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Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question!
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mcdonaldneal
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:00 am    Post subject: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

There isn't really a good forum for this, as it could apply to any older model car, but I'll hang it out there for any comments!

I've taken out the single, central dashboard speaker from our Ghia. We also have two door mounted speakers, so the radio still works. I'm going for a totally stock look, but keeping the radio.
One of the tiny wires between the right hand (green) terminal and the speaker cone was broken, so I soldered it back on to the terminal. No continuity, so I bridged the gap with some de soldering braid. It's tight to access, so the soldering is a mess, but it does now make electrical contact.
Connecting the speaker to a transistor radio, it plays music when the central terminal and the left hand terminal are connected AND when the central terminal and the right hand terminals are connected. ie white and yellow and/or white and green.

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First question: why are there three terminals? I guess it is so that a stereo radio can have both left and right channels connected at the same time, or do the left and right sides do something different?
Second question:my radio is mono, so I think I can connect to either the left or the right side, but if I connect to both does it change the resistance? The speaker says 4.8 ohms on the back.
Third question: the casing has a tab at just after 3 o'clock (pic below). Is that an electrical connector or should I just ignore it?

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Once I cleaned the back, I can see a little diagram which looks like left and right terminals, A and B, and a common terminal, C, in the middle.

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I'm not even sure I'll put the speaker back in, but it probably makes the radio sound a bit better, I just wonder whether to connect my speaker wires to A and B, or just one of them?
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mcdonaldneal
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:09 am    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

While I'm here...
As I say, I've got two door mounted speakers (which I can't remove without leaving an obvious space).
I didn't want to wire up all three speakers in parallel, as I think the resistance would be too low, so the door speakers are connected in series, and then that pair is connected in parallel with the centre speaker. I think they are all 4 ohms or thereabouts.
Question: is that as good a solution as any, or is there a better way?
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ToolBox
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 10:39 am    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

Center is common and the 2 outers are for use with radios of 4 or 8 ohm impedance. You use the correct 2 terminal to match it to the radio. Center and right = 8 ohm. Center and left = 4 ohm.
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mcdonaldneal
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

Doh!
I see it now! I thought it said A, B and C, but it says 4, 8 and C. Embarassed
That makes it simpler. I'll check the radio before I connect it back up.
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gt1953
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 7:00 am    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

Measurement with your ohm meter. That eliminates the guess work.
Also make sure you connect the speaker so you drive it out. (what do you mean) Speakers need to be drivin out not in. Hear is how you make sure you connect the positive to the positive terminal. Simply take a battery aa size works fine. connect the battery to the speaker terminals just touching it the terminals. Note the what the speaker does, it move out when the positive + is connected to the correct terminal. Think I am kidding reverse the connection and see the speaker drive in.
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mcdonaldneal
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 7:48 am    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

gt1953 wrote:
Measurement with your ohm meter. That eliminates the guess work.
Also make sure you connect the speaker so you drive it out. (what do you mean) Speakers need to be drivin out not in. Hear is how you make sure you connect the positive to the positive terminal. Simply take a battery aa size works fine. connect the battery to the speaker terminals just touching it the terminals. Note the what the speaker does, it move out when the positive + is connected to the correct terminal. Think I am kidding reverse the connection and see the speaker drive in.


Cheers gt1953, I'll check that.
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mcdonaldneal
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2016 3:13 am    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

I'm going to resurrect this thead, because I have a similar problem, but with a different vehicle!

Our Bay camper now has a brand new, NOS, speaker in the centre of the dash. It also has two lateral speakers, next to the doors, mounted under the parcel shelf. All the speakers are 4 ohm. It is a modern radio, with four speaker outlets. The lateral speakers are wired to Front left and right.

My question is; should I just wire the central speaker as rear left OR rear right, or should I tie both rear outlets together, making a mono channel (I suspect this will drive the speaker with too much power, but will it damage the radio amp?)

Any suggestions on how best to wire this three speaker, four outlet arrangement would be appreciated!

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mcdonaldneal
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2016 6:29 am    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

Did a bit of searching online on some classic car audio forums...
The best suggestion seems to be to wire the 'stereo' speakers to the rear left and right channels, and the dash speaker wired to the front LEFT positive and RIGHT negative.
Supposedly gives the mixed mono sound, but avoids having one of the front stereo without a load.
Sounds reasonable, but who am I to say!
Any other suggestions from old-school car audiophiles?
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mcdonaldneal
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 11:27 am    Post subject: Re: Single, central speaker wiring. Info and question! Reply with quote

I've bought a new ISO connector to run the speaker wires to. I think it's important to have the positive terminals in synch, so I took a pic of the terminals of our two parcel shelf speakers. I had thought that the convention was to have the textured wire as positive, but they are both wired the other way around. Also, they are each wired to the radio inputs a different way around! At least I can fix that!
Just need to find the cable for the dash speaker!...

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