Wiring speakers to a mono car radio

[Bryan K. Walton]

In my '84 VW Rabbit, I've just replaced the CD/Stereo and reverted
back to a stock AM/FM radio. I've got a question about wiring for the
speakers. The car only has two speakers (left front and right front).
Each speaker has a positive and ground wire that goes from the speaker
to the center of the dash for wiring to the radio.

However, the radio only has one positive and one ground out. My
question pertains to connecting the two speakers to the radio. Can I
simply twist the two positive wires coming from the speakers together
and then connect them to the corresponding place on the radio? And,
of course, do the same thing with the two speakers' ground wires?

Or, when hooking up two speakers to a mono radio, is there some other
method I must use?

Thanks, Bryan

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[Cyrus]

In article om>,
"Bryan K. Walton" > wrote:

> In my '84 VW Rabbit, I've just replaced the CD/Stereo and reverted
> back to a stock AM/FM radio. I've got a question about wiring for the
> speakers. The car only has two speakers (left front and right front).
> Each speaker has a positive and ground wire that goes from the speaker
> to the center of the dash for wiring to the radio.
>
> However, the radio only has one positive and one ground out. My
> question pertains to connecting the two speakers to the radio. Can I
> simply twist the two positive wires coming from the speakers together
> and then connect them to the corresponding place on the radio? And,
> of course, do the same thing with the two speakers' ground wires?
>
> Or, when hooking up two speakers to a mono radio, is there some other
> method I must use?
>
> Thanks, Bryan

There's no need for two speakers, it is mono afterall.

Simply doing as you state will effectively bridge your oem stock mono
radio. Chances are this is a no go, unless this is how it was originally
designed to be connected.

--
-Cyrus

*coughcasaucedoprodigynetcough*

[Matt Ion]

Bryan K. Walton wrote:
> In my '84 VW Rabbit, I've just replaced the CD/Stereo and reverted
> back to a stock AM/FM radio. I've got a question about wiring for the
> speakers. The car only has two speakers (left front and right front).
> Each speaker has a positive and ground wire that goes from the speaker
> to the center of the dash for wiring to the radio.
>
> However, the radio only has one positive and one ground out. My
> question pertains to connecting the two speakers to the radio. Can I
> simply twist the two positive wires coming from the speakers together
> and then connect them to the corresponding place on the radio? And,
> of course, do the same thing with the two speakers' ground wires?

Yes.

[Bryan K. Walton]

On 2006-06-26, Cyrus > wrote:
> There's no need for two speakers, it is mono afterall.

Except that the two existing speakers are built in to the dash on the
outside corners of the dash. I've got them both, I'd like to use them
if I can. Even if the sound quality won't be stereo.

> Simply doing as you state will effectively bridge your oem stock mono
> radio. Chances are this is a no go, unless this is how it was originally
> designed to be connected.

By what do you mean a "no go" -- that it simply won't work, or that it
might break something?

Thanks,
Bryan

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[Bryan K. Walton]

On 2006-06-26, Matt Ion > wrote:
>> question pertains to connecting the two speakers to the radio. Can I
>> simply twist the two positive wires coming from the speakers together
>> and then connect them to the corresponding place on the radio? And,
>> of course, do the same thing with the two speakers' ground wires?
>
> Yes.

Thanks for the reply. Just to be sure, is there any danger of
breaking one/both of the speakers by doing this?

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[Matt Ion]

Bryan K. Walton wrote:
> On 2006-06-26, Matt Ion > wrote:
>
>>>question pertains to connecting the two speakers to the radio. Can I
>>>simply twist the two positive wires coming from the speakers together
>>>and then connect them to the corresponding place on the radio? And,
>>>of course, do the same thing with the two speakers' ground wires?
>>
>>Yes.
>
>
> Thanks for the reply. Just to be sure, is there any danger of
> breaking one/both of the speakers by doing this?

Nope.

The only POSSIBLE issue you'd have is the lower impedance of two
speakers vs. the original one putting a higher load on the deck's amp,
but since you're not likely to be trying to blow the windshield out with
this setup, I don't see there actually being an issue there.

[Bryan K. Walton]

On 2006-06-26, Matt Ion > wrote:
>> Thanks for the reply. Just to be sure, is there any danger of
>> breaking one/both of the speakers by doing this?
>
> Nope.
>
> The only POSSIBLE issue you'd have is the lower impedance of two
> speakers vs. the original one putting a higher load on the deck's amp,
> but since you're not likely to be trying to blow the windshield out with
> this setup, I don't see there actually being an issue there.

Great. Thanks again!
-Bryan

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[Cyrus]

In article om>,
"Bryan K. Walton" > wrote:

> On 2006-06-26, Cyrus > wrote:
> > There's no need for two speakers, it is mono afterall.
>
> Except that the two existing speakers are built in to the dash on the
> outside corners of the dash. I've got them both, I'd like to use them
> if I can. Even if the sound quality won't be stereo.
>
> > Simply doing as you state will effectively bridge your oem stock mono
> > radio. Chances are this is a no go, unless this is how it was originally
> > designed to be connected.
>
> By what do you mean a "no go" -- that it simply won't work, or that it
> might break something?
>
> Thanks,
> Bryan


May possibly break the internal amp.

