[[email protected]]

Hi, I'm installing a replacement head unit and have run into a snag.
The unit I'm replacing has 4 seperate speaker wires, for each of the 4
speakers. The new unit only has 2. How can I hook up all 4 speakers?
Thanks

[Mister.Lull]

You're saying that, for speakers only, your old head unit had 16 wires
total coming out of the back of it?! Even if you're running
components, that just shouldn't be happening. One speaker only
requires two wires. All head units I've ever worked with have 8 wires
total for speakers; two per channel/speaker. So unless I'm reading
your question wrong, you should be good to go.
~Mister.Lull
wrote:
Hi, I'm installing a replacement head unit and have run into a snag.
The unit I'm replacing has 4 seperate speaker wires, for each of the 4
speakers. The new unit only has 2. How can I hook up all 4 speakers?
Thanks

[[email protected]]

No, the old one had 8 wires total (4 pos/ 4neg). The new one only has
4 speaker wires (2pos/2 neg). Thanks for your reply.

Mister.Lull wrote:
You're saying that, for speakers only, your old head unit had 16 wires
total coming out of the back of it?! Even if you're running
components, that just shouldn't be happening. One speaker only
requires two wires. All head units I've ever worked with have 8 wires
total for speakers; two per channel/speaker. So unless I'm reading
your question wrong, you should be good to go.
~Mister.Lull
wrote:
Hi, I'm installing a replacement head unit and have run into a snag.
The unit I'm replacing has 4 seperate speaker wires, for each of the 4
speakers. The new unit only has 2. How can I hook up all 4 speakers?
Thanks

[MOSFET]

This is a "new" HU (head unit) you are trying to install and it only has two
speaker outputs? That would be VERY unusual. What brand and model number
is this HU? If we knew that, perhaps we could figure out the mystery here.
ANY HU manufactured in the last 20 years (no matter how inexpensive) SHOULD
have four speaker outputs (unless it is a HU that does not posses an
internal amp, which I'm pretty sure is not the case here).

MOSFET

wrote in message
ups.com...
No, the old one had 8 wires total (4 pos/ 4neg). The new one only has
4 speaker wires (2pos/2 neg). Thanks for your reply.

Mister.Lull wrote:
You're saying that, for speakers only, your old head unit had 16 wires
total coming out of the back of it?! Even if you're running
components, that just shouldn't be happening. One speaker only
requires two wires. All head units I've ever worked with have 8 wires
total for speakers; two per channel/speaker. So unless I'm reading
your question wrong, you should be good to go.
~Mister.Lull
wrote:
Hi, I'm installing a replacement head unit and have run into a snag.
The unit I'm replacing has 4 seperate speaker wires, for each of the 4
speakers. The new unit only has 2. How can I hook up all 4 speakers?
Thanks

[e-nigma]

"MOSFET" wrote in message
m...
This is a "new" HU (head unit) you are trying to install and it only has
two speaker outputs? That would be VERY unusual. What brand and model
number is this HU? If we knew that, perhaps we could figure out the
mystery here. ANY HU manufactured in the last 20 years (no matter how
inexpensive) SHOULD have four speaker outputs (unless it is a HU that does
not posses an internal amp, which I'm pretty sure is not the case here).

MOSFET


About 10 years ago pioneer had a number of units that only had internal amp
to fronts only.
There strategy was to get customers to add external amp for rears.
also a lot of the very inexpensive head units only have 2 outputs.

There are a number of different ways to wire the 2 channels.
The most populat being to wire the 2 right side speakers in parallel
and hook them to the right speaker output on head unit, then wire the
2 left sides in parallel to the left channel on the head unit.
Another way is to parallel the fronts to one channel and the rears to the
other.
although the 1st option is better for stereo and balances left to right
only,
the 2nd option lets you balance front to rear only.
Depending on speaker impedence, speaker may have to be wired in series
instead of parallel.

[[email protected]]

e-nigma wrote:
"MOSFET" wrote in message
m...
This is a "new" HU (head unit) you are trying to install and it only has
two speaker outputs? That would be VERY unusual. What brand and model
number is this HU? If we knew that, perhaps we could figure out the
mystery here. ANY HU manufactured in the last 20 years (no matter how
inexpensive) SHOULD have four speaker outputs (unless it is a HU that does
not posses an internal amp, which I'm pretty sure is not the case here).

MOSFET


About 10 years ago pioneer had a number of units that only had internal amp
to fronts only.
There strategy was to get customers to add external amp for rears.
also a lot of the very inexpensive head units only have 2 outputs.

There are a number of different ways to wire the 2 channels.
The most populat being to wire the 2 right side speakers in parallel
and hook them to the right speaker output on head unit, then wire the
2 left sides in parallel to the left channel on the head unit.
Another way is to parallel the fronts to one channel and the rears to the
other.
although the 1st option is better for stereo and balances left to right
only,
the 2nd option lets you balance front to rear only.
Depending on speaker impedence, speaker may have to be wired in series
instead of parallel.

[[email protected]]

Yes, it is a very inexpensive HU. It's the cheapest one at Walmart,
and yes, it's a dura brand. I know. Why? I wanted the cheapest way to
be able to use my IPOD in the car. It doesn't have a fader, just
balance. I really don't want to use an amp to power the rear, again
because of the cost. Maybe I should ditch this one and spend a little
more?

e-nigma wrote:
"MOSFET" wrote in message
m...
This is a "new" HU (head unit) you are trying to install and it only has
two speaker outputs? That would be VERY unusual. What brand and model
number is this HU? If we knew that, perhaps we could figure out the
mystery here. ANY HU manufactured in the last 20 years (no matter how
inexpensive) SHOULD have four speaker outputs (unless it is a HU that does
not posses an internal amp, which I'm pretty sure is not the case here).

MOSFET


About 10 years ago pioneer had a number of units that only had internal amp
to fronts only.
There strategy was to get customers to add external amp for rears.
also a lot of the very inexpensive head units only have 2 outputs.

There are a number of different ways to wire the 2 channels.
The most populat being to wire the 2 right side speakers in parallel
and hook them to the right speaker output on head unit, then wire the
2 left sides in parallel to the left channel on the head unit.
Another way is to parallel the fronts to one channel and the rears to the
other.
although the 1st option is better for stereo and balances left to right
only,
the 2nd option lets you balance front to rear only.
Depending on speaker impedence, speaker may have to be wired in series
instead of parallel.

[MOSFET]

"MOSFET" wrote in message
m...
This is a "new" HU (head unit) you are trying to install and it only has
two speaker outputs? That would be VERY unusual. What brand and model
number is this HU? If we knew that, perhaps we could figure out the
mystery here. ANY HU manufactured in the last 20 years (no matter how
inexpensive) SHOULD have four speaker outputs (unless it is a HU that
does not posses an internal amp, which I'm pretty sure is not the case
here).

MOSFET


About 10 years ago pioneer had a number of units that only had internal
amp to fronts only.
There strategy was to get customers to add external amp for rears.
also a lot of the very inexpensive head units only have 2 outputs.

Oh, that's interesting. I thought even the very cheapest had 4 speaker
outputs. That's also interesting about Pioneer's strategy. In a way, that
isn't too bad a concept, however, I would have it the other way around:
designed so you have to buy an amp to power the fronts and have the deck
power rear-fill. In theory it seems like it would be possible to design
those two channels with twice as much power as a comparable four channel
unit (say 50 watts RMS per channel, 100 watts per channel max). That's all
the rear-fill power I would ever need.

MOSFET