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rbdemen

Connecting Speakers To Radio Wiring Harness

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rbdemen

Previous owner must have had an aftermarket component system. Now I'm trying to use an original Clarion headunit and discover that the original speakers aren't wired into the radio wiring harness. I've had the entire dash off trying to see where the radio wiring harness was butchered so I could patch the speaker wires back in but the harness looks original and intact. It runs from behind the radio, up the side of the steering column, over the back of the dash instrument panel, and down the other side of the steering column, plugging into 3(?) locations on the fuse box. What I believe to be the original Mac Audio speakers have lengths of speaker wire ending in a strange spliced in 2 pin connectors and I am left with no way of connecting the speakers into the harness. Were the speakers connected to the fusebox somehow? Sorry for all the words. I am a confused electrical novice. Here are some pictures to help explain. I would appreciate any radio/wiring gurus giving any advice.post-26888-0-23903900-1492902141.jpgpost-26888-0-95626200-1492902141.jpgpost-26888-0-60271400-1492902142.jpg

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steve@cornwall

What age is your car? Later models have plugs on the a post where all the door wiring goes, then a door loom, whereas earlier models will have wiring direct from the harness radio plug to the door speaker.

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rbdemen

What age is your car? Later models have plugs on the a post where all the door wiring goes, then a door loom, whereas earlier models will have wiring direct from the harness radio plug to the door speaker.

1990 Ph2 1.9 GTI. Thank you for your reply. Can you give further details on the plugs on the A-Post please? You mean at the top of the plastic side kick panels? What do these plugs look like? I don't think I have them. So the speaker wires are supposed to connect into a-post kick panel plugs?

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GLPoomobile

OK, firstly to address your question to Steve - earlier ones had the speaker cable pass - un-broken - through a narrow convoluted rubber sleeve that runs between the A pillar and the side of the door. It's easy to tell if you have this as you can pop either end of the rubber cover away with your hand and see the wiring in there. Later ones have a much thicker cover that is actually snapped in to place. IIRC it uses a twist-lock sort of attachment. The wiring runs in to the plug that is secured in to the A pillar, and then the rest of the loom (inside the cover I mentioned) connects to that plug. It's basically a quick release joint for the loom so the doors could be removed without messing about with the wiring.

 

I can't see your pics properly (too small). So you have the original factory connector still there that you can connect the Clarion HU to - does it have any wiring coming out of it? Is the wiring all in tact or has it been butchered at all? Where is the two pin plug you mentioned?

Edited by GLPoomobile

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GLPoomobile

Just looking back at some photos of my old '89 and I can see there is a yellow 2 pin connector inside the door up by the speaker hole. So I guess originally the speakers would have had a short connection (few inches) from the back of the speaker to this plug. From there the wiring would run down the inside of the door to the rubber tube that goes from the door to the A pillar. Once inside the car I don;t know what route the speaker wires would take back to the center, but presume it must have been along the route taken by most of the rest of the loom behind the dash. The speaker wires certainly wouldn't have gone via the fusebox.

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steve@cornwall

I would expect 1990 model to have the rubber sleeve straight from the a pillar to the door (UK version anyway) . If so stereo wiring is quite simple. Roughly in the middle of the fuse board are two single spade connectors side by side. These are your live supply, one is constant, the other switched. The negative supply can be taken from any ground point. Speaker wise you can follow the wires from the existing speakers to where they emerge near the stereo, or fit your own wiring from speaker, through door rubber and then choose your route to the stereo. This would,at least, enable you to fit some better quality wiring.

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Tom Fenton

Just looking back at some photos of my old '89 and I can see there is a yellow 2 pin connector inside the door up by the speaker hole.

This yellow plug goes straight into the speaker as standard. No other joins.

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toolie72

Take a photo of the wiring behind the radio for us if you can

8 wires for speakers (4are white)

Speakers are driven from stereo (one colour,one white each) NOT from fusebox

If wires are still there (even partly) you can match the pairs up with a multimeter set on continuity

 

Power for stereo is 3 wires, 12volt permanent live (for code)

12 volt switched (so radio only comes on with ignition)

0volt

 

There may also be a wire for electric aerial and one for illumination depending on spec

Sorry Steve just read your post DOH!

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rbdemen

Based on this, I have an earlier one... It's a rubber sleeve that runs btw the A-pillar and the front of the door. So, the speakers should be directly wired to the headunit connector? This is not the case with mine. All 4 speakers have a length of wiring running FROM them that end up loose and unconnected sitting in the drivers footwell. These wires terminate with a spliced in male 2 pin DIN. Obviously not original. If they're supposed to be directly wired in to the headunit connector, I can't figure where they've been cut. Sorry for the crap photos. (How do I upload bigger files?)

OK, firstly to address your question to Steve - earlier ones had the speaker cable pass - un-broken - through a narrow convoluted rubber sleeve that runs between the A pillar and the side of the door. It's easy to tell if you have this as you can pop either end of the rubber cover away with your hand and see the wiring in there. Later ones have a much thicker cover that is actually snapped in to place. IIRC it uses a twist-lock sort of attachment. The wiring runs in to the plug that is secured in to the A pillar, and then the rest of the loom (inside the cover I mentioned) connects to that plug. It's basically a quick release joint for the loom so the doors could be removed without messing about with the wiring.

 

I can't see your pics properly (too small). So you have the original factory connector still there that you can connect the Clarion HU to - does it have any wiring coming out of it? Is the wiring all in tact or has it been butchered at all? Where is the two pin plug you mentioned?

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rbdemen

Just looking back at some photos of my old '89 and I can see there is a yellow 2 pin connector inside the door up by the speaker hole. So I guess originally the speakers would have had a short connection (few inches) from the back of the speaker to this plug. From there the wiring would run down the inside of the door to the rubber tube that goes from the door to the A pillar. Once inside the car I don;t know what route the speaker wires would take back to the center, but presume it must have been along the route taken by most of the rest of the loom behind the dash. The speaker wires certainly wouldn't have gone via the fusebox.

I've asked about this yellow 2 pin connector before... someone said it was the connector for heated side mirrors.

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GLPoomobile

This yellow plug goes straight into the speaker as standard. No other joins.

 

That makes sense. I thought when I typed my reply that it would be a bit stupid to have a separate connection there, but just going by my photo that's exactly what it looks like. I guess the connector in my photo is either just dangling behind a clip used to secure the wiring, or the clip was for something else.

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GLPoomobile

I've asked about this yellow 2 pin connector before... someone said it was the connector for heated side mirrors.

 

That's possible on certain model variants and countries, I guess. But the one on mine certainly wasn't for that. UK GTIs didn't come with heated mirrors.

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GLPoomobile

Based on this, I have an earlier one... It's a rubber sleeve that runs btw the A-pillar and the front of the door. So, the speakers should be directly wired to the headunit connector? This is not the case with mine. All 4 speakers have a length of wiring running FROM them that end up loose and unconnected sitting in the drivers footwell. These wires terminate with a spliced in male 2 pin DIN. Obviously not original. If they're supposed to be directly wired in to the headunit connector, I can't figure where they've been cut. Sorry for the crap photos. (How do I upload bigger files?)

 

Very odd, unless it's something to do with them being wired in to an amp previously (I've never fitted an amp in any of my cars so have no idea about the wiring). Simple solution seems to me to be to cut the weird connector off the end then separate out the wires in to matching pairs (+ and -), identify which goes where, and then splice in new wiring from those ends back to the headunit plug. Or just all new wiring from plug to speakers as Steve said earlier.

Edited by GLPoomobile
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