dash speakers (tweeters)
 

Hey guys i'm trying to replace the speakers in my 86 while keeping
my factory wiring. For the door speakers ill be using this harness
that simply just connects into the factory plug and the other end i can solder to the speaker wire https://www.amazon.com/Metra-72-8104.../dp/B0002BBP7Y. i went to the dash speakers
and it seems like the 4'' midrange wont be an issue. This is where my issue comes in i have been looking all over the internet to see if there's a harness of sorts that works the same way as the harness i linked above. I eventually found a website that sells it http://carboncarsystems.com.au/shop/...himp-86-rings/ only problem is they only ship to australia and new zealand
i contacted them and asked if i can pay for the shipping and they wont do it.

not that it matters but this is equipment im adding to the 86
****The Power****
10w3v3-2 For my Subwoofer
Alpine PDX-v9 For my AMP

***The Sound***
Polk Audio DB6501 The door woofers and dash tweeters
DS18 PRO-x4 The midranges for the dash and the rear

THanks for reading guys!:thumbup:

That's interesting since on that same link it says in the middle of the page that they are...

"...Shipping to USA & Canada

Now shipping AutoChimp 86 Rings to North America (USA & Canada)
..."

Sorry I haven't added much help, but I wish they would clarify from their webpage... Good luck and keep us posted.

~wulfstan

So, I'd recommend taking a trek over to the electronics subforum.
Anywho, the dash is a little weird, the tweeters harness is 4 pins, the inner pins go to the tweeter which then outputs to the out pins which go to the mid 3.5 harness. this is wired in parallel factory, however you could repurpose as needed.
The amps a 5 channel amp, how are you thinking of running everything?


The polks have a passive crossover network, I'd prob recommend hooking them up on that on one amped channel, which means the tweeters would get their power from the crossover. I would suggest just running new speaker wire vs trying to re-use house wiring in the car for that. for the mids, if you are thinking of using the house wiring and powering off the head unit, then you can bridge the inner 2 to the outer 2 then just use the regular 2pin connector for the dash.
would look like this:
|1|2|3|4|
|_| |_|
bridge 1 to 2 and 3 to 4
use some spare wire and electrical tape to hold it in.


hope that helps some.


also on that amp you'll have 2 other amped channels, so you'll need to decide how you think you are going to use that.


your amping in theory 7 channels (2 rear, 2 front, 2 front mids, 1sub)
you can use head unit channels for the back easily/safely

I think I'm defeated. I'm going to use a 4 channel Zapco amp (active crossovers) to power the doors and rear speakers for now. accessing the wiring seem's much easier from the trunk amplifier and rear panels.


I wanted the amp to power the Fronts - doors/dash with the Polk 6501 passive crossovers and the Rears 4" in rear panel, but wiring to the dash speakers appears daunting.

My defeat has turned into Victory! After sound deadening the doors and driving them with some Zapco power they sound amazing! Oem head unit here too.

Tweeter Wiring
 

I just got some Rockford Fosgate component speakers and while the woofers should be no problem to install, I have a question about the tweeters. If I understand parallel wiring correctly, I should be able to cut the wires off the tweeter harness and connect all three of the positive wires (to the head unit, to the tweeter and to the mid harness) together and all three of the negative wires... right? Do I need to be mindful of the ohms?

you could do this, but some things to consider. There's a factory amp that goes to the woofer in the stock config, you'd be effectively bypassing it, and not taking advantage of it. Also, I typically like to avoid cutting factory wires usually which was why I recommended the jumper wire method above which will output signal to the 3.5" speakers 2 pin harness, which there are adapter for. Lastly if you don't mind upgrading amps, using the wiring and location for the stock amp you can replace the stock amp with a ktp-445u to power your front comps, which costs a little more but will make your aftermarket speakers work better, and in that case you'll run some wire from the door to the dash, or from the amp to the dash depending on your preference and where you put the crossover.


edit:
Reading a little more on that speaker set it looks like the crossover is part of the woofer.. which basically means you have to run a wire from the door to the dash for the tweeter to work the right way. this is a some work but I have done it in my car.

I could be wrong, but I think the built-in-to-the-woofer-basket crossover only separates out the bass frequencies for the woofer. I don't see how it could send higher frequencies to the tweeter as there's no "speaker out" terminals that I can see. I'll look again when I go home for lunch because that definitely changes things if there IS a "speaker out" for the tweeters.

The other option I considered was selling the tweeters and just putting some 2-ways in the dash. I could use the bridging technique then and I've also watched a YouTube video where I learned you can cut the female part (socket) of the mid harness off of the factory mid and wire it to the new speaker so it can still plug into the factory harness.

Thanks a bunch!

I'm not familiar with that speaker, but it sounds like you know what the crossover does, and why its placement matters. sounds like you have an idea of what you're doing, good luck.

Nope. I'm an idiot. LOL. At least partially. There ARE tweeter outs... hell, they're even labeled "TWT":
http://www.schweetness.com/sites/def...rterminals.JPG

So everything you said makes complete sense now. Sorry for my slowness today. I very much appreciate your help; you've steered me right.

I'll search for forum posts on routing wire from door to dash...

Is that Alpine amp you recommended a simple "unplug and remove factory amp, install and plug in new amp? Do I need 4 channels or just 2? I think I WILL need a new amp now because I read somewhere that the stock one only sends bass to the woofers.

Lots of good info on that in this thread
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42239


you'll need the amp and a metra harness to make it a plug and play deal.


its bridgeable from 4ch to 2 which is how I have mine wired, which will output 90wx2ch. Leave the gain at the lowest setting and set it to speaker level input.

So I bridged the connections on the tweeter harness like you said, Chimera, and it worked great. I cut the harness/wires part off of the factory mids and wired it to some new Infinity Reference 2-ways. Much better sound. Thanks!