Not sure if most people know about this or not, but there is a SUPER easy way to replace the speakers with regard to the wiring.

You can now buy wiring adapters which plug into the factory harness for the speakers. Gone are the days of cutting and splicing wires only to find out that you have the polarity reversed on one or more of them.



i bought these at best buy. You have to ask for them as they are not on the shelf, but the guys back in the install bay have them and can sell them to you, you just have to find a guy willing to go back and ask for them. I think they were about $10 for a package of two. (i bought them a year ago so i don't remember) you can get them from crutchfield too, the price was about the same online as it was in BB, for what it's worth.

easy cheesy!

 

Be careful with the Metras. The set I purchased both had the polarity reversed according to the factory wiring diagrams. My system had the factory subwoofer, and considering the sound quality before I reversed the wires, I'm convinced the polarity was in fact backwards in the Metra adapters. I mentioned this in my online review and a few others commented theirs were backward as well.

-Rod

 

good to know. If mine are reversed they must all be reversed because the sound is all in phase. of course, i don't have a subwoofer, so it's anybody's guess.

good info.

i suppose i should have used the search function before i posted.

eeeh ...

cheers!

 

I got them from Crutchfield with my speakers and the polarity was reversed too!!

 

this is good to know ... cauz i bought a set for my T-bird too.

in the explorer it don't matter because they are all reversed and will sound fine that way.

in the t-bird i've got a full stereo, so i'd be trying to figure why it don't sound right, cauz the rest of it is all wired right.... it's been a while, but i think my amp has phase control, so if it is out, i can switch it there without having to mess with wiring.

good to know, so i'll know to be on the look out for phase issues. Thinking more and more that i'm glad i did all four in the exploder ... eliminates phasing issues.

worst part is ... now i can hear how crappy the stock radio sounds... might have to replace that too. can of worms. i just didn't want to give up the 6-disc changer and rear controls, but i don't really use them anyway, i guess.

 

I replaced all four speakers & the head unit in my Ex and I'm glad I did!!

I don't have the factory amp & subwoofer so it was a pretty painless job. The modern head units have the capability for retaining the steering wheel controls, etc. I don't have them either.

As far as not wanting to lose the 6 CD changer (I didn't have that either!), I have my iPod plugged in for non-stop music at all times!!

Good luck.

 

Or you could just cut and splice the new fittings, since it is unlikely you would ever want to go back to the factory speakers, and even if you did you could just splice the factory connectors back on and save yourself the waste of an unnecessary adapter.

 

the adapter only becomes unnecessary once you know for sure which wire is positive at each location.

plus they are a huge time saver. unlike my youth, i no longer have the time to chase down each wire at each corner.

at least this way they all ended up in phase with each other, which is all that matters, being that i do not have the factory subwoofer.

 

Which wire is positive is not important, a speaker will work perfectly either way. so long as all are using the same polarity. In fact in some situations, professional installers will deliberately reverse the polarity to overcome sound cancellation problems in high output setups.

So I stand by my guns, for a really good installation, these adapters are not necessary. All they really do is save you from splicing.

By the same token, if I was replacing speakers, I'd put in something better than Pioneers.

 

you can stand by your guns all you want, but that don't mean you are right.

they don't just save time splicing, they save time chasing down which is which ... the problem is finding out which wire is positive at all corners, making the adapters a huge time saver. all four corners have different color wires for positive and negative, making it a huge PITA to figure out which one is which. generally speaking, the darker color is negative, but not always, which usually results in one or two corners being out of phase relative to the others.

this isn't my first rodeo, i've been doing this for about 16 years on my own, and the adapters are the way to go, IMO.

yes, phase is relative, which is what i've said about 3 times now, and yes, in some situations messing around with phase will help, but usually only with high frequencies, very rarely - if ever - have i had it help with anything below about 3kHz.

if you think the adapters are a waste of money, and are happy spending your time chasing wires, then by all means do that, but for me it is no longer worth my time when a simpler solution is available.

as for my choice of equipment ... go suck an egg. the pioneers are far better than the head unit powering them. I've actually had pretty good luck with pioneers throughout the years, they'll even hold up to an amp for quite a few years if you high-pass them at about 60Hz or so.

spending more money on higher end speakers would truly be a waste of money when powered by the factory radio.

if i were going for show quality sound, i wouldn't use the factory wires at all and i'd do like i have in the past and run my own. if this case, it's just nice to have speakers that aren't blown.