Speaker Wiring Advice?

[Zishan]

Ok, I think this is a simple question, but I’m clueless, so I gotta ask.

Currently, I have OEM headunit, SOS wiring harness, V3 enclosure and sub, and a MTX 4400 amp. I just added component speakers(mid, tweeter, crossover).

Everything is put back together, but obviously the OEM headunit will not power the speakers, I need the amp to do that. Now, I need to take the center console out and headunit to get to the wiring harness. When I get there, what wires to I run to the amp and in what order?

I think this is a simple answer, but again, I’ve never done this, so I thought I’d ask. :redface:

Thanks in advance,
- Zishan

 

[Malibu Rapper]

I'm assuming you have the harness above. What you need to do is just connect the RCAs from the harness to the amp and also the remote wire. The remote wire would use the blue wire coming off of that harness. So you will run a remote wire from the amp to this harness and then splice into the blue wire on this harness. There is no order here. You just need a set of RCA cables and a remote wire (preferably blue).

 

[Zishan]

Hey Malibu,

Yes, I have that harness. I already have the RCA's plugged into the amp. The amp currently powers the sub. Basically, how to I get the amp to power the speakers as well?

Thanks again,

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Yes, I have that harness. I already have the RCA's plugged into the amp. The amp currently powers the sub. Basically, how to I get the amp to power the speakers as well?

Thanks again,

Ah OK, sorry I misunderstood the problem. So you've added the components and I assume you wired them correctly to the OEM amp wires at the doors (that big plug that goes to the amp). I believe the wires were orange and white for the signal if I'm not mistaken. If you wired it to those wires, then you run 2 sets of speaker wire (left and right) to the harness behind the radio.

The SOS harness is composed of 2 harnesses, one that goes into the radio and one that goes into the OEM harness. The one that goes into the OEM harness there are 4 wires that are unconnected. You can see it in the picture above. The white and white/black is your front left speaker. The white wire is front left +, white/black is front left -. The gray and gray/black is your front right speaker. The gray is front right +, and the gray/black is front right -.

So in summary, if you wired the components to the OEM plugs for the amps in the doors, you just need to run speaker wires from the amp to the harness behind the stereo. This is the easiest way. The BEST way is much more difficult and involves running speaker wire into the door. Expect to spend at least an hour per door to try to run it through the OEM boot and it's very tedious and somewhat labor intensive. The easiest way should work fine.

 

[Zishan]

That is exactly what I need to know! Yes, in the doors using the OEM plug wires, I snipped the white(+) wire and the orange(-) wires and connected those to the crossovers per the speakers installation guide.

I just didn't know what to do with the 4 wires that I will run from the amp to the back of the deck. I was thinking, do I install those into the female harness or male? Or a combination?

Thanks for the clarification. Greatly appreciate it!


Btw, what gauge wiring should I be using? I think I have 16 or 18.

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Btw, what gauge wiring should I be using? I think I have 16 or 18.

I like to use 14 or 16 gauge, 18 is just a tad small.

 

[Zishan]

Well, plugged everything in and the speakers powered up. Not right away, took a few cuss works, walked around breathing some fresh air, then realized there was a 2ch/4ch button on the amp. That did the trick.

But, it doesn't sound as good as I had hoped. I guess I need to play with the gains and some of the other buttons on the amp.

I'm also thinking of re-doing the door wiring. I checked and I did use a thin wire. I bought some 14 gauge that I'd like to re-wire them with. Do you think this plays a noticable role in sound quality? :frown:

One other thing I noticed, once I turn the gain up for the speakers, I'm getting a light static noise when I turn the volume down.

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Well, plugged everything in and the speakers powered up. Not right away, took a few cuss works, walked around breathing some fresh air, then realized there was a 2ch/4ch button on the amp. That did the trick.

But, it doesn't sound as good as I had hoped. I guess I need to play with the gains and some of the other buttons on the amp.

I'm also thinking of re-doing the door wiring. I checked and I did use a thin wire. I bought some 14 gauge that I'd like to re-wire them with. Do you think this plays a noticable role in sound quality? :frown:

One other thing I noticed, once I turn the gain up for the speakers, I'm getting a light static noise when I turn the volume down.

