Wiring speakers

[jmaple]

Kind of a dumb question but I haven't found a forum that helps me at all. So I have a set of 6.5" speakers sitting in my garage that I want to put to use. I already have good door speakers, so I want to buy 2 speaker boxes and throw them under the back seat. How would I go about wiring them in? I don't think I'd be able to connect to my Amp somehow so would I have to run a new wire all the way to the battery?

 

[99'Subourbon]

Easiest would be to splice into your door speakers (one from the driver side, on from the passenger), run the wire through the door and down along the floor, imo.

 

[df2x4]

Easiest would be to splice into your door speakers (one from the driver side, on from the passenger), run the wire through the door and down along the floor, imo.

That'll throw off his impedance and make the head unit (or amp) unhappy, though. Splicing into the existing door speaker wiring would effectively halve the impedance on those channels, taking things down to 2 ohms from 4. Whatever he's using as a power source would be working twice as hard, and most sources aren't 2 ohm stable. Might work for a while, might fry some stuff. Need more info on his existing system to make a call one way or the other.

Just went through his post history and it appears he has a '97, which would mean 4x6s in the rear pillars.

@jmaple, what I would honestly suggest is selling the 6.5"s you have laying around and buying a decent set of 4x6s for the rear. If you absolutely have to use the 6.5"s, unhook the rear 4x6s and use the wires from those. That way your amp/head unit is still happy with a 4 ohm load on each of the four channels.

 

[jkeaton]

Kind of a dumb question but I haven't found a forum that helps me at all. So I have a set of 6.5" speakers sitting in my garage that I want to put to use. I already have good door speakers, so I want to buy 2 speaker boxes and throw them under the back seat. How would I go about wiring them in? I don't think I'd be able to connect to my Amp somehow so would I have to run a new wire all the way to the battery?

What system do you have in there now? Stock or aftermarket?

 

[99'Subourbon]

That'll throw off his impedance and make the head unit (or amp) unhappy, though. Splicing into the existing door speaker wiring would effectively halve the impedance on those channels, taking things down to 2 ohms from 4. Whatever he's using as a power source would be working twice as hard, and most sources aren't 2 ohm stable. Might work for a while, might fry some stuff. Need more info on his existing system to make a call one way or the other.

Just went through his post history and it appears he has a '97, which would mean 4x6s in the rear pillars.

@jmaple, what I would honestly suggest is selling the 6.5"s you have laying around and buying a decent set of 4x6s for the rear. If you absolutely have to use the 6.5"s, unhook the rear 4x6s and use the wires from those. That way your amp/head unit is still happy with a 4 ohm load on each of the four channels.

Listen to this guy. I'll be the first to admit I avoid electrical like the plague, and know nothing about it.

 

[jmaple]

What system do you have in there now? Stock or aftermarket?

Aftermarket except for rear speakers

 

[GMCTRUCKS]

That'll throw off his impedance and make the head unit (or amp) unhappy, though. Splicing into the existing door speaker wiring would effectively halve the impedance on those channels, taking things down to 2 ohms from 4. Whatever he's using as a power source would be working twice as hard, and most sources aren't 2 ohm stable. Might work for a while, might fry some stuff. Need more info on his existing system to make a call one way or the other.

Just went through his post history and it appears he has a '97, which would mean 4x6s in the rear pillars.

@jmaple, what I would honestly suggest is selling the 6.5"s you have laying around and buying a decent set of 4x6s for the rear. If you absolutely have to use the 6.5"s, unhook the rear 4x6s and use the wires from those. That way your amp/head unit is still happy with a 4 ohm load on each of the four channels.

I just read about not splicing into the factory speaker wires leading to my rear speakers because it will cause all sorts of performance or sound problems so where would one go from here if I were to use new better speaker wires where would be the best place to tie in I'm thinking at the stereo speaker harness now on what side would one need to soldier in the better wires on what side of the harness I'm thinking closer to the head unit I figure this info would help him as it will me? Thanks!


Oh I want to use 6X9 speakers boxes that pre made and mount them over where the rear 4X6 speakers are on the rear pillars what do you think?

I just don't want to take apart all the rear panels its no fun done it once I'm also wondering will my Alpine head unit push the front 4X6 speakers and the 6X9 speakers I think my Alpine just pushes 45X4 or that what it says?

Now I'm happy with all 4X6 speakers but the rear ones sound busted and I really just want them for highs since I'm running a 12" sub with a amp.

Sorry if I'm confusing you guys forgive me.

 

[df2x4]

I just read about not splicing into the factory speaker wires leading to my rear speakers because it will cause all sorts of performance or sound problems so where would one go from here if I were to use new better speaker wires where would be the best place to tie in I'm thinking at the stereo speaker harness now on what side would one need to soldier in the better wires on what side of the harness I'm thinking closer to the head unit I figure this info would help him as it will me? Thanks!


Oh I want to use 6X9 speakers boxes that pre made and mount them over where the rear 4X6 speakers are on the rear pillars what do you think?

I just don't want to take apart all the rear panels its no fun done it once I'm also wondering will my Alpine head unit push the front 4X6 speakers and the 6X9 speakers I think my Alpine just pushes 45X4 or that what it says?

Now I'm happy with all 4X6 speakers but the rear ones sound busted and I really just want them for highs since I'm running a 12" sub with a amp.

Sorry if I'm confusing you guys forgive me.

Here comes a long winded rant...

First thing, unless you're upgrading to very nice speakers and an amp to run them then there's no need to do anything to your factory wiring. Your Alpine may say 45Wx4 on the box, but that's a peak rating. RMS or continuous power is what matters, and that is going to be around 16Wx4 at the highest. No aftermarket head unit pushes more than 20Wx4. Your factory wiring is fine for any aftermarket 4x6.

6x9s in the rear is a bad idea in my opinion for multiple reasons. First, there's not much room in that location. Even if you put the boxes behind the seats, you say you're already running a sub. It's going to get cramped back there real fast. Second, your soundstage. You don't want to design a system with more sound in the mid and high range behind you than in front of you. You want the majority of the sound to come from in front of you, otherwise it's going to sound weird. Last but not least, if you mount the boxes you'll have to drill holes somewhere. I hate drilling holes in these trucks, and I definitely wouldn't do it for something like that when I had perfectly good factory speaker holes to use.

What I would do if you really want some better mids and highs would be to grab a set of Q-Logic kick panels, some nice 6.5" round components, and a small 50Wx2 amp to run them. Run that in addition to the four factory 4x6s. It's going to be more expensive than what you're talking about, but you'll end up with a pretty nice little system. If you don't want to mess with all that, I'd just bite the bullet and take the trim apart again. Throw some new 4X6s in there. I know it's a pain in the ass but it's a much cleaner solution than just throwing boxes over the holes.

The kick panels I'm talking about can be found on Crutchfield.

And if you want to replace the 4X6s, I recommend these pretty often. Separate circular drivers so they sound a little nicer than your average 4x6, plus real rubber surrounds and a silk dome tweeter. Obviously they have next to no bass, but you're not going to find any 4x6 that does.

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-6-Inch-Plate-Style-Speakers/dp/B000P0NJOO?ie=UTF8&keywords=polk 4x6&qid=1465282522&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Hope some if this was helpful! Let me know if you need clarification on anything.