Difference in +/- wires coming out of the HU...
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Difference in +/- wires coming out of the HU...
OK, I'm needing to figure out what wire is what, and I know the colors for FR, FL, RR, and RL, and there are 2 wires for each color.
I know that 1 wire is for positive and 1 is for negative, but I can't tell what is what.
There are 2 differences in the wires. 1 wire has 1 dot on it, the other has 2 dots on it.
Also, 1 wire is bigger than the other. There are no stripes or lines, just dots on the wires.
Thus, which wire is positive, and which one is negative?
I know that 1 wire is for positive and 1 is for negative, but I can't tell what is what.
There are 2 differences in the wires. 1 wire has 1 dot on it, the other has 2 dots on it.
Also, 1 wire is bigger than the other. There are no stripes or lines, just dots on the wires.
Thus, which wire is positive, and which one is negative?
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From: Fortress of ScioNRG
It would be better if you have a multimeter at hand and check it yourself, just to be safe coz its hard to mess up going by colors or by location.. nyweiz im not sure bout the stock harness, my aftermarket harness for my HU uses red for positive(ignition) and black for (negative) ground. What are you trying to do by the way?
Originally Posted by dgHotLava
yup thats a very good link.. still i suggest a multimeter to double check your wires, especially for somebody new to this.
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From: Fortress of ScioNRG
Originally Posted by Ace83
It would be better if you have a multimeter at hand and check it yourself, just to be safe coz its hard to mess up going by colors or by location.. nyweiz im not sure bout the stock harness, my aftermarket harness for my HU uses red for positive(ignition) and black for (negative) ground. What are you trying to do by the way?
he is not asking for power to the head unit, rater the polarity on the speaker output...as it is an AC circuit, it will be too hard for him to test with just a meter.
Originally Posted by dgHotLava
Originally Posted by Ace83
It would be better if you have a multimeter at hand and check it yourself, just to be safe coz its hard to mess up going by colors or by location.. nyweiz im not sure bout the stock harness, my aftermarket harness for my HU uses red for positive(ignition) and black for (negative) ground. What are you trying to do by the way?
he is not asking for power to the head unit, rater the polarity on the speaker output...as it is an AC circuit, it will be too hard for him to test with just a meter.
Oops my bad, didnt realize that what he wanna do.
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From that link...
OK, that didn't really help but to just confuse me. That last paragraph didn't make sense to me. Is this correct???...
LF + speaker uses the PINK wire with 1 silver dot.
LF - speaker uses the PURPLE wire with 1 silver dot.
RF + speaker uses the LIGHT GREEN wire with 1 silver dot.
RF - speaker uses the BLUE wire with 1 silver dot.
LR + speaker uses the BROWN wire with 2 silver dots.
LR - speaker uses the YELLOW wire with 2 silver dots.
RR + speaker uses the RED wire with 2 silver dots.
RR - speaker uses the WHITE wire with 2 silver dots.
It makes more sense to me that you'd use Pink for + and -, and 1 dot would be either + or -, and 2 dots would be the other.
If it's true what I wrote above, and how I interpreted the post, then that's just silly why scion did that.
Also, I need to do this b/c I'm tapping into them to run RCA cable to the amp in the back of the car.
Looking at the head unit from the rear, there are two plugs on the right side and two empty sockets on the left. On the far right is a big plug with lots of wires, we will call this Harness A. Just to the left of that but still on the right side of the head unit is a smaller plug with about 5-6 wires comming out of it, this we will call Harness B.
Harness A Wires -
Radio 12v blue - On the far right side bottom IIRC
Radio Ground brown
Radio Ignition gray - Tap this one to control amp power via the remote wire.
Radio Illumination green
Power Antenna - orange - Does this actually do anything?
LF Speaker Pos. - Pink
LF Speaker Neg. - Purple
RF Speaker Pos. - lt. green
RF Speaker Neg. - blue - Looks identical to the 12v, but on the left side below the light green RF Speaker Pos. wire.
Harness B Wires -
small white wire comming out of the middle???
LR Speaker Pos. - brown
LR Speaker Neg. - yellow
RR Speaker Pos. - red
RR Speaker Neg. - white - lower gauge (thicker) than the other white one mentioned above.
Aside from the coloration of the wires the only markings are silver dots every couple of inches or so, all the wires save one have single sliver dots, one, the small white one on harness B as I recall has 2 silver dots.
