Headrest Speaker Installation

[Simon Lord]

Grant, I am aware that this might be a silly question, but do you have lots
of little holes in your leather headrests to let the sound out? My 97 model
doesn't have the headrest speakers but I'd like them; however, don't want to
cut up the rather nice leather headrests (the holes in the foam are already
there) and wondered if they might be acoustically transparent enough to
enable the sound to come through anyway. I appreciate the sound quality
wouldn't be great, but a) as a hi-fi technician friend of mine pointed out
to me recently about something else, 'at your age your ears couldn't tell
the difference anyway', and b), I mainly listen to National Radio anyway so
it's primarily speech.

Simon

[Bill Rehm]

Simon. That's what the small holes are for ... to allow the hrs sound
through!


Regards
Bill

[Bill Rehm]

Simon. That's what the small holes are for ... to allow the hrs sound
through!


Regards
Bill

[Graeme H]

I have lots of little holes in my leather headrests.

Graeme h


[...]

[Graeme H]

I have lots of little holes in my leather headrests.

Graeme h


[...]

[Simon Lord]

Ah, didn't make myself clear, obviously - unforgiveable for a journalist.
There are no small holes in my headrest. If there were no small holes in
Grant's either, then his experience would be very relevant.

Simon

[Grant]

My ccar is a 92 BRG V-Spec and the seats do have the little holes in them. I
also listen to National Radio and the speakers make the speech much more
intelligable. I have to use AM as well as the FM coverage here is not too
good at present. I set the treble to maximum on the AM band to compensate
for the louse radio's audio responese and set the bass to slight cut. On FM
the controls are set normally for good music reproduction and the same for
CDs (mostly MP3s). The radio remembers the settings for the different
applications fortunately.
Set the fader to balance the volume in the headrest speakers to suit and it
all works well.
I would expect the lack of holes in the leather to attenuate the treble
somewhat, but you might be able to compensate with the radio tone controls
anyway. If you have FM coverage, then there will be ample treble with a bit
of boost. Costs very little to try it.
At my age (54) I can tell the difference still!
Now about to leave for a 3.5 hour cruise to Christchurch for a wireless
networking workshop tomorrow. Travelling the coast road is very pleasant at
this time of day with the top down of course. I've got the complete radio
series of the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy to listen to tonight and
tomorrow on the way home.
Grant in Blenheim.

[Grant]

My ccar is a 92 BRG V-Spec and the seats do have the little holes in them. I
also listen to National Radio and the speakers make the speech much more
intelligable. I have to use AM as well as the FM coverage here is not too
good at present. I set the treble to maximum on the AM band to compensate
for the louse radio's audio responese and set the bass to slight cut. On FM
the controls are set normally for good music reproduction and the same for
CDs (mostly MP3s). The radio remembers the settings for the different
applications fortunately.
Set the fader to balance the volume in the headrest speakers to suit and it
all works well.
I would expect the lack of holes in the leather to attenuate the treble
somewhat, but you might be able to compensate with the radio tone controls
anyway. If you have FM coverage, then there will be ample treble with a bit
of boost. Costs very little to try it.
At my age (54) I can tell the difference still!
Now about to leave for a 3.5 hour cruise to Christchurch for a wireless
networking workshop tomorrow. Travelling the coast road is very pleasant at
this time of day with the top down of course. I've got the complete radio
series of the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy to listen to tonight and
tomorrow on the way home.
Grant in Blenheim.

[Simon Lord]

Damn! Thanks, Grant, I must admit I originally assumed that was the case,
but then I thought I shouldn't assume anything.

Cheers
Simon

[Bill Rehm]

Simon are you sure? Isn't there a plastic liner inside the "head side"
of the Headrest with holes in it?

My 91 in California had cloth seats but still had the plastic liner with
holes in it. I don't recall if you had cloth or leather seats. If the
latter, WOW! Why make a spec edition like your MX5 without the option of
HRS?

Regards
Bill

[Bill Rehm]

Simon are you sure? Isn't there a plastic liner inside the "head side"
of the Headrest with holes in it?

My 91 in California had cloth seats but still had the plastic liner with
holes in it. I don't recall if you had cloth or leather seats. If the
latter, WOW! Why make a spec edition like your MX5 without the option of
HRS?

Regards
Bill

[Ross Bryon]

Not silly... I have oval patterns of 'lots of little holes' for each of
the speakers in the leather headrests.

I have just done a little test by placing some thin leather over the
top of them. It appreciably degrades both the volume and quality of the
sound.

Just a thought: Perhaps an upholsterer may have some sort of
punching-template to create a professional "oem-looking" pattern of
holes? Might be worth a call.

Ross Bryon
1991 BRG V-Spec Roadster | OL MAN |
Auckland

On 23 Feb 2005, at 4:51 PM, Franchise New Zealand wrote:

[...]

