Seaking Posted January 25, 2013 #1 Posted January 25, 2013 I've installed a small brick amp on the bike (ouch, that's loud!) and have it connected to the front speakers.. To save from running wires from the front to the back of the back to the rear speakers, it would make more sense to simple patch the amp into the rear speaker wires that are coming from the audio system under the front fairing.. but which ones are they?! Wiring schematics don't do much good since they show a single speaker to the rear, nor does it show where the wires come out of which connector etc etc.. Worse case scenario is that I simply leave the front speakers working off the amp and forget the rear speakers, best case scenario is that all 4 speakers are tied into the amp for maximum sounds while traveling down the highway..
Guest scarylarry Posted January 25, 2013 #2 Posted January 25, 2013 There is only one wire running to the rear speakers..
Seaking Posted January 25, 2013 Author #3 Posted January 25, 2013 There is only one wire running to the rear speakers.. And do we know which one amongst many it is? How best to locate it? Is it a one "pair" of wires ( the + and - wire together) Cheers
alwrmcusn Posted January 25, 2013 #4 Posted January 25, 2013 My wiring diagrams show two wires going to the rear speakers. A red/yellow and a Brown/black. PDFs available for the full wiring diagram and the simplified wiring diagram if you need them.
Guest scarylarry Posted January 25, 2013 #5 Posted January 25, 2013 And do we know which one amongst many it is? How best to locate it? Is it a one "pair" of wires ( the + and - wire together) Cheers Unless you go to the speaker, no I don't know... I saw that and button it back up...
Guest scarylarry Posted January 25, 2013 #6 Posted January 25, 2013 My wiring diagrams show two wires going to the rear speakers. A red/yellow and a Brown/black. PDFs available for the full wiring diagram and the simplified wiring diagram if you need them. Mine had one single wire going to it, then looks like lead off that to the other speaker.... I closed mind back up when I saw that... I was looking for single wire to each speaker..
djh3 Posted January 26, 2013 #7 Posted January 26, 2013 Not sure but probably run as "one channel" to front (one pair of wires) and one pair to rear being there is no left to right fader only front to rear. So does the amp work over the intercomm and headset?
Seaking Posted January 26, 2013 Author #8 Posted January 26, 2013 Not sure but probably run as "one channel" to front (one pair of wires) and one pair to rear being there is no left to right fader only front to rear. So does the amp work over the intercomm and headset? I don't think it will work over the head set (I have mine removed as I never use it). Its a simple hook up to the speaker wires... if I can find that rear speaker wire under the fairing.. Good question though, you might be able to patch the rear channel wires of the amp to the headset wires in the bundle.. the amp has front and rear gain adjustment.. But suffice to say it rocks the speakers!
bongobobny Posted January 26, 2013 #9 Posted January 26, 2013 Yes, ground is common to all 4 speakers. You have a left and a right feed, the + side of the speaker going to the rear. The fader just splits the amplifier output for each channel between the front speaker and the rear speaker...
Seaking Posted February 28, 2013 Author #10 Posted February 28, 2013 (edited) I finally sorted out the rear speaker wiring, and as it turns out, the book may be wrong in that it shows but a single common wire coming out of the radio and going to both speakers that then share a common ground.. After running the meter and doing the AA battery trick through the connector (three cables out of the radio unit into one connector), I was able to locate the two individual sets of wires for the left and right speakers by isolating them. Now there could be some FM (freaking magic) happening after the connector where all four wires might go into two wires, I haven't been able to find it.. So in the end I was able to install the amp under the fairing and do all the wiring from the front without having to run extra wires to the rear of the bike and taking apart the trunk area to gain access to the speakers.. What I ended up with is one heck of a loud sound system on this bike with the Polk speakers.. Are the rear speakers mono or stereo? Well when playing "Night Flight To Venus" by Boney M, you can hear the drums roll from left to right.. just like the front speakers.. I'd say that's stereo.. I'll get some pics and schematics before buttoning it up, if anyone is interested.. Cheers Edited February 28, 2013 by Seaking
djh3 Posted February 28, 2013 #11 Posted February 28, 2013 You say you have still no way of knowing if it works over the headset part of system though?
bongobobny Posted February 28, 2013 #13 Posted February 28, 2013 OK it's now time for a word of warning on what you have just done! This is something the average person has no knowledge of. By hooking the front and rear speakers in parallel as you have done without a fader control, you have increased the load on the amplifier making it work harder and shortening it's life. Speakers have what is known as an "Impedance" which is the electrical AC equivalant of resistance and is also measured in ohms. Home speakers are usually 8 ohms and car speakers are usually 4 ohms. Just as in DC, the lower the resistance, the more amps it draws. Now lets talk resistors hooked up in parallel. Consider 2 identical driving lights. They will have the same DC resistance when hooked up. If I hook up one driving light it draws say 5 amps from the battery. Now I hook up the second driving light and now I am drawing 10 amps from the battery. Why? Because when I hook up 2 equal resistances in parallel the equavalent resistance (load across the battery) is 1/2 of the value of the individaul value. If you were to hook them up in series the values add so you draw less current but the bulbs don't light up very bright because the load draws less amps from the battery. So what does this have to do with your speakers and amplifier?? Consider the amplifier as your battery and your speakers as the driving lights. On each channel you now have a 2 ohm load on it instead of a 4 ohm load, resulting in it being louder because it is drawing more current from the amp. Low volume, not too much bad effect, but at higher volumes the poor circuitry can handle just so much current and then they short out frying both the amp and then the speakers!!! (OK, chances are the main fuse will blow before the speakers do...) What a fader control does is it keeps a constant 4 ohm load on the amp and distributes the power to either the front or rear, or proportionally distributes (divides) the power to both speakers. Consider yourself advised...
dingy Posted February 28, 2013 #14 Posted February 28, 2013 I will try to check out the RSV wiring harness I have at home to see what wire colors & pinouts are in it. Gary
kkent66 Posted February 28, 2013 #15 Posted February 28, 2013 what type of amp did you use and where did you purchase?
Seaking Posted February 28, 2013 Author #16 Posted February 28, 2013 You say you have still no way of knowing if it works over the headset part of system though? I don't use the headset intercom system on my bike but I don't think the amp has any effect on it since it's placed in between the source and speaker output wires, while the headset is cabled through another set of cables.. Not sure..
Seaking Posted February 28, 2013 Author #17 Posted February 28, 2013 I will try to check out the RSV wiring harness I have at home to see what wire colors & pinouts are in it. Gary Hi Gary, here's the short version pin out.. rear left speaker: RED + GREEN - rear right speaker: BLUE + BROWN - front right speaker: ORANGE + BLACK - front left speaker: WHITE + YELLOW - cheers
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