'90 XJ Factory Speaker Wires, Not Radio
03-08-2017, 10:10 PM
#1
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Year: 1990
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 L6
'90 XJ Factory Speaker Wires, Not Radio
Hey guys, I've got my 1990 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 L6 that I'm working on that has it's stock speakers and radio in it. I've been trying to switch out the speakers in it for new ones but I can't for the life of me figure out which wires attached to the current stock speakers are positive and which are negative.
I know online it lists some colors for each speaker for the XJ but my colors don't seem to match except for behind the radio itself. My driver side door for instance has a green wire and a black w/ white striped wire connected to the speaker and I just don't know which is positive. Both of them are hot so I can't use my light tester to determine it that way and I read if the speaker cone sucks in then it's backwards but I've tested it both ways a bunch of times and can't tell if it's sucking in or pushing out since every time it seems like it's pushing out and sounds the same. I also know that it doesn't matter which way you hook them up technically as long as the rest are hooked up the same way but I can't do it that way either because every speaker has different colored wires.
I've also done a bunch of Google searches and can only find out how to determine the speaker's polarity and not the wire's polarity. Does anyone have any expertise in this area as far as the speaker wire's colors are concerned or a way to determine which one is which if I get a voltage meter? I'm not very proficient with one but if that's the only way then I'll try it out. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
I know online it lists some colors for each speaker for the XJ but my colors don't seem to match except for behind the radio itself. My driver side door for instance has a green wire and a black w/ white striped wire connected to the speaker and I just don't know which is positive. Both of them are hot so I can't use my light tester to determine it that way and I read if the speaker cone sucks in then it's backwards but I've tested it both ways a bunch of times and can't tell if it's sucking in or pushing out since every time it seems like it's pushing out and sounds the same. I also know that it doesn't matter which way you hook them up technically as long as the rest are hooked up the same way but I can't do it that way either because every speaker has different colored wires.
I've also done a bunch of Google searches and can only find out how to determine the speaker's polarity and not the wire's polarity. Does anyone have any expertise in this area as far as the speaker wire's colors are concerned or a way to determine which one is which if I get a voltage meter? I'm not very proficient with one but if that's the only way then I'll try it out. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Last edited by DrewMogz; 03-09-2017 at 09:35 AM.
03-09-2017, 04:46 PM
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Year: 1990
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 L6
Sorry for double posting but I wanted to post the answer to my question in case anyone else out there has this problem in the future.
I went ahead and used a multimeter and set it to DCV 200m or 2000m and then turned the radio on so the wires would be hot and disconnected from the speaker. I put the positive lead of the multimeter on one of the speaker wires in the door and the negative lead on the other wire and would then get a reading of volts.
If it was positive readings and not negative, then I assumed that the wire I had the positive lead on would be the positive wire and then the negative lead's wire would be negative. If they gave me a negative reading, I would then know I had the positive lead of the multimeter on the negative wire and so I was able to get all the speakers oriented the same way this way.
Hope this helps someone else in the future.
I went ahead and used a multimeter and set it to DCV 200m or 2000m and then turned the radio on so the wires would be hot and disconnected from the speaker. I put the positive lead of the multimeter on one of the speaker wires in the door and the negative lead on the other wire and would then get a reading of volts.
If it was positive readings and not negative, then I assumed that the wire I had the positive lead on would be the positive wire and then the negative lead's wire would be negative. If they gave me a negative reading, I would then know I had the positive lead of the multimeter on the negative wire and so I was able to get all the speakers oriented the same way this way.
Hope this helps someone else in the future.
03-16-2017, 10:30 AM
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Year: 1990
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 L6
This site......http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...tail/1150.html
Yes, I've read these pages on the internet tens of times while trying to do my speakers but the only wiring colors that match those descriptions are behind the radio receiver itself. The front left door speaker etc. are for the receiver wire's colors. The speakers themselves do not have the same colored wires as what's behind the radio and therefore do not match the diagram provided online.
