Car Stereo Wiring

[Propflux01]

Just a "What-if" question on car stereo wiring: Most all stereo wiring on aftermarket units today have separate wiring for each speaker. A RF+, RF-, LF +, LF-, RR+, RR-, and so on. I am putting one in my sons old truck, and looking at the specs, the unit produces 14 watts per channel X 4 for a total of 56 watts. Since he is only running 2 speakers, can I not just tie the two Left Positives together, and Left negatives together, and same for Right, and run them both into a two speaker setup? Since he is not going to use but 2 of the channels anyway, wouldn't tying those together produce 28 watts per channel?

 

[dja4260]

Originally Posted By: Tim H.
Just a "What-if" question on car stereo wiring: Most all stereo wiring on aftermarket units today have separate wiring for each speaker. A RF+, RF-, LF +, LF-, RR+, RR-, and so on. I am putting one in my sons old truck, and looking at the specs, the unit produces 14 watts per channel X 4 for a total of 56 watts. Since he is only running 2 speakers, can I not just tie the two Left Positives together, and Left negatives together, and same for Right, and run them both into a two speaker setup? Since he is not going to use but 2 of the channels anyway, wouldn't tying those together produce 28 watts per channel?


No, the internal amplifier most likely isn't stable to run at a different ohm then specified. That would be "bridging" the unit. Odds are that it will kick into "protect" mode or it could pop the fuse on the back.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Don't do it. You will most likely damage the radio if you wire it that way. Only use either both front or both rear speaker outputs, otherwise you run a good chance of damaging the radio's outputs. Connecting the front and rear outputs together like that will not increase the output power of the radio. On just about every brand of car radio made in the last ten years, you have individual ouputs for each speaker individually. What you could do is connect a pair of speaker wires to the unused outputs and drop them down behind the dash, bundle them up and tie them up out of the way under the dash somewhere so if in the future your son decides to add another pair of speakers to his system, the wires will already be connected to the radio and he or you will not have to remove the radio and connect the wiring all over again.

 

[Radman]

The term "Clip" comes to mind.

 

[Propflux01]

Oh well, was a thought...