The head unit seems to have a good line output. I don't remember it being an issue in cars I've worked on.

The hiss you hear is from turning the gains too high. You need to set the gains correctly among other things.

First, set the crossover point on your door speakers to a value around 100 Hz, high pass. This will allow them to play louder since they won't be playing bass and distort at lower volume levels.

Next, make sure your sub gain is not too high and that it is also crossed over at a value around 100 hz, low pass. If the gain is too high you might be trying to crank up the volume which makes the sub play louder as the door speakers play louder and it's a no win situation.

The door wiring if you used the OEM wires of white and orange are sufficient, not optimal. You shouldn't have much of an issue with those wires. But if you ran some tweeter wire up to the wires on the harness or to the crossovers, it would help you to rewire that. 16 gauge should be sufficient for any of that wiring.

You did not mention what kind of components you are running. Sometimes those crossovers are a bit tricky with extra outputs, switches and so forth.

 

[Zishan]

Hey Malibu,

Thanks for the quick replies and holding my hand through this...

The speakers are 2008 JL Audio XR 650 csi 2 way components. If I take the door panels off the adjust the crossovers, I might as well do some re-wiring. :smile:

I'll attempt this tomorrow and report back...

 

[Zishan]

Here is a diagram of the crossovers. Just to clarify, do you suggest changing both the high and mid frequencies?

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Here is a diagram of the crossovers. Just to clarify, do you suggest changing both the high and mid frequencies?

I just looked at the manual. You want to make sure your crossovers are not set for bi-wire. It should be standard. Next, I would set the other 2 jumpers at normal and ref. The exact setup should be as it is on the top of page 2 of this manual.

Make sure you set your crossover on your amplifier correctly. I couldn't find that model amp on their website. Can you give me the exact model of the amp?

 

[Zishan]

So leave the crossovers like the picture above, at REF and NORMAL?


The amp, I'm 99% sure it's this one:

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products/amplifiers/thunder3404.cfm

 

[RYU]

Good thread. Useful info on here.

I'm glad to know that I don't have to run a new wire from a new headunit under the dash and in-through the doors to the new speaker. I had assumed you can use the same Bose wiring (which was the source input wires for the door amps. Orange/White in this case?) and wire them directly to the speakers. Too bad about the high gauge of those wires. I was hoping they would be at least 14-16 gauge but sounds like they're only 18 gauge .

Next on my list is to go with an after-market radio with after market speakers but still using as much of the Bose wiring as possible while also using the Bose door speaker enclosure (not sure how that will sound :tongue

 

[Malibu Rapper]

So leave the crossovers like the picture above, at REF and NORMAL?


The amp, I'm 99% sure it's this one:

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products/amplifiers/thunder3404.cfm

Yes, ref and normal. Now on the amp, the section in the manual for the amp called Feature Setup and Adjustments is good to follow. That will aid you in setting the crossover and the gains. Key points are to turn the EQ off.

You did bridge your amp for the subwoofer, correct? To do this, on the rear channel outputs on the amplifier, you want to use the outermost terminals. See this manual, section 3, the picture that says rear bridged..

So I'm looking at the diagram for the controls. The front channel section make sure that button is set to the ON position which looks like the button is IN. Rear channel make sure it is also in the ON position. There is a button in the middle that says Input Sensitivity x1 x10. Make sure that is set for x1 which is the IN position.

 

[Zishan]

Yes, ref and normal.

- Perfect.

Now on the amp...key points are to turn the EQ off.

- Will verify after work.

You did bridge your amp for the subwoofer, correct? To do this, on the rear channel outputs on the amplifier, you want to use the outermost terminals. See this manual, section 3, the picture that says rear bridged..

- Yes, this is exactly what I did for the sub.

So I'm looking at the diagram for the controls. The front channel section make sure that button is set to the ON position which looks like the button is IN. Rear channel make sure it is also in the ON position. There is a button in the middle that says Input Sensitivity x1 x10. Make sure that is set for x1 which is the IN position.

-Excellent, these buttons and controls really overwhelmed me because with little/no experience, there were so many different configurations to try.