speaker wire color codes

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
I found a radio I forgot I had, it's an older but pretty decent ratshack. I'm gonna stick it in one of the Jeeps.

The plug for the (rear) speakers has 4 wires, green-gray-brown-white. How do they pair up to go to the speakers???

I assume it's either (green-gray and brown-white) or (green-white and brown-gray).

Thanks,
 
RED
+12V Ignition/Accessory power. On when ignition is on or in accessory.
YELLOW
+12V Memory. Always on even with ignition off. Keeps clock/radio memory.
BLACK
(-)Ground
BLUE
(+)Power Antenna. Antenna rises when radio is turned on. Also may be used for amp remote turn-on if there is not an extra wire for remote turn-on.
BLUE/WHITE
Power Amp turn-on. If there is no wire for remote turn-on, use power antenna lead.
ORANGE
+12V Illumination.
ORANGE/WHITE
Dimmer
GREY
+Right Front Speaker
GREY/BLACK
-Right Front Speaker
WHITE
+Left Front Speaker
WHITE/BLACK
-Left Front Speaker
PURPLE
+Right Rear Speaker
PURPLE/BLACK
-Right Rear Speaker
GREEN
+Left Rear Speaker
GREEN/BLACK
-Left Rear Speaker


The color codes above are the EIA standard. If the radio was made in the last 15 years its harness should follow this.
 
Tim88XJ said:
RED
The color codes above are the EIA standard. If the radio was made in the last 15 years its harness should follow this.
Click to expand...

But obviously, it doesn't. Pioneer and RadioSnatch were bad about not following the code until the last possible minute. I wish I had something better to tell you, maybe somebody who owns one can chime in.
 
I'm sorry, I must have mis-read the colors in your initial post (or had a brain fart) I thought I saw them matching up with the list I posted. -Tim
 
green/brown white/grey. IMO. I had one like that a while back. It was a while back though so my memory may be off a little.. Can you not see a place where they come together? Also, if you just go ahead and power it up then touch the wires to an old speaker you will find out. It shouldn't do the radio any harm as long as you don't short the wires together and don't leave it setup wrong for any period of time.
 
I think Down&Dirty's right. Seems like I dinked around with a couple of these things when I was repairing electronics. The harness had me perplexed for a minute, but I'm pretty sure that's what I came up with. They like to keep the colors seperate from the grayscales. There's usually a method to their madness.
 
Sounds like the old ones that only had four wires, and one common ground to hook up all four speakers. You know what I am saying Mark??
 
ZUKIMON said:
Sounds like the old ones that only had four wires, and one common ground to hook up all four speakers. You know what I am saying Mark??
Click to expand...

As best as I recall, I haven't seen a floating ground on power or output since the VERY early 90s.
 
ZUKIMON said:
Sounds like the old ones that only had four wires, and one common ground to hook up all four speakers. You know what I am saying Mark??
Click to expand...

nope, this one has two plugs, just like described (gray/green/white/brown), one labeled 'front spkrs' the other 'rear spkrs'
 
OK kewl. If need be, I can call my friend who's family owned the local Radio Slack. ;)
 
ZUKIMON said:
Sounds like the old ones that only had four wires, and one common ground to hook up all four speakers. You know what I am saying Mark??
Click to expand...

I've seen 'em, my 82 Aries was chassis ground on the factory radio. I've played with a couple of aftermarkets that had common grounding for the front and rear. I haven't seen that in a name-brand radio in a long time, though. A lot of the flea-market specials bucked the color code and ran common ground well into the late 90's, though.
 
I found the mating plug tonight from the old system, that still had speaker wires attached to it, so at least I know pairs and polarity now. All that's left is figuring out left/right once I get it powered up.
 
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