Harness A Wires -
Radio 12v blue - On the far right side bottom IIRC
Radio Ground brown
Radio Ignition gray - Tap this one to control amp power via the remote wire.
Radio Illumination green
Power Antenna - orange - Does this actually do anything?
LF Speaker Pos. - Pink
LF Speaker Neg. - Purple
RF Speaker Pos. - lt. green
RF Speaker Neg. - blue - Looks identical to the 12v, but on the left side below the light green RF Speaker Pos. wire.
Harness B Wires -
small white wire comming out of the middle???
LR Speaker Pos. - brown
LR Speaker Neg. - yellow
RR Speaker Pos. - red
RR Speaker Neg. - white - lower gauge (thicker) than the other white one mentioned above.
Aside from the coloration of the wires the only markings are silver dots every couple of inches or so, all the wires save one have single sliver dots, one, the small white one on harness B as I recall has 2 silver dots.
LF + speaker uses the PINK wire with 1 silver dot.
LF - speaker uses the PURPLE wire with 1 silver dot.
RF + speaker uses the LIGHT GREEN wire with 1 silver dot.
RF - speaker uses the BLUE wire with 1 silver dot.
LR + speaker uses the BROWN wire with 2 silver dots.
LR - speaker uses the YELLOW wire with 2 silver dots.
RR + speaker uses the RED wire with 2 silver dots.
RR - speaker uses the WHITE wire with 2 silver dots.
It makes more sense to me that you'd use Pink for + and -, and 1 dot would be either + or -, and 2 dots would be the other.
If it's true what I wrote above, and how I interpreted the post, then that's just silly why scion did that.
Also, I need to do this b/c I'm tapping into them to run RCA cable to the amp in the back of the car.
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Scikotics
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It is an AC circuit as mentioned, so you cant tell anything with a meter. For half the cycle, one side is positve, for the other half, the other side is positive.
But.... did you say you are running RCA cables directly from these??? Dont ever do that. The RCA inputs are line level, not high level. Unless you are running a line level convertor the rca cables should not be spliced into the high level outputs from the head unit.
But.... did you say you are running RCA cables directly from these??? Dont ever do that. The RCA inputs are line level, not high level. Unless you are running a line level convertor the rca cables should not be spliced into the high level outputs from the head unit.
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You can also tell what your polarity is by using a 9volt battery and touching the terminals to the wires. The speaker will pop out in normal polairty and pop in on reverse polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
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From: Fortress of ScioNRG
Originally Posted by city-soundzdotcom
You can also tell what your polarity is by using a 9volt battery and touching the terminals to the wires. The speaker will pop out in normal polairty and pop in on reverse polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
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Scinergy
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Posts: 487
From: Littleton, CO
You could use one of these: N-PD-9
http://autosound2000.com/installation.htm
An expensive solution, sure....
You can also LISTEN for proper phase. If the speakers are BOTH electrically out of phase (both +'s and -'s are connected 'backwards' on the speaker), there will be NO difference in sound vs. when both speakers are wired 'properly'. When one speaker is out of phase, there will be a drop in midbass output, and the center image will be diffused or non-existent.
It's best to play something with only one person speaking, and listen for him/her to be centered on the dash. Try flipping the polarity of the passenger side speaker. It'll be obvious which combination is correct.
http://autosound2000.com/installation.htm
An expensive solution, sure....
You can also LISTEN for proper phase. If the speakers are BOTH electrically out of phase (both +'s and -'s are connected 'backwards' on the speaker), there will be NO difference in sound vs. when both speakers are wired 'properly'. When one speaker is out of phase, there will be a drop in midbass output, and the center image will be diffused or non-existent.
It's best to play something with only one person speaking, and listen for him/her to be centered on the dash. Try flipping the polarity of the passenger side speaker. It'll be obvious which combination is correct.
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From: Fortress of ScioNRG
while i do the listen test as a final check...most people are not able to hear the subtle differences.
plus with 4 speaker outputs (and prolly a sub too) it makes it just that much harder to get all channels going the right way...
so long as all the channels are in the same phase, it will sound decent.
plus with 4 speaker outputs (and prolly a sub too) it makes it just that much harder to get all channels going the right way...
so long as all the channels are in the same phase, it will sound decent.
