Phasing of new door speakers with new subwoofers | FerrariChat

Phasing of new door speakers with new subwoofers

Discussion in '360/430' started by albkid, Oct 6, 2018.

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  1. albkid

    albkid Formula Junior

    Jul 1, 2016
    318
    Full Name:
    Jim
    I am replacing the three active speakers and one passive speaker in my 360 (HFi option with subwoofer box). As many know, the rubber surround that connect the cone to the frame eventually crumble into dust. This is my situation.

    The issue I have is phasing the speakers. From the Aldous Voice website, the rear subwoofer has dual voice coils with the positive terminals of the voice coils connected from the wiring harness with either a red or blue wire. I will be installing two new speakers in the OEM enclosure.

    On the passenger door, mid-range speaker (the 6.5" speaker at the bottom of the door card) the wires from the harness that connect to the OEM speaker are yellow with a black stripe and blue with a yellow stripe.

    The question I have is: which is the positive lead from the outboard amplifier/booster to this speaker?
     
  2. dwil

    dwil Karting

    Nov 8, 2003
    114
    ozarks
    Full Name:
    Dave Wilson
    One aspect of my job is to install subwoofers into existing sound systems in cars, upgrade stock systems with mixed makes of
    speakers, and completely replace systems with more modern equipment in older vehicles, so i have this problem of determining
    phasing. I often determine phasing by simply playing music with good bass content with the doors shut windows up and
    carefully connect the woofer one polarity then the other taking care not to short speaker wires or ground them. The correct
    phasing is when you get the maximum bass from the system. Out of phase is when the door speakers and sub work
    against each other so this results in the lower sound level at around the crossover point.
    Dave
     
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  3. TheDiffuser

    TheDiffuser Formula Junior

    Nov 11, 2017
    404
    Full Name:
    The Diffuser
    I'm no expert but what I've been taught to do is get the two wires, get an AA 1.5 battery ( like the ones that go into TV remotes), hold one wire to the + and the other wire to the - You watch if the speaker rubber/cone pushed out, or sucks back in.
    Pushes out = correct polarity. Sucks in is incorrect polarity.
    Once you mark the Pos and Neg wires correctly you connect to the relative + and - connections through your stereo loop and you should be good.
    The small voltage from an AA battery has never damaged any stereo gear I've done this on.
    I was shown this by my Father who was an electronics engineer and it's always worked for me.
    Stand to be corrected by those more expert!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  4. albkid

    albkid Formula Junior

    Jul 1, 2016
    318
    Full Name:
    Jim
    I am familiar with the battery technique for checking the phasing of different loudspeakers, but this is not a solution to my issue as the speakers are already marked for proper phasing by the manufacturer.

    As suggested, I can temporarily connect the door speakers to seek a center image between the left and right and then check this configuration with the subwoofers. Rather than experiment, however, I hoped to find a definitive answer on the cabling from the amplifier/booster from those who had upgraded their systems.

    I
     
  5. dwil

    dwil Karting

    Nov 8, 2003
    114
    ozarks
    Full Name:
    Dave Wilson
    In my 45 years of experience of installing thousands of car speakers and subwoofers, i have learned not to get hung up by the plus
    and minus designations on speakers and equipment. The battery method is great for checking polarity if you can see the cone of the
    speaker, but what if it is behind a grill that conceals it? What if you are trying to correctly phase a set of oem door speakers with
    a set of aftermarket rear door speakers or a subwoofer that is being amplified by an aftermarket amp which may invert the signal?
    What if that color code charts from different sources don't agree as to what plus and minus is? I have worked on cars that have
    has from the factory same color wire pairs going to a speaker location. It doesn't matter if the speaker is connected in reverse
    polarity as long as they all are. If you cannot hear an improvement of connecting the woofer one way or another, do not worry.
    Usually the right polarity/phasing is readily apparent, sometimes it is very subtle. I usually try different music if i have a hard time.
    I suppose if you could put a test tone in at the crossover point and measure the spl to make it easier, but if you can't hear
    a difference the why worry?
     
  6. albkid

    albkid Formula Junior

    Jul 1, 2016
    318
    Full Name:
    Jim
    Thanks, Dave, for offering your years of wisdom. Ultimately, I will be able to tell if speakers are out of phase. I have too many years of experience working with high end home audio systems not to know when speakers are out of phase.

    As I said, I was hoping for some guidance from those who had junked the unbelievable bad ASK speakers and booster. With home speakers, determining proper phasing is easy as it simply means swapping one wire for another on the back of a speaker and finding the center image. For cars, it is best to install the speakers in their locations and use test leads to preform the phasing test. I was trying to avoid the temporary mounting of the speakers and doing a real world test.

    At this point, however, I have certainly gone way, way past the law of diminishing returns as I have spent more hours researching this issue on FChat than it would have taken to do the physical tests.

    I suppose if I wanted to continue to be overly anal about this, I could place a voltage source on the pins of the booster connector and check voltage polarity at the output of the door speaker cable. But then, maybe I should just trust my own ears!
     

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