[Ross Bryon]

Not silly... I have oval patterns of 'lots of little holes' for each of
the speakers in the leather headrests.

I have just done a little test by placing some thin leather over the
top of them. It appreciably degrades both the volume and quality of the
sound.

Just a thought: Perhaps an upholsterer may have some sort of
punching-template to create a professional "oem-looking" pattern of
holes? Might be worth a call.

Ross Bryon
1991 BRG V-Spec Roadster | OL MAN |
Auckland

On 23 Feb 2005, at 4:51 PM, Franchise New Zealand wrote:

[...]

[Simon Lord]

Thanks for testing it, Ross - much appreciated. Yes, I have thought of
getting it punched but then it's visibly not original, and as it's one of
the last of the pop-ups I don't want to mess around too much.

Simon

[Keith Smith]

I seem to recall that Douglas Adams was a Macintosh enthusiast... even
got a major front page obit on their website when he passed on through
the interplanetary hyperspace by pass when travelling to the parallel
universe where you find all the other socks, ball point pens and paper
clips. Didn't own an MX tho... "Ford Prefect" was more his style I believe...
Keith in Auckland on his wireless G4 laptop.
On 23/02/2005, at 6:25 PM, The Simpsons wrote:

[...]

[Keith Smith]

I seem to recall that Douglas Adams was a Macintosh enthusiast... even
got a major front page obit on their website when he passed on through
the interplanetary hyperspace by pass when travelling to the parallel
universe where you find all the other socks, ball point pens and paper
clips. Didn't own an MX tho... "Ford Prefect" was more his style I believe...
Keith in Auckland on his wireless G4 laptop.
On 23/02/2005, at 6:25 PM, The Simpsons wrote:

[...]

[Graeme H]

Hi Ross
I've just realised that I saw your car in Ponsonby on Monday! I was the bloke in the dark green 5, behind you who gave a wave just before you turned right, off Jervois. It's the reg no. that I saw on the bottom of your mail that made it click. Ha ha I was going to jump out and see if you knew about the club!

Nice to meet ya,

Graeme H
[...]

[Graeme H]

Hi Ross
I've just realised that I saw your car in Ponsonby on Monday! I was the bloke in the dark green 5, behind you who gave a wave just before you turned right, off Jervois. It's the reg no. that I saw on the bottom of your mail that made it click. Ha ha I was going to jump out and see if you knew about the club!

Nice to meet ya,

Graeme H
[...]

[Grant]

I forgot to add that there is the plastic liner (with holes in it) in the
seat. Need this to protect the speakers and probably your head in case of an
accident.
If you don't want to get the leather punched, then perhaps you could buy
another pair of seats (from Ross?). Then you have pristine originals for
when you sell the MX in the future.
Enjoyed listening to Douglas Adams writings. Good weather as well although a
bit cool by the time I got to Christchurch last night at 10pm. Great warm
trip back this afternoon (26 here in Blenheim today).
Now done just over 5800km this year,. No wonder the speedo reading is
rapidly heading for 200,000km. Better start saving hard for that new one. I
think I like the looks but would like to see one in the metal. I do like the
idea of the sequential shift option on the auto for those of us that
unfortunately have to have an auto.
I have been running my MX5 on 96 octane fuel for some time now. The benefits
are a quieter smoother engine, slightly better performance and an overall
improvement in fuel consumption of just on 6%. My 1997 2.3 Vtec Honda
Odyssey has shown similar results but with about 12% improvement in fuel
economy. As the fuel is only about 4% dearer than 91, it's therefore cheaper
to run as well.
Grant.

[Grant]

I forgot to add that there is the plastic liner (with holes in it) in the
seat. Need this to protect the speakers and probably your head in case of an
accident.
If you don't want to get the leather punched, then perhaps you could buy
another pair of seats (from Ross?). Then you have pristine originals for
when you sell the MX in the future.
Enjoyed listening to Douglas Adams writings. Good weather as well although a
bit cool by the time I got to Christchurch last night at 10pm. Great warm
trip back this afternoon (26 here in Blenheim today).
Now done just over 5800km this year,. No wonder the speedo reading is
rapidly heading for 200,000km. Better start saving hard for that new one. I
think I like the looks but would like to see one in the metal. I do like the
idea of the sequential shift option on the auto for those of us that
unfortunately have to have an auto.
I have been running my MX5 on 96 octane fuel for some time now. The benefits
are a quieter smoother engine, slightly better performance and an overall
improvement in fuel consumption of just on 6%. My 1997 2.3 Vtec Honda
Odyssey has shown similar results but with about 12% improvement in fuel
economy. As the fuel is only about 4% dearer than 91, it's therefore cheaper
to run as well.
Grant.