Speakers - wiring question

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Phil Breau, Nov 5, 2003.

  1. Phil Breau

    Phil Breau Guest

    My car had an aftermarket stereo installed. As usual, the installer hacked
    the harness, spliced the wires, and taped it up. How can I be sure the
    speakers were wired in phase. The polarity on the speakers is not labelled.
    The wire leads are the same colour. Is there a test you can do with a VOM
    meter?

    Thank you
     
    Phil Breau, Nov 5, 2003
    #1
  2. Phil Breau

    Bill Putney Guest

    The only way I can think of to do it is to follow each wire back thru
    the splice to the original wire and go by color codes (or do continuity
    check upstream of splices to downstream of splices to match the wires up
    if, say, the splices are all bundled together and taped). Figure out
    which is pos. and which neg. for each speaker from the schematic
    (typically on late model Chryslers, the color of the stripe on each
    left/right pair will be the same for both negatives and another same
    color for both positives; additionally, most, but not all, negatives
    have a black stripe; no positives have a black stripe).

    Bill Putney
    (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
    address with "x")
     
    Bill Putney, Nov 5, 2003
    #2
  3. Phil Breau

    Boris Mohar Guest

    Set the radio to AM in order to receive a monophonic signal. Set the balance
    control on in the middle. Play something and than reverse ONE set of speaker
    leads, left or right but only one channel. If the sound gets louder that is the
    correct phasing. You can temporarily wire a DPDT switch to accomplish this.



    Regards,

    Boris Mohar

    Got Knock? - see:
    Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs http://www3.sympatico.ca/borism/
    Aurora, Ontario
     
    Boris Mohar, Nov 5, 2003
    #3
  4. Phil Breau

    Me Guest

    Frankly, if you can't tell by listening to the stereo, it
    doesn't matter.
     
    Me, Nov 5, 2003
    #4
  5. Phil Breau

    bobby Guest

    That was actually going to by my question. I understand phasing, but can you
    actually hear it? I don't think I can, but I never heard it would get louder.
    The DPDT switch would make it easier to compare, but when I have tried
    switching wires, I could not tell any improvement or degredation of the sound.
    Maybe it's just my ears.
     
    bobby, Nov 5, 2003
    #5
  6. Phil Breau

    Mike Romain Guest

    Check the wires carefully. If there isn't a colour stripe on them,
    there usually is a raised ridge on one.

    Same for the speakers, usually one of the tabs the wire plugs onto is
    larger than the other.

    A 9 volt battery can tell you which is plus on the speaker. You tag it
    to the speaker terminals for a quick second. One way will push the
    speaker cone out, the other way will suck it in. I 'think', but could
    be in error that a proper plus neg tag pops the cone outward.

    Mike
    86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
    88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
     
    Mike Romain, Nov 5, 2003
    #6
  7. Full deep bass means correct wiring. I connect stereos ignoring
    speaker wire colors, I swap wires unitil I hear the bass on dificult
    cars. On tweeters or non-bass speakers, it's difficult and doesn't
    matter.
    Rick
    "Hearing is in the ear of the beholder."
     
    Ricky Spartacus, Nov 5, 2003
    #7
  8. Phil Breau

    Phil Breau Guest

    Thank you for your replies. These seem like good tips. I will try them.

    Sorry folks for cross posting. I'm new to this sort of stuff. I have been
    criticized for posting only to 1 group and criticized for posting to
    multiple groups. I guess there's a time for one and a time for many. My
    timing is a little off right now. I'll fix that while I fix my speaker
    wiring.
     
    Phil Breau, Nov 6, 2003
    #8
  9. If this has been suggested already I apologize.
    With the WIRES DISCONNECTED FROM THE RADIO: locate the negative wire that is
    supposed to go to the speaker, and use a battery (AA) to check for phase.
    This is done by placing the negative (ground) wire on the negative end of
    the battery, and the other wire on the positive end of the battery. If done
    correctly all of the speakers may be checked in turn (one at a time) to
    determine that they all move in a forward direction (that is that the cone
    moves outward) when connected to the battery.
    Regards, Ken.
     
    Kenneth D. Schillinger, Nov 10, 2003
    #9
Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments (here). After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.