Speaker wires...

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Howdy,

I'm trying to clean up a rat's nest of radio and speaker wiring under my dash and install amp plugs. I'm pretty sure my speaker wires are original, but Bentleys does not include speaker wiring for the "84" model. Does anyone know what the + and - color code is for the 4 speakers?

If worst came to worst can you pull the grills and speakers without removing the door panels to verify the wiring of the speakers?

Thanks,

rusnak · 05-18-2008, 12:01 AM

Mitch, use a multimeter to verify the correct polarity. Don't rely on wire color.

mthomas58 · 05-18-2008, 03:41 AM

All of the speaker (-)'s are brown with colored tracers.

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Russ and Mark,

What you're saying is with my multimeter I'll be able to tell which wire goes to ground. I still have the problem of finding out which wires come from which speaker. I thought if the speaker grilles and speakers were removal from the outside then I could remove them and ring out the wires. Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks, that's a big help...

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Use a 9V battery. Touch the suspect wires to the terminals briefly. If you hear a crackling noise from the speaker, those are the wires for that one. You are briefly sending a 9V DC spike to the voice coil which will make it move.

Ian

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Thanks Ian... I ended up removing the speakers so I could identify both the + and - leads. It's a slow process, but at least I know that the right wires are going to the right connectors on the radio. Until you do it yourself you'll never know who did what.

Great idea Ian, thanks for the help.

LM3929 · 05-18-2008, 03:02 PM

Can you document what you find as there is nothing available Period, Bentley has some for the 85 and up but nothing for anything earlier.

Thanks LM

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

LM,

I'll do it... However as was said earlier all the grounds are solid brown wires and the plus wires are brown with red tracers. The speaker spades are two different sizes so you can't get mixed up on the + and - wires. In my case all the wires came out of one loom so unless you "ring out" the wires you might mix up the grounds and plus wires. I'm not sure how much difference that would make, but it would mess up your fader control and stereo sound.

Tomorrow I'll review the wiring once I get the rear speakers out, then I'll report back...

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

LM,

I'll do it... However as was said earlier all the grounds are solid brown wires and the plus wires are brown with red tracers. The speaker spades are two different sizes so you can't get mixed up on the + and - wires. In my case all the wires came out of one loom so unless you "ring out" the wires you might mix up the grounds and plus wires. I'm not sure how much difference that would make, but it would mess up your fader control and stereo sound.

Tomorrow I'll review the wiring once I get the rear speakers out, then I'll report back...

LM3929 · 11:16 AM

Mitch

can you take pictures of the wiring or harness for the rest of us (me)?

Thanks LM

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by LM3929

Mitch

can you take pictures of the wiring or harness for the rest of us (me)?

Thanks LM

LM,

I've attached a pix, but not sure how much this will help. The wiring you see is for the two door speakers. The rear package tray speakers come out from under the carpeting and the wire is different than what's connected to the rear speakers so some where there's a splice.

All the speaker wires are the same, brown for - , brown with red tracer for +. To figure out what went where I had to expose the speakers so I could "ring out" the wires. I tried the 9V battery suggestion, I got one buzz, then nothing. I need to check the battery to see if it has just enough juice for one check, or I hope I didn't do any damage to the speakers...

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

No, the battery won't damage the driver. If the voice coil is previously damaged but not locked, you may get some noise but it still won't be free enough for music.

Ian

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Ian,

Thanks for the input... I guess I'll get the radio hooked up, then check the speakers. Is that the only way I can verify the speakers are good? Also does it make any difference if the - and + are reversed? I've rung out 3 of the 4 speakers, but the rear package tray speakers a PIA to get out.

I only ask that since if I remove the speaker to check out the polarity, then re-install after the radio is up and working only to find that the speaker was bad in the first place then it means I'm covering the same ground twice.

Thanks,

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Only a signal (music) will tell you if it is working. Take it inside & hook it up to your hifi if you can or take your hifi out to it.

For phase + & - , yes you need them correct or it won't sound right. If you have a helper, the battery can tell you. If the drivers all move out (or all get sucked in), then they are in phase. If one moves out & another moves in, they are out of phase. Note that the battery also has + & - and you have to do the same test, the same way etc. Does that make sense?

Ian

LM3929 · 05-20-2008, 11:15 AM

Here is a diagram for a 85/86 radio..

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads7/radio1145211665.jpg

LM

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Ina, thanks... You're obvious a tech guy who knows his stuff. That's a great help. I was trying to get everything back together for a run this week. If I was 2' tall and a lot more flexible all of this would be easier. However there's nothing to it, but to do it...

LM, thanks for the link, I looked at the "85" radio schematic, but I think it's a different set up than what my "84" has.

SpartanToJo · 05-27-2008, 08:20 PM

I am also working through the audio wiring of my '84. I find it interesting how the wiring runs through the center console 'fader.' My 2004 Alpine CD unit's right and left front speaker +/-leads connect to the factory harness. These two pairs run through a harness to a connector which has leads to the 'fader.' The 'fader' splits the signals and sends the chosen ratio of power to the two rear + wires (back through the same connector) with the front two + wires. The left and right - wires for the front and rear speakers are crimped together within the tape-wrapped harness. Certainly not very elegant.

My plan is to divorce the speaker wires from the harness and factory fader and connect them directly to my new Blaupunkt Brisbane head unit. This will allow me to use the head unit's fade (and balance) controls. I'm sure that the factory fader did nothing to imrove the signal quality passing through it.

BTW, the Brisbane does not play CD's. It reads SD (Secure Digital) memory cards. No more moving parts to wear out. No cd's to skip, store, or scratch. It's also significantly lighter than the Alpine CD unit.

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Thanks for the update... Once I got everything working I found that my "fader" control had been abandon in favor of the in radio settings. I got all the wires cleaned up in a 12 pin AMP plug, really looks nice under the dash now.

I also hooked up a new power antenna to a switch under the dash which allows me to play the CD without having the antenna in the up position.

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

Thanks for the update... Once I got everything working I found that my "fader" control had been abandon in favor of the in radio settings. I got all the wires cleaned up in a 12 pin AMP plug, really looks nice under the dash now.

I also hooked up a new power antenna to a switch under the dash which allows me to play the CD without having the antenna in the up position.