Radio wiring install question (72)
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 469
Likes: 24
From: Kansas City KS
Radio wiring install question (72)
Hey--
Trying to hook up my retrosound stereo tonight and it was going well until it came to the point where I needed to hook up the speaker wires. The problem? There aren't any to hook to, lol. I have yellow, red (although it's from a yellow, aftermarket harness was previously installed), gray, and black, which are all used for the power/ground/etc.
There is wire that looks like speaker wire but it simply goes from the left side over to the right side...it doesn't make any sense. Basically
green/black speaker wire coming in on left------------------spliced together with uncolored speaker wire----------->exits right side
Does that setup make any sense to anyone? It seems like should cut the connection between those two and wire it up. The other question is, how many speakers are there supposed to be, 2 or 4?
Trying to hook up my retrosound stereo tonight and it was going well until it came to the point where I needed to hook up the speaker wires. The problem? There aren't any to hook to, lol. I have yellow, red (although it's from a yellow, aftermarket harness was previously installed), gray, and black, which are all used for the power/ground/etc.
There is wire that looks like speaker wire but it simply goes from the left side over to the right side...it doesn't make any sense. Basically
green/black speaker wire coming in on left------------------spliced together with uncolored speaker wire----------->exits right side
Does that setup make any sense to anyone? It seems like should cut the connection between those two and wire it up. The other question is, how many speakers are there supposed to be, 2 or 4?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 912
Likes: 47
From: Kansas City MO
It does sound odd...
Sounds like Bubba might have been there before! To my knowledge, there should only be 2 dash speakers mounted to the bottom of the dash pad. No speakers in the rear, unless someone added some previously. To be safe, I would try to follow the wires to each dash speaker so you know what you have. Once you confirm the correct wires that are connected to each speaker, next you will need to figure out which wire is the positive and which is the negative. A good way to figure this out is to take a "D" type household battery and attach some short wires to the + and - of the D battery. From there, you can connect these leads from the D battery to your confirmed speaker wires (this will not damage your speakers). While doing this, the speaker cone should push upward, this will indicate you connected the D battery to the speaker wires correctly. If the cone of the speaker pulls downward, then you should reverse your connections. This method will help you figure out which wire to the speaker is + & -. If the wiring is really butched, I would highly suggest you run new wires to each speaker. Hope this helps some.
Sounds like Bubba might have been there before! To my knowledge, there should only be 2 dash speakers mounted to the bottom of the dash pad. No speakers in the rear, unless someone added some previously. To be safe, I would try to follow the wires to each dash speaker so you know what you have. Once you confirm the correct wires that are connected to each speaker, next you will need to figure out which wire is the positive and which is the negative. A good way to figure this out is to take a "D" type household battery and attach some short wires to the + and - of the D battery. From there, you can connect these leads from the D battery to your confirmed speaker wires (this will not damage your speakers). While doing this, the speaker cone should push upward, this will indicate you connected the D battery to the speaker wires correctly. If the cone of the speaker pulls downward, then you should reverse your connections. This method will help you figure out which wire to the speaker is + & -. If the wiring is really butched, I would highly suggest you run new wires to each speaker. Hope this helps some.
Last edited by spdrcr29; Feb 15, 2013 at 11:44 PM.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 469
Likes: 24
From: Kansas City KS
I don't have a photo, but I have confirmed that the wire is a speaker wire...I cut it in half and hooked each side to an external amp. Left side played music fine, right side was silence. Unfortunately I'm not sure what that means from a right side perspective. I'm going to hook up a multimeter to see what I can find out.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 469
Likes: 24
From: Kansas City KS
I figured it out. Basically, at some point in the car's life, the right and left speakers were routed to the back to an amp. Hence, the left speaker wire was hooked up to other speaker wire and ran right across where it would normally hook up to the radio. The right wire no longer even goes to the radio, is was routed straight to the back. Now I've got both speakers ready to go. 
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,241
Likes: 4
From: Okinawa Okinawa
Gotta love Bubba.
I have a Tacoma that had a XM antenna on top of the truck. The wire had been routed to where the old tuner was. When he sold it, he just cut the antenna wire and left everything in place instead of taking five minutes to get rid of everything.
I have a Tacoma that had a XM antenna on top of the truck. The wire had been routed to where the old tuner was. When he sold it, he just cut the antenna wire and left everything in place instead of taking five minutes to get rid of everything.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 259
Likes: 5
From: Valrico Florida
Hey--
Trying to hook up my retrosound stereo tonight and it was going well until it came to the point where I needed to hook up the speaker wires. The problem? There aren't any to hook to, lol. I have yellow, red (although it's from a yellow, aftermarket harness was previously installed), gray, and black, which are all used for the power/ground/etc.
There is wire that looks like speaker wire but it simply goes from the left side over to the right side...it doesn't make any sense. Basically
green/black speaker wire coming in on left------------------spliced together with uncolored speaker wire----------->exits right side
Does that setup make any sense to anyone? It seems like should cut the connection between those two and wire it up. The other question is, how many speakers are there supposed to be, 2 or 4?
Trying to hook up my retrosound stereo tonight and it was going well until it came to the point where I needed to hook up the speaker wires. The problem? There aren't any to hook to, lol. I have yellow, red (although it's from a yellow, aftermarket harness was previously installed), gray, and black, which are all used for the power/ground/etc.
There is wire that looks like speaker wire but it simply goes from the left side over to the right side...it doesn't make any sense. Basically
green/black speaker wire coming in on left------------------spliced together with uncolored speaker wire----------->exits right side
Does that setup make any sense to anyone? It seems like should cut the connection between those two and wire it up. The other question is, how many speakers are there supposed to be, 2 or 4?
Thanks
