerial for the GPRS. The bundled cables end up in a larger white connector which is tucked up at the top right of the radio aperture.
You need to cut lots of cable ties, and it helps to remove the glovebox to free the Ipod cables tucked away behind it.
This is what that connector looks like, it seems the same as the red connector in your first photo so you should be able to plug it straight in.
Good luck!
