Speaker Polarity Question

[mike954]

I just replaced the factory speakers on my '98 XLT. I did the front first. I couldn't find any positve or negative markings on the factory plugs or speakers. I tested the speakers both ways and I couldn't tell any difference. Crutchfields website says that if you can't figure out the polarity, then just be consistant. I ended up hooking them up by observing the factory hookup with the back of the new speakers (the same orientation).

My question is whether I can tell if I hooked them up right (without pulling the doorpanels off again), and what the consequences would be if I did hook them up wrong.

Also, I replaced my headunit with a Alpine headunit...I don't have the Mack system, just the CD/cassette system. Does my '98 have a factory amp I have to bypass? Someone told me I could tell by looking at the factory headunit.

By the way, it sounds awsome conpared to the factory stuff...I'm probably just borrowing trouble!

-Mike

 

[JTang]

Do a search in this section for the same question. You can find out with a small battery by hooking it up and watching the way the cone travels.

 

[exploreraudio]

!

Hey, mike

Crutchfield is right (kind of). If you are consistant, than it really doesn't matter. You will never damage a speaker (or an amp) by hooking it up backwards...the worst thing that can happen is that it sounds a little funny (if one speaker is out of phase with the other one). I am not sure about how they thing you can tell if you have an aftermarket amp by looking at the back of the deck, but I did notice something on my Mach system...the deck has a big heatsink on the back of it. I would guess that there's something in there making some heat (i.e. an amp!). If you have the same thing, you can probably assume that you don't have an amp. I would say, just to be on the safe side, that you are best off going and talking to either a dealership, or a stereo shop to find out for sure.

Hope that helped,

 

[Stephen S]

I'm pretty sure you can bet that you have a factory amp. My truck had the cheapest stereo system that Ford put in the Explorers and it still had a factory amp that I had to rip out. Man did my door speakers sound better once that thing was gone. It's easy to see if you have one for sure. Just grab a good flashlight and open your rear passenger door. Shine the light in the hole where the seat belt goes through the plastic panel. If you see something silver with fins, that's the amp. Now the fun part is taking the back of your truck apart to bypass it.