--
-Cyrus

*coughcasaucedoprodigynetcough*

[Bryan K. Walton]

On 2006-06-27, Cyrus > wrote:
> In article om>,
> "Bryan K. Walton" > wrote:
>
>> By what do you mean a "no go" -- that it simply won't work, or that it
>> might break something?
>
> May possibly break the internal amp.

So, if my main concern is protecting the stock AM/FM radio, even at
the expense of sound quality, should I wire the speakers in series,
instead of in parallel? Other than sound quality, is there any risk
to doing the wiring in series?

Thanks again,
Bryan

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[Bryan K. Walton]

On 2006-06-26, Matt Ion > wrote:
> Bryan K. Walton wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for the reply. Just to be sure, is there any danger of
>> breaking one/both of the speakers by doing this?
>
> The only POSSIBLE issue you'd have is the lower impedance of two
> speakers vs. the original one putting a higher load on the deck's amp,
> but since you're not likely to be trying to blow the windshield out with
> this setup, I don't see there actually being an issue there.

Hi again Matt,
One final question for you, the same as I asked Cyrus. I've
read up enough on speaker wiring in the last 12 hours to understand
that the setup I've been referring to is wiring the speakers in
parallel. So my followup question is this: My PRIMARY (if not ONLY)
concern is protecting this stock AM/FM radio -- afterall, they are
somewhat hard to find these days. :-) Given that, should I wire the
two front speakers in series rather than parallel? This will reduce
the load on the radio, correct? Other than also reducing my sound
quality, are there any pitfalls to doing this?

Thanks,
Bryan

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[Cyrus]

In article om>,
"Bryan K. Walton" > wrote:

> On 2006-06-27, Cyrus > wrote:
> > In article om>,
> > "Bryan K. Walton" > wrote:
> >
> >> By what do you mean a "no go" -- that it simply won't work, or that it
> >> might break something?
> >
> > May possibly break the internal amp.
>
> So, if my main concern is protecting the stock AM/FM radio, even at
> the expense of sound quality, should I wire the speakers in series,
> instead of in parallel? Other than sound quality, is there any risk
> to doing the wiring in series?
>
> Thanks again,
> Bryan

The sound quality issue is negligible IMO.

Series wiring will present a higher impedance load on the amplifier. In
other words its easier for the amp but will also give you in theory half
the wattage.

--
-Cyrus

*coughcasaucedoprodigynetcough*

[Bryan K. Walton]

On 2006-06-28, Cyrus > wrote:
> The sound quality issue is negligible IMO.
>
> Series wiring will present a higher impedance load on the amplifier. In
> other words its easier for the amp but will also give you in theory half
> the wattage.

Thanks again. I just rewired the two speakers in series. For my
purposes, I think it will work fine. Thanks for your help.

-Bryan

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[Matt Ion]

Bryan K. Walton wrote:
> On 2006-06-26, Matt Ion > wrote:
>
>>Bryan K. Walton wrote:
>>
>>>Thanks for the reply. Just to be sure, is there any danger of
>>>breaking one/both of the speakers by doing this?
>>
>>The only POSSIBLE issue you'd have is the lower impedance of two
>>speakers vs. the original one putting a higher load on the deck's amp,
>>but since you're not likely to be trying to blow the windshield out with
>>this setup, I don't see there actually being an issue there.
>
>
> Hi again Matt,
> One final question for you, the same as I asked Cyrus. I've
> read up enough on speaker wiring in the last 12 hours to understand
> that the setup I've been referring to is wiring the speakers in
> parallel. So my followup question is this: My PRIMARY (if not ONLY)
> concern is protecting this stock AM/FM radio -- afterall, they are
> somewhat hard to find these days. :-) Given that, should I wire the
> two front speakers in series rather than parallel? This will reduce
> the load on the radio, correct? Other than also reducing my sound
> quality, are there any pitfalls to doing this?

No pitfalls, other than the potential that one speaker cutting out will
cause them both to cut out.

Really, those old radios are pretty robust - I seriously doubt you'd
ever see a problem wiring the speakers in parallel.

[Bryan K. Walton]

On 2006-06-28, Matt Ion > wrote:
> No pitfalls, other than the potential that one speaker cutting out will
> cause them both to cut out.
>
> Really, those old radios are pretty robust - I seriously doubt you'd
> ever see a problem wiring the speakers in parallel.

Thanks again Matt. I went ahead and wired them in series. I'm sure
you are right about my not having any problems with the wiring in
parallel, but with a 22 year old radio that can't be replaced (and not
knowing how it was originally wired) I'm not willing to take any
chances. I drove in to work this morning, with the speakers in series,
and was quite happy with the sound.

Thanks again!
Bryan

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