strange wiring problem

[kizzo 10+ year member]

I have a 2ch amp and im trying to make it run a component set up front.

I got all the wires mixed up when i went through the car to my trunk and hooked them up to my amp (dont know what is pos, neg, etc.).

When i turn on my headunit the only way my components reach full potential is when i turn the fade all the way to the left or all the way to the right. When it is balanced to the center at zero the sound is making strange noises and doesnt sound right at all.

Does anyone know what is possibly wrong with my wiring?

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[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Time to unhook everything and retrace the wires and start over. NO other way around it and you're lucky you didn't short anything out.

Put a piece of black tape on the NEG wires, so you don't lose track this time. Good luck....

 

[audiobahnuser18 5,000+ posts]

Mls is right. don't take a chance and F*ck something up take everything out retrace it all and if you want lable your wires so you remember what is what .

 

[kizzo 10+ year member]

I know i can narrow it down to each speaker. For example i can narrow it down to 2 wires coming from each set but i dont know which one is pos or which one is neg. What if i were to hook one set of speaker backwards, as in the - to the + and the + to the -? is that going to short something out?

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

It doesn't matter if the + and - are mixed. It will reverse the polarity of the speaker and it will still play.

It sounds like one side is + to - and another is + to + and it is playing out of phase.

 

[BoomBoomBoy 10+ year member]

What if i were to hook one set of speaker backwards, as in the - to the + and the + to the -? is that going to short something out?

No, your speakers will just be out of phase. They speaker will be traveling in when it should be traveling out. You can fix this w/o retracing the wires by hooking up a 9V battery at one end of the wire and to the speaker at the other.

If the speaker moves outward then you have the correct polarity. If it moves inward switch the + and - at the speaker.

 

[kizzo 10+ year member]

so i should just hook up a 9v battery inline with the speakers pos and neg?

 

[jcbabb 10+ year member]

Hook up the battery in place of the amp. In other words, the batteries + and - terminals will take the place of the + and - on the amp. The amp is not needed at all for this test. Have a friend help so one person can briefly touch the speaker wires to the battery posts while the other person looks at the speaker. When the speaker pops out, the wire touching the battery + is the + speaker terminal. While you have ahold of the wires, mark them somehow.

 

[kizzo 10+ year member]

would this work with subs as well without damaging them?