Connecting new technology to old...

[DougWomble]

Hoping for an 'easy' solution (!!)

I've got new speakers, and I'm looking to hook them up to the existing car wiring.

Apologies if this has been asked a million times before, but is there an idiot's guide to what needs doing please? It's not as straightforward as I'd first hoped.

Pic for reference:


TIA.

[unknownmale]

You could ether get the spade connectors required for your new speakers, cut the old terminal off the existing wiring and crimp the new spades on. Or you can solder the old wiring directly to the new speaker terminals.

If you're not comfortable with either of those you could cut and strip the ends of the existing wiring and simply loop and twist the wire through the holes in the new speaker terminals (Although this isn't ideal and most likely will result in a poor connection).

The best solution is to buy new speaker wiring and terminals, run the new wiring through the car, solder and heatshrink the terminals on so that they're can come out easily if you ever need to remove your door cards.

Depends how far you want to go!

[kidcrewbob]

I desoldered the stock connector and soldered onto the new speaker + / - on the JBLs I used there is a mounting spade for the block at the opposite end tothe + and - terminals so had to solder wires between the two - make sure you get the right polarity as although they will "work" they'll sound awful if you get em the wrong way around.

See my thread for details as I was similarly a bit nonplussed with regards what should have been a very simple job!!!! Every day's a school day!!

http://forum.sciroccoregister.co.uk/vie ... 23#p156823

[mr.brown]

You can buy conversion leads that fit onto the factory wiring and end in spade connectors. I've bought them before.
Something like this (although not this exact one!)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-VOLKSWAGE ... Sw5utaX0xh

[WreckTangle]

These are the ones I used. The spade connectors were correct for my new speakers but you could always cut then off and solder the wires if you wanted to leave the stock wiring intact.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00006J4G6

[DougWomble]

All done! Thank you all for the guidance, especially with ensuring I got the polarity right. I ended up using the old terminals, and with a bit of shonky soldering I was away - I think I'll save rewiring the whole car for another day...