83

I'm putting a new stereo and speakers in my truck. I've read a lot about larger speaker wire being better, especially over long stretches.

Then I open my new speakers up, and they come with really thin wire, and probably 6' of it. With special connectors to connect to the speakers.

So...am I fine with the really skinny, really long speaker wire?

Should I cut it down to the size I need, so it doesn't have such a long run?

Or should I use thicker wire, and figure out how to get the right connectors on the thicker wire, so it'll connect with the speakers?

AND (I realize these are total newbie questions), how do I run the back speakers? There are wires for the front left & right speakers, but then it looks like there are just two plug-in spots for the rear speakers? How's that work? I bought speaker wire for the rear speakers, but it's obviously two wires for each speaker. How does that connect to just two plug-in places for all 4 speaker wires?

83

Ok after a little mor research I'm not worried about the speaker wire. I'll just use what they gave me and cut it down to no longer than it needs to be.

Still confused on wiring the rear speakers, though..

whitecollarredneck

The rear speakers should just wire up like any other speaker. If not it would be in your best interest to rig them like normal speakers. It will save you some time if you ever need to tear into them again.

83

Huh. I'll have to look again.

What I saw coming out of the wiring harness of the stereo were four speaker wires. Two of them said left front, and two said right front.

Then there were actual plug-in places for the rear speakers, I thought. Like the kind of plugs that are male, and colored red and white for stereos. I'll look again, but I didn't see any actual wires to connect my rear speaker wires to.

Thanks!

whitecollarredneck

Clip off the ends and just use butt connectors if you need more length. One is positive and the other is the ground. If you put new speakers in it's gonna be a pain to try to wire it into the clip. Trust me I've tried haha

83

I can be dense...just making sure we're talking about the same thing.

I'm putting in a brand new stereo, brand new front speakers in the doors, brand new speakers in the back.

The new stereo has wires coming out the back. In the instructions, it says which color is right front, and which color is left front. There are obviously two wires for each front speaker.

But that's it. No other wires for the back speakers. What it has for back speakers are two holes, which look like they'd take the plug for regular red and white speaker cables. Like for a house system, not auto.

It's not lenght that's the issue, there's no length to be had! There is absolutely zero wire for the back speakers. Just holes in the back of the stereo unit.

I will check again tonight when I get home. If you've done this sort of thing and I'm not making sense, then it's probably just me missing something. I haven't done a stereo before.

whitecollarredneck

They are called rca jacks. That stereo deck is meant to run to an amp which i would suggest installing too. The amp will help keep you from blowing out your speakers. The wiring in the back is really only supposed to be used for power and a remote power up for an amp. The speaker wires can't really handle any power and it makes it really easy to fry them

83

Ah...so if I was just running front speakers, no problem. But if I plan to run rear speakers, I should be looking into an amp?

whitecollarredneck

Exactly. And honestly I'd think about running all 4 through an amp off those rca's. Adding power will widen your speaker selection also.

83

Ok, thanks!

Already bought the front speakers.
Went a little overboard on size! But it's gonna be great.

This is for my little Chinook motorhome, so I might actually get some house speakers for the back, like these:
That way I can move them around depending on whether I'm driving, hanging out inside, or hanging out outside.

Discombobulated

83, any new deck should have rear wires for rear speakers, what kinda stereo you working with here? If it has pre-outs for front and back I can't imagine it just has the front channels and no rears?

Also using home audio for car audio doesn't mix well if I remember correctly, it's been a while car and home speakers ohms are different and can end up sounding like garbage. Let me verify with my buddy that works at car toys tonight will post back up

83

Thanks! This is the head unit:

83

Ok, looked again and yeah, it's got wires for the front and back. I'm looking into an amp, and I'll see what my options are for speakers that are mobile but not home audio speakers, without having to build boxes for them.

Or maybe I'll just build boxes for them...

I'm definitely clueless as to how to hook this all up through an amp. The wiring diagram for just the front speakers, and for front and back without an amp is probably something I can figure out. But I'm not quite sure I get what the really minimal diagram for how to wire with an optional amp is trying to tell me.

Discombobulated

Talked to my buddy said home speakers will work just don't want to mix and match ohms with different speakers I would say you can get cheap boxes for 6x9's and buy another set like the ones you bought for the front. Amps are easy enough to hook up with some google searches the rated wattage out of decks is never correct it says so many watts per channel but the actual watts is a different story good way to test is hook it up to a battery and just mock up the wiring and see how loud it is. A stock deck might just be fine to run the noise your looking for. If not a decent amp is cheap enough to add later.

And just to run 6x9's you don't need any thick wiring, factory size wires will work just fine.

83

Thanks!

There's a $60 amp at Crutchfield I might just buy. We'll see.