Hi, I am making that dual speaker out of single speaker setup found elsewhere here, but I had a question. The new speakers have a large and a small tab for the electrical connection. Which one hooks up to which color of the original speaker wire? I think one is green and one black on the original wiring. I already made the pigtal to connect the two speakers into the one wire, just didn't want to connect them to the wrong wire and have a problem. Or does it even matter? Thanks. Phil
Is there a wire with a line or marking on it the other wire does not? If there is, then that one is the negative. Usually there is a solid and a striped wire.o No:
Phil, The black wire will be ground or negative, the green is positive. Are you using the stock radio? The factory grounded the negative side of the speaker. If you connect the 2 speakers in series, you double the impedence. The factory single dash speaker was a 10 ohm unit. Two aftermarket speakers in series will be 4+4 ohms= 8 ohms, close to the factory 10 ohms. If you wire them in parallel you get half the impedence or 2 ohms. If your using the factory radio, it probably won't handle a 2 ohm load, you could burn out the radio. Sorry to go off on a tangent, you may already know all of this. Just my .02
You have officially started talking Greek to me. I know squat about wiring a radio. What is the best way to do this and not damage the factory radio? It is an AM/FM radio. Car always only had the one speaker. I took a good look at things and the wires are definitely one green, one black with a green stripe. These go into a black clip on the back of the radio and that clip also has a red wire going into it. Am I correct in guessing that is a power wire? Would it be best to run two sets of wires to this clip and colder them onto the end and plug it back in? I can do that much without screwing things up. Then I would just make end to push onto the speaker tabs. Still don't know if the larger one is the hot or ground. Thanks. Phil
Sorry Phil, On your aftermarket speakers, the large tab is the + and the smaller is the negative. The green wire is +, and the black/green stripe is negative. The impedence of a speaker is the load it presents to the radio amplifier. It is measured in ohms(a measure of resistance) The speakers you plan to install are 4 ohm speakers(should be on a label on the speaker, 4 and the symbol for ohms looks like a horseshoe). Less ohms presents less load to the amplifier, so it will play the speaker louder. If the amplifier isn't designed for that, it could possibly burn out. The stock single speaker was a 10 ohm speaker. If you wire two 4ohm speakers in series, you have an 8 ohm load. If you wire the two speakers in parallel, you will have a 2 ohm load.( don't do this with a stock Radio). To wire your two speakers in series, wire the green wire to the large tab of speaker 1. Then use a small length of wire to go from the small tab of speaker 1, to the large tab of speaker 2. Then the black/green stripe wire goes to the small tab of speaker 2. This will give you in effect, an 8 ohm speaker, close enough to 10 ohms, and safe for that 33 year old radio. If you wire the green wire to the big tabs of speakers 1 & 2 and the black/green stripe wire to the small tabs of speakers 1 & 2, that would be parallel wiring, and that would not be a good idea IMHO. Hope that is clearer and it helps you out.
I now understand perfectly. Thanks for the direction on how to do this without frying everything. Now where's that soldering iron????.................
What is the purpose of "upgrading" your Dash Speaker, without upgrading the "original" radio?!uzzled: That doesn't even make sense, as you won't get as much "power" to the speakers, without changing the radio, itself. You may not notice much difference, if any, with ONLY the front speaker change. You may want to consider a "hidden" AM/FM stereo radio, if you REALLY have to have the "Stock" radio in the dash. Mostly, compared to NEW stereos that are available, the "Stock" radios are best for "display purposes" only. Something to consider, anyway...:TU:
Front speaker was all but obliterated. As I had said earlier, someone had used plumber's putty as a gasket! I just want to hear some tunes, not blow my eardrums out.
:grin: Hey Philip, :TU: I didn't mean anything bad by what I said.:grin: What I was thinking, is that if you just want to keep the "original" type speaker, rather than wasting time and money to do the "conversion", KENWOOD has the "original" style speaker (4x10), made FOR the Skylark dash! It's about $100, which is close to what you will spend for the Dual Speakers, anyway (if you buy "good quality" speakers). One of two things can happen here: If you do the "Dual Speaker conversion", and you install it, you will already be prepared, if you DO decide to change the "original" radio for a "better" one. OR If you just buy the Kenwood 4x10, you'll have the same "sound" as the "original" speaker, but much better quality than the original "paper" cone, and much "clearer" sound, for about the same price, either way you go. :Smarty: :Brow: I don't remember the Model #, but I'll go to the Kenwood website, and get it for you, and post it here.:bglasses: :TU:
I already have the Polk EX402 (?) speakers. They sell on ebay for $20 a pair all the time. Thanks, and don't worry about insulting me. I've been swore at by people a lot better at it than most here. Phil
OK what if you have a set of 75 ohm speakers? I want to keep my original radio in the car just wanted to put newer speakers in it.I bought a set of 75 ohm 6x9 for in the rear.Will this work with the old radio?
Kevin, I think you mean 75 watt speakers. Auto speakers are commonly 4 ohm rated. You can use 2- 4 ohm speakers wired in series and have in effect an 8 ohm speaker. This is safer for that old radio. To do this, take the single wire from the radio and connect it to the + side of speaker 1 (big tab), then wire the - side(small tab) of speaker 1 to the + side of speaker 2. Wire the - side of speaker 2 to a good ground. You may not get alot of volume out of the speakers, but it will be safe for that 30 year old radio.
Larry, Your right dont know what i was thinking. It says with the paper work that came with my speakers that they work with 4-8 ohm systems.Should i still wire them in parallel?
Kevin, Wire them in series, like I described. The ohms symbol looks like a horseshoe. Look on the speaker, the label on the magnet, it will say 4 ohm. Wire the 2 speakers in series and you get 8 ohms. The original speaker was a 10 ohm unit. It's close enough.
Thanks Larry Thats one nice thing about V8 Buick there always someone out there who knows the answer or has done it before.Thanks ':TU:'
