Simple audio question

[mrkangfu]

hey guys. noobie here. just bought an 89 lx 5.0. anyways i bought a new panasonic head unit but the factory harness was cut off so i had to identify each wire. i got the unit to power up but it looks like each speaker has only one wire instead of two. i didnt even know this was possible. my question is how do i wire this setup? like theres a positive and negative wire for each speaker coming out of my head unit, but only one wire for each speaker coming out of the dash. any help would be appreciated.

 

[BADPONYsc]

I would just run new speaker wire for all the speakers. That's what I did with both my Mustangs. That way, you know for sure what's positive and negative. It's not that hard to do and gives piece of mind that everything's right.
As far as an actual diagram for the factory wiring, here's one that was probably posted by Tmoss. I don't see any pos./neg. in it, but maybe it will help you some.
Hope this helps!

 

[HISSIN50]

trace the schematic. there is one in the back of the repair manual or try this. courtesy of TMoss:
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/mustangFoxLights-Radio_diag.gif


you should have two wires for each speaker as far as i know. worst case, figure out what you are missing and re-run the wires.
good luck.

 

[Michael Yount]

Go to Home Depot/Lowes - in their electrical department you'll find dual stand 12-gauge speaker wire for home audio use (it's actually marked +/- so you can keep polarity straight) at about 1/10th the cost the local stereo shops charge for their monster wire. Run new wire - it's cheap, you'll know it's right, and it'll sound better/be more efficient with the bigger wire.

 

[IMissMy93Fox]

Look under the dash on the passanger side toward the center of the car, see if there's an amp there if there if you could buy a harness to bypass it instead of running all new wires

 

[mysticfire5OH]

i believe it's called a floating ground system, they only used it a few years to my knowledge. but i would just run new wires.

 

[dvs bullet]

Imissmy93fox is right, my old winter beater was the same, it's the ford preimium sound system. ther is probably a amplifier above where the deck sits, you'l have to bypass that. It is about 6inchs long and oval shaped.Good luck

 

[IMissMy93Fox]

Mysticfire, I think what you're talking about is a common ground system. I'm not sure what years they were used on though.

 

[mrkangfu]

thanks for the replies guys. i dont have the factory amp. it turns out that i do have a "common ground system." the only way i can connect my head unit is to re-wire every speaker so im gonna go ahead and do that. thanks michael yount for the tip about home depot.

 

[89MustangGX]

I've never seen that setup in an 89 -- I suspect something isn't quite right there.

 

[HISSIN50]

i agree with 89GX. i have not seen a common ground set up for quite some time. every wiring diagram i have ever seen in any database has also shown dedicated grounds for each speaker. strange.