What do you do with the remaining speaker wire when wiring an older car radio to a new speaker?
Friday, April 9th, 2010 at
7:59 pm
Question:
On an older car radio they have one wire going to the speaker, the speaker have 2 terminals, what happens to the remaining terminal? Does the remaining wire go to the car ground.
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Tagged with: older • Radio • remaining • Speaker • WIRE • WIRING
Filed under: Q & Answers
Yes. On some older autos the radio would only have one wire going to each speaker. This is a “hot” wire, or + (pos). The negative terminal on each speaker would then be connected to the car frame which would give the ground. The car radio had one wire for the negative signal that was attached to the frame also. This will work but caused a problem that they found out later – a ground loop that acted like an antennae. Basically the car frame will pick up electrical signals from other sources like your car’s alternator (sounds like a whine or buzz that matches the engine speed). Also clicks from turn signals and headlights/taillights being turned on. Unless it is a classic car, I would think about upgrading the head unit to an aftermarket one.