Bought my wife a new stereo and speakers for her 05 Grand Am from Crutchfield. They are supposed to send all the wiring harnesses for the speakers. Already started tearing everything down and find out the harness for the front speakers is about 2 foot too short. Oh well, i can just solder directly to the speakers. Didn't send me any harness for the rear speakers. My question is if i just solder the wires to the speakers, how do i know which factory wires are the power, and which are ground? The colors do not match at the speaker. I seem to have current at both pins in the plugs.
Replies (8)
Ash on 01/19/2007 05:07:56
Crutchfield is one of the best when it comes to customer service. Obviously one of the reasons you bought from them was the free install gear and their service. Just for the principle, you should contact them and let them know of the problem and see what solution they offer. Being a reputable company, they should provide you with all of the correct ones.
As far as the speaker harness being too short (2 feet)?!! Go back and check to make sure there wasn't any misinformation in the order. That sounds rather odd. Normally they give you the harness to easily plug/wire a new speaker into the factory plug/wire. It shouldn't have to be that long since it should go between the the factory speaker wire plug and the new speaker.
iowabucks on 01/19/2007 10:58:31
Yea, i have bought from Crutchfield many times. Thats what i like is the extra wiring harnesses and instructions. But i am too far in this install to turn back. You really got to tear alot of stuff apart just to get to the speakers, and i would like to get it done today.
With the front speakers the wires are soldered directly to the speaker and the plug is 3 feet up the wire. The only wiring harness i got is about 6 inches long.
I will get ahold of crutchfield and see what they say.
I called them and they were very helpfull. They told me there was no harness for the rear speakers, but did tell me which wire was positive and negative. So.... back to work.
Thanks Ash!
ttocs on 01/19/2007 11:13:22
is that one of the GM's with the small radio display, and the tuner box behind the glove box? I hate those but if that is the case you need to extend all the wires, including the antenna.
UK will have to back me up on this but I think in GM cars, the dark colors are posative up front, but negative in back. Like I said wait till he comes to back me up as he remembers the colors(been a while for me).
iowabucks on 01/19/2007 16:45:05
The factory stereo was a big square shaped box. Everything went together well, sounds good.
One thing i don't understand is if i move the fader to the rear speakers, they don't sound too good by themselves. But with the fader centered, they all sound good.
Sony CDX-GT510, Kenwood ie series 6X9's, and Kenwood ie series 4" up front.
Stupid question here, but the big blade contacts on the speakers are positive, right? Small are neg.
swez on 01/19/2007 19:16:01
That's usually how Aftermarket speakers are wired. They often have polarity markers on the speaker connection plate too. Can be hard to see, but usually there.
In this case, the rear speakers are mostly rear fill and used promarily for midbass. If they are coaxials, you'll get some highs but the front speakers are doing most of that work for you.
FYI: Small format speakers, (4") cannot handle bass very well. If they seem to break up at low frequencies when you dial up the HU, Bass Blocking filter caps will help cut the lows up front.
Swez
UKinstaller on 01/19/2007 19:31:10
front left speaker + tan
front left - grey
front right + light green
front right - dark green
back left + brown
back left - yellow
back right + dark blue
back right - light blue
if these don't match up, cut the factory harnesses off and plug them into a each speaker. strip back the wires a bit and touch both of them to the positive and negative on a 9V battery. when the speaker pops out, you've got the polarity right. if it pulls in, it's backwards. you don't have to do it for all four speakers, just look at which side of the harness is + and use that for all four.
-UK
ttocs on 01/20/2007 10:12:23
ther rear speakers may be out of phase, or one is wired backwards. This will normally net a loss of bass as well as imaging problems. Try fading to the rear and then balencing the sound so only one speaker is on and see if you have more bass. If so then fade forward so only the left or right speakers are on. One sound should sound good and the other like just the rear speakers. The side that sounds bad still is the rear speaker you need to switch the wires on.
iowabucks on 01/20/2007 14:20:32
So your saying if i fade to the front or rear, if one speaker doesn't sound as good as the other, or have as much bass, it could be wired wrong? I did get Crutchfield to tell me the polarity of each color wire. And as far as i know it is wired right. I just figured with 3 way 6X9's in the rear, they would sound better by themselves.
