dra_gon_lee

i need the color of the wires for the installation of my head unit into my 87 rx-7 turbo 2


i have the speakers, 12v switched, and ground all hooked up...

I just need the 12v constant wire color, and i think thats all


thanks
rocky

NZConvertible

Battery (permanent) is blue with a red stripe, accessory (switched) is blue with a white stripe. Easy to find with a test light.

dra_gon_lee

thanks alot man!

i need to get one of those with as many electrical problems the fc has

Icemark

You should have searched for the wires as well... its only been posted about 20 times

Fingers

If you have the stock amps built into the speakers, make sure you disable them. The rear ones are pretty simple to wire out. Just unscrew the amp, unsolder all the wires, and only plug in the two-pronged plug. Solder the other end of that plug into the speakers. For the front ones, just run new wires. It's not too hard. But make sure you bypass those amps. They blow.

dra_gon_lee

im running all new speakers, do i have to still bypass them? all the speakers are working....

Fingers

yes. definitely bypass the amps, ESPECIALLY if they're new speakers. Yes, the speakers WILL work... however, try cranking them up. they will distort INSANELY at high volumes.

NZConvertible

I’d take the opportunity to just run new speaker cables. It’ll be easier than mucking around trying to bypass the amps, and you can run decent size cable to replace the skinny factory ones.

dra_gon_lee

yeah i noticed that! its like i put some damn factory ones in there... the fronts are rerun anyways, as they are 4" speakers in the door ac vents, but i will get on those back ones tomorrow and replace the wire with new ones....

thanks guys,

rocky

Icemark

The stock speaker wire is fine up to about 50 watts RMS.

There are no sound advantages replacing the speaker wire or running your own if you are sending 50 watts RMS or less per speaker.

dra_gon_lee

what? i thought that stupid amp was distorting the sound? cause the backs do sound like ***... ima run it and see if they sound any better....
thanks
rocky

NZConvertible

Having previously run a 4x50WRMS amp with the speakers connected to it by the wires that came with them (same size or possibly a bit larger than the cars stock speaker wire), and later changing the all the speaker cabling to much larger cabling, I can categorically say it does have an effect on sound quality. It definitely sounded better, mainly in the lower frequencies, indicating more power was being transferred to the speakers. I've had similar results upgrading the speaker wiring on my home stereo.
And it's still simpler and easier than bypassing the amps.

Icemark

Lower frequencies do get some improvement using larger gauge multi-stranded wire, but those frequencys are generally under 35Hz which no 6" coax speakers reproduce. If he had dedicated subs I'd say yes upgrade the wire. But otherwise... I wouldn't.

But I am also basing my comments on that most of the time when people run additional wire they use that cheap junk that comes packed with the speakers, or Lamp cord from the local radio shack, both of which is generally worse than the stock wiring. If you do route new wiring make sure it is at least 14 AWG multi-stranded (not solid core or lamp cord) or better.

and

Comparing a home audio system to a car system is like comparing a 36" wide screen TV to a 15" computer monitor.

blu_gxl

why would yu use lamp cord instead of at least 12 awg wire in your car? i'm not trying to turn the speakers on i'm transfering sound. i mean come on it's like 5 dollars

james

PaulC

Metra makes and adapter harness that plugs right in to the factory harness and the new head unit. well they do for most models at least. they cost about $15 to get and make intallation simple and easy to put the factory head unit back in if you want to sell your car someday and keep your nice head unit.

Fingers

Lamp cord CAN be used successfully. However, it's not meant for sound applications. This issue has been debated over and over... The general consensus is that electrical current travels on the surface of the wire, thus, the more strands, the better the current can flow. The thicker the cable, the more current you can flow without overheating.

NZConvertible

The speakers in that car were 6” and 6”x9” coaxials. And I noticed an improvement. That’s what I used, and that’s the sort of upgrade I meant. That’s a strange comment. The size of the system doesn’t matter, if the speaker cables are too small, the effect of upgrading them would be the same: an improvement.
Besides, computer monitors are generally much higher quality than your average TV, even big ones...

Icemark

But very limited in application.

So like Monitors to big screens, you can't compare Car audio to Home audio.

I am not going to say that your system did sound better, I am sure it did. Great. I am glad the wire made a difference!

But in all honesty, in 17 years of mobile electronics installation and design, yours would be the first system I have heard of that someone could hear a difference in wires with 50 watts or less.

Because of that I wonder if it was not just better connections at the amps or speakers that made the difference rather than the wire. Without being there it would be hard to say for sure.

And Fingers

why would you waste the time running lamp cord (which breaths and corrodes internally) when for only a few bucks more your could run some O2 free quality speaker wire.