speaker wiring?

[textman]

OK, so we are on our first trip of the season and another issue with my 36B4. This time my speakers in the LR are not working. So I took out the Jensen AWM 970 to see if something had come loose from the back. Looks like all my connections are solid, but I noticed that my 4 speakers were wired to just the "A" set of wires. However, after further investigation I see that FR wired them by taking the + right speaker wire and connecting it to just one positive and the - to the other right speaker. They then wired the + of one speaker to the - of the other speaker. Same with the left set of speakers. Is this right? I thought you would connect the + and - together and not cross them over? Would this cause the speakers to stop working? I guess it is like they are wired in "series" instead of "parallel" My speakers are small square ceiling speakers and I can't even figure out how to get the grills off to take them out... Hope this makes sense...

[davel1971]

that doesn't sound right. Speakers have to be independent of each other, not "in series". Might very well have something to do with your problem. Have to tried rearranging the wiring at the radio?

[textman]

Originally Posted by davel1971

that doesn't sound right. Speakers have to be independent of each other, not "in series". Might very well have something to do with your problem. Have to tried rearranging the wiring at the radio?

that is what I was thinking... can't figure out how to get the speakers out of the ceiling to test them...

[Kenrod]

If I understand correctly, it's possible the way they wired it has damaged the radio. The trailer we just bought had the speaker wiring screwed up, but not to that extent. If you have the literature for the radio hopefully it shows how to connect it up, i.e. what color wire is right rear, front and so on.
If you have that you can start by disconnecting the speaker wires for the radio. To find out what speaker a wire goes to, simply use a 1.5 volt C or D battery and touch one pair of wires at a time to it. You'll hear the speaker make a small pop. Don't hold the wire to the battery, just a touch to make the noise. Then label the wire. If you have one that doesn't make any noise then there is a problem with the wire, the connection at the speaker, or with the speaker itself.
Good luck!

[Timtation]

Do you have a volt ohm meter (VOM)? You should get some resistance between paired wires probably either 4 or 8 ohms. If they have not wired the harness properly the paired wires will be one for speaker A and one for speaker B and the meter will read open or however it shows when the two leads are apart. You do not need to mess with the speaker heads, too much trouble and it could get you more grief than lake of tunes.

Another option would be to use a remote speaker plug to a radio or similar device and and connect/insert those wires to the wires for the harness. Don't worry about + and - they are conventions mostly but can affect the sound a little.

[QCCowboy]

It could actually be wired in series like this for a reason, but that depends on the ohm rating of each speaker and the minimum load impedance of the amp/stereo itself. If the speakers are 4 ohm each and the minimum load impedance of amp/stereo is 8 ohm, they would need to be wired in series to raise the overall impedance to the amp to prevent overheating or other problems. Unfortunately I cannot tell you what the setup should be as you really need to look at each speaker and understand the specifications of the amp/stereo itself.

I'd be careful about connecting all of the positive ends of the speakers to the positive wire on the stereo and the negative to the negative side (wire in parallel) as you will actually drop the impedance probably well beyond the capacity of the stereo's capabilities (again heat and potential failures) if it cannot handle the drop in ohms properly.

Do you have other speakers that are on B/C switches that work or do none of them work?

[R Whitlow]

Originally Posted by Kenrod

If I understand correctly, it's possible the way they wired it has damaged the radio. The trailer we just bought had the speaker wiring screwed up, but not to that extent. If you have the literature for the radio hopefully it shows how to connect it up, i.e. what color wire is right rear, front and so on.
If you have that you can start by disconnecting the speaker wires for the radio. To find out what speaker a wire goes to, simply use a 1.5 volt C or D battery and touch one pair of wires at a time to it. You'll hear the speaker make a small pop. Don't hold the wire to the battery, just a touch to make the noise. Then label the wire. If you have one that doesn't make any noise then there is a problem with the wire, the connection at the speaker, or with the speaker itself.
Good luck!

The method I used on mine to fix the wiring was to use a phone toner. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001MB...&pi=SY200_QL40
Disconnect all speaker wiring. Connect the alligator clips to a pair of speaker wires you will hear the tone sound at the correct speaker. Works great and you want damage the speakers.

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[Timtation]

This link will get a guide if you don't have one. It also has a pinout so you can check the http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...8,d.b2Iharness.

[QCCowboy]

Based on link it appears that the radio in there can go to a 4 ohm minimum load. If the speakers are 4 ohms, and you have 4 of them tied into the living room (A channel), they would need to be wired in series (similar to what you documented above) to stay above the minimum load of the amps capabilities. If they are 8 ohm speakers, they could actually be wired in parallel.

[textman]

I need to get one of the speakers out of the ceiling so I can check the ohm rating. Just don't want to tear the speaker up. they are small square flush mount speakers. I don't see any screws, so I assume they are under the grills. think I should just try to pry off the grills?

B speakers wires are not being used. just the A and C. C speakers are working.

[Timtation]

Sure you are programming the A speakers? Don't pull the speaker if you can pull the radio and check the harness. Another option is to turn it up and wait until you can get the unit to a sound store. They will get it resolved for less than the price to fix the damage you may incur and have to listen about, repeatedly, for a very long time, a very very long time. Or not!

[Kenrod]

If you can't see any fasteners for the grills, then they surely snap on to the speaker. But as was stated above that could bring on more grief than you want!
But I've never let that stop me!
I bought a set of non-marring (plastic) panel removal tools at Harbor Freight.
I would use one of those braced against a piece of thin masonite on the ceiling and give it a shot.
Good Luck!

[davel1971]

lots of times the metal mesh part of the grill pries away from the outer ring

[Kuba]

Dude, use AAA battery at speaker wire ends, dont use anything larger as you will fry the speaker. Once you connect it you will hear humming or crackling.

Any source of very low voltage/low current will work. Even a 2032 round watch battery. No need for tone generators.

If you really need something with a tone, try one of the playing xmas cards. Just be careful, kids might start running your way they might think its an ice cream truck
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[Still Kickin]

Use a 9volt battery. Just brush the pos. and neg. wires across the terminals briefly and have someone listen to the crackle at the speaker end. I've used this many times in car audio systems. Just touch them intermintently you will get an audible crackle at the speaker.

[camaraderie]

My understanding is that you have two speakers wired in series on each channel. There is NOTHING wrong with this and your radio can certainly handle the load with standard 4 ohm small automotive speakers. You don't see it much because you don't have any capability to fade between the speakers but there is NOTHING in that wiring scheme that would cause the failure of the speakers or radio.
I'm guessing a loose connection or a blown output transistor... possibly fuse protected? Assuming you tried listening with different sources.
If you hear a tone out of both speakers with the battery trick..get the radio checked out.

[textman]

OK, disconnected all the speaker wires and using a 9 volt found that the two rear speakers are not working. Guess if any speakers are blown then they all stop working if wired in series. So I just hooked the two front ones to the harness and they now work fine. So I guess I need to replace those two bad ones. When I get them replaced I will just wire those two to the "B" channel. This way I can just wire them in normally...
Thanks to all for the help. Still not brave enough to pull on the grills, but I guess it won't matter now that I know they are bad...

[textman]

what are the chances??? Both speakers are good. Finally got the covers off without messing things up too bad. (need some glue for one ) Had to end up cutting loose the connections at the speakers themselves. Re-hooked them up with some new crimps and all is good. Crazy how both came loose at the same time... Glad it is working now!

[Kuba]

Change them anyway, you will be glad

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