I gotta say i didn't expect this much help. You guys are great. THX.
Replies (8)
Ash on 01/19/2007 05:07:56
Crutchfield is one of the best when it comes to customer service. Obviously one of the reasons you bought from them was the free install gear and their service. Just for the principle, you should contact them and let them know of the problem and see what solution they offer. Being a reputable company, they should provide you with all of the correct ones.
As far as the speaker harness being too short (2 feet)?!! Go back and check to make sure there wasn't any misinformation in the order. That sounds rather odd. Normally they give you the harness to easily plug/wire a new speaker into the factory plug/wire. It shouldn't have to be that long since it should go between the the factory speaker wire plug and the new speaker.
iowabucks on 01/19/2007 10:58:31
Yea, i have bought from Crutchfield many times. Thats what i like is the extra wiring harnesses and instructions. But i am too far in this install to turn back. You really got to tear alot of stuff apart just to get to the speakers, and i would like to get it done today.
With the front speakers the wires are soldered directly to the speaker and the plug is 3 feet up the wire. The only wiring harness i got is about 6 inches long.
I will get ahold of crutchfield and see what they say.
I called them and they were very helpfull. They told me there was no harness for the rear speakers, but did tell me which wire was positive and negative. So.... back to work.
Thanks Ash!
ttocs on 01/19/2007 11:13:22
is that one of the GM's with the small radio display, and the tuner box behind the glove box? I hate those but if that is the case you need to extend all the wires, including the antenna.
UK will have to back me up on this but I think in GM cars, the dark colors are posative up front, but negative in back. Like I said wait till he comes to back me up as he remembers the colors(been a while for me).
iowabucks on 01/19/2007 16:45:05
The factory stereo was a big square shaped box. Everything went together well, sounds good.
One thing i don't understand is if i move the fader to the rear speakers, they don't sound too good by themselves. But with the fader centered, they all sound good.
Sony CDX-GT510, Kenwood ie series 6X9's, and Kenwood ie series 4" up front.
Stupid question here, but the big blade contacts on the speakers are positive, right? Small are neg.
swez on 01/19/2007 19:16:01
That's usually how Aftermarket speakers are wired. They often have polarity markers on the speaker connection plate too. Can be hard to see, but usually there.
In this case, the rear speakers are mostly rear fill and used promarily for midbass. If they are coaxials, you'll get some highs but the front speakers are doing most of that work for you.
FYI: Small format speakers, (4") cannot handle bass very well. If they seem to break up at low frequencies when you dial up the HU, Bass Blocking filter caps will help cut the lows up front.
Swez
UKinstaller on 01/19/2007 19:31:10
front left speaker + tan
front left - grey
front right + light green
front right - dark green
back left + brown
back left - yellow
back right + dark blue
back right - light blue
if these don't match up, cut the factory harnesses off and plug them into a each speaker. strip back the wires a bit and touch both of them to the positive and negative on a 9V battery. when the speaker pops out, you've got the polarity right. if it pulls in, it's backwards. you don't have to do it for all four speakers, just look at which side of the harness is + and use that for all four.
-UK
ttocs on 01/20/2007 10:12:23
ther rear speakers may be out of phase, or one is wired backwards. This will normally net a loss of bass as well as imaging problems. Try fading to the rear and then balencing the sound so only one speaker is on and see if you have more bass. If so then fade forward so only the left or right speakers are on. One sound should sound good and the other like just the rear speakers. The side that sounds bad still is the rear speaker you need to switch the wires on.
iowabucks on 01/20/2007 14:20:32
So your saying if i fade to the front or rear, if one speaker doesn't sound as good as the other, or have as much bass, it could be wired wrong? I did get Crutchfield to tell me the polarity of each color wire. And as far as i know it is wired right. I just figured with 3 way 6X9's in the rear, they would sound better by themselves.
I gotta say i didn't expect this much help. You guys are great. THX.
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