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Originally Posted by dgHotLava
Originally Posted by city-soundzdotcom
You can also tell what your polarity is by using a 9volt battery and touching the terminals to the wires. The speaker will pop out in normal polairty and pop in on reverse polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
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From: Fortress of ScioNRG
Originally Posted by city-soundzdotcom
Originally Posted by dgHotLava
Originally Posted by city-soundzdotcom
You can also tell what your polarity is by using a 9volt battery and touching the terminals to the wires. The speaker will pop out in normal polairty and pop in on reverse polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
Do not worry this will NOT pop your speaker or harm it in any way. That is how you test your speakers polarity.
but now that i understand what he is trying to do....he could just take the wires off the HU and test the spaeker polarity with the battery. (like you said) then it would ba correct when it was reattached to the HU.
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Originally Posted by Spitfire23
OK, that didn't really help but to just confuse me. That last paragraph didn't make sense to me. Is this correct???...
LF + speaker uses the PINK wire with 1 silver dot.
LF - speaker uses the PURPLE wire with 1 silver dot.
RF + speaker uses the LIGHT GREEN wire with 1 silver dot.
RF - speaker uses the BLUE wire with 1 silver dot.
LR + speaker uses the BROWN wire with 2 silver dots.
LR - speaker uses the YELLOW wire with 2 silver dots.
RR + speaker uses the RED wire with 2 silver dots.
RR - speaker uses the WHITE wire with 2 silver dots.
It makes more sense to me that you'd use Pink for + and -, and 1 dot would be either + or -, and 2 dots would be the other.
If it's true what I wrote above, and how I interpreted the post, then that's just silly why scion did that.
Also, I need to do this b/c I'm tapping into them to run RCA cable to the amp in the back of the car.
LF + speaker uses the PINK wire with 1 silver dot.
LF - speaker uses the PURPLE wire with 1 silver dot.
RF + speaker uses the LIGHT GREEN wire with 1 silver dot.
RF - speaker uses the BLUE wire with 1 silver dot.
LR + speaker uses the BROWN wire with 2 silver dots.
LR - speaker uses the YELLOW wire with 2 silver dots.
RR + speaker uses the RED wire with 2 silver dots.
RR - speaker uses the WHITE wire with 2 silver dots.
It makes more sense to me that you'd use Pink for + and -, and 1 dot would be either + or -, and 2 dots would be the other.
If it's true what I wrote above, and how I interpreted the post, then that's just silly why scion did that.
Also, I need to do this b/c I'm tapping into them to run RCA cable to the amp in the back of the car.
But it's OK now. I do have another problem, and that's my right side speakers hiss (white noise sound) even when the radio's off. Is that a problem with the amp, speaker, wires, or my splicing? The hissing is just like white noise just very annoying.
I switched sides of the RCA cable, and when I reverse it, it hisses on the other side.
I just don't understand why it would hiss when the radio is off. No siganl would be sent to the amp, and thus no signal should be sent from the amp to the speakers. But again, I don't understand a lot about how the amp operates. Of course, I don't hear the hiss when music is playing (it covers it up), but I just don't want any kind of noise coming from the speakers.
Should there be any sound whatsoever coming from the speakers when the radio is completely off?
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No, there was some sort of converter box from the HU speaker wires to the RCA cables. There were 4 wires (2+ and 2-) that went into the box, and there were RCA jacks on the other side of the box converter.
BTW, what is the point of RCA cables? Do they shield better, carry sound further better? I mean, why have RCA's going to the amp, but regular speaker wire from the amp to the speakers? Why not have speaker wire all around? Or if RCA is so much better, then why aren't there speakers with RCA jacks then you'd have RCA cables all around?
I hate people who ask a lot of questions, don't you?
BTW, what is the point of RCA cables? Do they shield better, carry sound further better? I mean, why have RCA's going to the amp, but regular speaker wire from the amp to the speakers? Why not have speaker wire all around? Or if RCA is so much better, then why aren't there speakers with RCA jacks then you'd have RCA cables all around?
I hate people who ask a lot of questions, don't you?
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Scikotics
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RCA cables are made to carry line level signal. The rca outputs on a head unit are line level. This allows a clean, undistorted signal to be used to communicate between the head unit and the amp. An RCA cable is meant to carry these low power signals. Since you are only transmitting low signal voltage, any interference from other devices in the car will have a larger effect on the signal. RCA cables are shielded to prevent this from happening, so you have good, clean sound feeding your amp.
The output to your speakers is amplified, and thus is of higher voltage in relation to most noise sources in the car, so shielding is not as much of an issue.
The output to your speakers is amplified, and thus is of higher voltage in relation to most noise sources in the car, so shielding is not as much of an issue.
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