How to know which side is + and which side is - for speaker wires behind the headunit

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

I have a 4 channel amp that I send 2 of my headunits preamp output RCAs to, and then send 4 speaker wires to the front of the car again behind the head unit to splice together with the speaker wires that go to my 4 speakers. I believe they are purple, grey, white, and green. Now that I don't want my head unit powering these speakers, I have detached the headunits wires from the car wires that power the speakers. My question is, since there are simply 2 conductors for each color (a + and - for green, purple, grey etc.) how do I know which are + and which are -? From my understanding if a + from my amp is hooked up to a - on the speaker, it will play the opposite out what the rest of the correctly hooked up speakers will play, cancelling the sound out.

Anybody with any experience in this please help!!

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

the negative wire has a black stripe

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

If its not too much trouble for you just run the wires directly to the speakers.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

the negative wire has a black stripe

Oh really? They all looked identical, i'll go rip of the front of my car again and take a look lol

 

---------- Post added at 11:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------

 

If its not too much trouble for you just run the wires directly to the speakers.

Is that done by first going to the front of the car? Or how do you get access into that wire tubing that runs through the doors hinges?

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

usually one wire is a solid color ,ie, green , purple,grey,and white and the negative wires are the same colors but with a black stripe.unless you cut the wire before the stock stereo's main plug.if you did that then you have a little task in frt of you

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

usually one wire is a solid color ,ie, green , purple,grey,and white and the negative wires are the same colors but with a black stripe.unless you cut the wire before the stock stereo's main plug.if you did that then you have a little task in frt of you

I don't think that I cut it too short.

If so though what would need to happen instead?

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

double post

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

did you cut the main harness wires

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

did you cut the main harness wires

I don't think so. I did all this a while back but just with new research I realized that I probably didn't hook up + to + and - to -.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

did you cut the main harness wires

I don't think so. I did all this a while back but just with new research I realized that I probably didn't hook up + to + and - to -.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

and i have no idea why it keeps posting doubles for me

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

Oh really? They all looked identical, i'll go rip of the front of my car again and take a look lol 

---------- Post added at 11:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------

 

Is that done by first going to the front of the car? Or how do you get access into that wire tubing that runs through the doors hinges?

You just run the speaker wire from your amp to the speaker. To get access you have to take the kick panels off, maybe find a regular screwdriver and pry the rubber boot lip out from the door jam. Then you run the speaker wires through that boot and right to your speaker. Youd have a lot more room to expand to sending more power to your mids in the future. Plus the stock speaker wires are pathetic

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

I don't think so. I did all this a while back but just with new research I realized that I probably didn't hook up + to + and - to -.

Oh well you can always look very closely at the speaker and see if its hitting out towards you or in

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

Kicker Speaker Phasing Explained - YouTube

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

You just run the speaker wire from your amp to the speaker. To get access you have to take the kick panels off, maybe find a regular screwdriver and pry the rubber boot lip out from the door jam. Then you run the speaker wires through that boot and right to your speaker. Youd have a lot more room to expand to sending more power to your mids in the future. Plus the stock speaker wires are pathetic

I'm gonna go try to do this because I'm pretty sure that 2 of my speakers are wired up incorrectly lol. So will there be wires coming out of the boot (is that the name for the wire tunnel that connects the door to the car?) or do I need to feed the wires through it, take the door panel off, pull the speaker out and hook it up that way?