I am putting new speakers in my F350 crew cab and I cannot tell which existing wire is positve or and which is negative. No markings on existing speaker either. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Shouldn't matter. A speaker is just an AC coil.

 

I've experimented while changing speakers to see if there was in fact any difference on a stock system between positive and negative, and from what I can tell there isn't any. I hooked the speakers up with an ammeter inline and cranked it up, reversed the wires and did the same test, and both times the amps were at the same level. I'd imagine with a more powerful system there could be a difference, otherwise they wouldn't label the terminals.

 

The wiring harness that came with the new deck is clearly labeled, for example, left front positive left front negative. So is the adapter harness I bought to plug into existing harness. Maybe it doesn't make a difference I don't know. Thanks.

 

well there is a difference, when hooking up speakers, especially subs, if you hook one up backwards it will pull when it should push and vise versa, you have to have the phasing right. this means one sub it pulling and one it pushing and they cancle each other out. with smaller speakers its not a evident but it can help with overall sound though.

 

i used a digital volt meter about 3 wks ago on my '01 f150 and it show a minus sign (for neg) when connected backwards, and no minus sign whenconnected correctly. i'm refering to the terminals on the voltmeter to the plug in the door. A very handy device to have. But like chrono said, on these small speakers you prob.wont notice any diff. paul....

 

I've noticed a difference on mine whenever the + and - were reversed. You can turn up your volume (~60%) and connect the speaker one way, and then disconnect and reverse the terminals.. one way will sound cleaner and not as distorted, this would be when everything is hooked up right. If you were to do the same things with a single sub, one way will sound more distorted and sound like your sub is bottoming out, and also sound hollow, but when everything is hooked up right the bass will sound full and have a good sound.

 

So back to my original question, which is which?

 

well if you put a meter analog or digital, it will read backwards if you hook it up wrong. if you dont have one, go buy a 5 dollar one at a hardware store.

 

If your wires from the deck are marked then there should be no problem on which one they are. As far as the speaker goes, get you a 9volt battery and hook up a couple wires to it then to the speaker connections. If the cone moves out then the positive is in the correct position if the cone pulls in then reverse the wires and try it again.

 

well to know, we need the year of your F350.

 

If your installing speakers using the stock radio I don't think it would matter too much ( but I would hook them up right ). One way you can try is this:

Have your stock speaker connected, turn it around so your looking at the back ( wiring ) now write down the color of the wire connected to the left terminal and color for the right. Do this for each speaker. When you install each new speaker, just connect the same way, color ? goes left terminal and color ? goes right.

On the speaker (aftermarket) you have a smaller and larger terminal lug, smaller is + and larger is -.

Now when upping the power (amps) it's best to connect speakers right. You don't want one speaker pushing out when the other is pulling in. This should be easy because you use rca cables from radio to passive eq, crossover, amp etc, wire terminals are marked and aftermarket speaker wire has a line showing +.

You can also call up Crutchfield, tell em you plan on buying in the future but have a problem (now) with your speakers, they should help you with the color codes for the wires.
Hey they don't want to turn away a new customer right, being really nice to them if you never ordered from them helps too I've ordered quite a bit from them in the past and they helped me with snags I've had ( not relating to items I ordered from them )

Wait.. I read your posts again. so you "have" a aftermarket radio hooked up to the stock speaker harness and now you want to connect new speakers without running better speaker wire right? Pull your deck (radio) back out and look at the colors from there.

P.S. chrono4 your right on the money. That's how it works.

Good luck.

 

Here is a wiring diagram for a 2000 ford f-series, if you let me know your exact year, I can get you that one. Usually it is the same or similar through the years though...

Constant 12V+ Light Green/Pink
Switched 12V+ Black/Purple
Ground Black/Green
Illumination Light Blue/Red
Dimmer n/a
Amplifier Remote Blue
Antenna Right Front
Front Speakers 6" x 8" Doors
Left Front (+) Gray/Light Blue
Left Front (-) Tan/Yellow
Right Front (+) White/Light Green
Right Front (-) Dark Green/Orange
Rear Speakers 6" x 8" Rear Corners
Left Rear (+) Orange/Light Green
Left Rear (-) Light Blue/White
Right Rear (+) Orange/Red
Right Rear (-) Brown/Pink

 

While installing my new door speakers in my 250 i read the speaker manual. It says to touch the speaker terminals to a 9 volt ( note don't hold it there but give it a momentary touch). If the speaker moves out the then the positive of the battery was touched to the positive of the speaker.

 

bluemag....got to ask maybe stupid question....assuming your are looking into the cone from the open side, and out means movement out toward you(away from magnet) or out as in away from you, (toward magnet). pardon my speaker savy...........thanks!paul