Stereo wiring?

Topic: Stereo wiring? (Read 3056 times) previous topic - next topic

Stereo wiring?

February 08, 2005, 07:58:34 PM

My car came with the premium sound but thanks to its previous owner, the factory system has been destroyed. When I installed my cd player and four new speakers, I routed new wires to the rear and the doors directly from my head unit. I would like to put new speakers in the dash to give me six speakers. Is it possible to wire six speakers to a head unit that is set up for four speakers? I thought of just running the passenger door and dash speaker off of the line for the right front channel and then running the driver door and dash off of the line for the left front channel. From what I have read this can damage my head unit. Is there a special wiring harness that allows the four speaker set up to become a six speaker setup or is there another way to wire this?

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #1 – February 08, 2005, 08:24:03 PM

i ran mine just like they did in the factory, it says no to on the head units, but i did anyways and havnt had problems yet

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #2 – February 08, 2005, 08:26:47 PM

It won't hurt the cd player if you do that. I have the same thing done on mine, did it back in June. If the speakers are 4 ohms each then when you connect them in parallel it creates a 2 ohm load. It does have an effect on the sound but not as much as you think. Maybe on yours it will make more of a difference because you already have the mid range and low range covered with the doors and rear speakers. Adding the 3.5's in the dash willl help out the high range a good deal. When I did it I added door speakers and because I already had the mid and low covered by the rear speakers I didn't notice much of a difference.

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #3 – February 08, 2005, 09:41:25 PM

I'll probably go ahead and do that. When I got the car, all six speakers worked with the crummy cassette player that was in it. After my installation, I noticed that the lows were a million times better but I missed the highs offered by the dash speakers. The doors just sit too low to produce any great sound in the front. So what is the best way to run the wires? A or B? Unfortunately there is very little of the original wiring left and I can't follow what is there.

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #4 – February 08, 2005, 09:47:52 PM

I'll probably go ahead and do that. When I got the car, all six speakers worked with the crummy cassette player that was in it. After my installation, I noticed that the lows were a million times better but I missed the highs offered by the dash speakers. The doors just sit too low to produce any great sound in the front. So what is the best way to run the wires?
A. Run 2 separate lines 1 + and - for each speaker from the one on the head unit?
B. Run 1 + and - from the head unit to the dash and then to the door?
Unfortunately there is very little of the original wiring left and I can't follow what is there.

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #5 – February 08, 2005, 11:54:21 PM

I just connected 2 positives and 2 negatives to the wires on the headunit for the front speakers. Then I ran one set of speaker wires to the dashboard speakers and the other set I spliced into the original speaker wires for the door speakers. Because you already have new speaker wire run into the doors I would just run a wire from the dash speakers and splice it into the door speaker wire

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #6 – February 09, 2005, 02:11:37 AM

check out thunder chickens site if you need a diagram.

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #7 – February 09, 2005, 02:36:33 AM

Quote from: lowcat

It won't hurt the cd player if you do that. I have the same thing done on mine, did it back in June. If the speakers are 4 ohms each then when you connect them in parallel it creates a 2 ohm load.

It probably isn't the best thing to do to your cd player. Anytime your load is less than 4 ohms, you run the risk of overheating especially when running at high volumes in the summer. I would run them parallel if you like your volume levels high. Running parallel will put you at an 8 ohm draw which is more than safe. If you don't plan on cranking it up at all then 2 ohm is an okay load. I have fried out a couple of cd players running low ohms. I also like it loud, so....

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #8 – February 09, 2005, 03:16:05 AM

Quote from: amooset

It probably isn't the best thing to do to your cd player. Anytime your load is less than 4 ohms, you run the risk of overheating especially when running at high volumes in the summer. I would run them parallel if you like your volume levels high. Running parallel will put you at an 8 ohm draw which is more than safe. If you don't plan on cranking it up at all then 2 ohm is an okay load. I have fried out a couple of cd players running low ohms. I also like it loud, so....

No running in series would give you 8 ohms of resistance. I listen to my radio up almost all the time and it is at 2 ohms. Never had a single problem with overheating.

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #9 – February 09, 2005, 11:50:47 AM

also, a quick tip, go to an audio store, and pick up some Bass Blockers for your 3.5" dash speakers, they dont allow the bass to get to the 3.5's, so they dont get all distorted, keeps your highs cleaner too

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #10 – February 09, 2005, 08:22:29 PM

Thanks for the info

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #11 – February 09, 2005, 10:15:47 PM

Quote from: lowcat

No running in series would give you 8 ohms of resistance.

That's what I meant to say. I just had parallel on the brain

. I'm sure there are lots of people running low ohms, I've just had nothing but bad luck with anything less than 4 ohms

. That's why I always share my horror stories. I'm hoping my misfortune is worth something.

Re: Stereo wiring?

Reply #12 – February 09, 2005, 10:17:58 PM

Quote from: Tbird232ci

also, a quick tip, go to an audio store, and pick up some Bass Blockers for your 3.5" dash speakers, they dont allow the bass to get to the 3.5's, so they dont get all distorted, keeps your highs cleaner too

Ahh!! don't buy those yet! I've got a pair you can have. No need to spend 15-20 bucks. I'm running an amp w/ high pass x-over so I don't need them anymore. PM your address, take care of shipping costs and they're yours.