Yabo

I'm putting some 6x9's in the back of the 944... wondering about wiring. For some reason. the wires that are behind the rear wheels when i plug them in, seem to be on the same circuit as the front speaker of that side. (at least on the passenger side because those are the two i tried. if i try to fade or anything , the front and rear speakers respond as if they are on the same circuit, and it sounds like they are because they dont go very loud because it seems they are sharing the stereo's amp output... because if i hook it directly to the back of the stereo , they sound much louder. So , i want to just run my own wires up from the back of the car to the front. I was thinking i could just go under the hatch rug, under the rear seat, under the rug that is covering the top of the console hump (from the hump that starts at the middle of the rear seats) and go from there underneath the console and shifter and come out under the stereo..... is this possible? any hints to getting it under the rear seat? should it be difficult?

thanks

Robert D

I've tried this before, it isn't much fun working things under the center console. Let's think this through. Do you have the fader switch on the center console? Is it bypassed incorrectly? Have you followed the wiring from the stereo to the car's wiring harness and made sure there are no odd connections in place? What type of stereo did you have in the car (or do you have)? I know some older head units only had 2 channels and the front/rear were connected together. I hope someone didn't do a butchering job (best buy). If you are intent on just running wires. I'd recommend running them behind the rear-side panel on the passenger side, under the carpet there and along the door (the black strip should pop off and there is room to run the wires under the carpet). Then run them over the board under the passenger carpet and up to the stereo. This would save the trouble I went through of running under the console.

Yabo

Hey, thanks for the help. well heres the story.

First of all. it used to have a pioneer cassette head unit in it (an odl one) i replaced that with a fairly new sony xplod cd player 52x4.

I just rewired my front doors wiht new wires, straight from each door, above the footwells, to the stereo, so my front speakers are perfect now.

I do have the stereo fader button. but it doesnt seem to do anything.. especially now that i just bypassed everything. But i dont think it did anything anyway, because it looked like a definate hack job, which is why i wanted just to wire fresh wires. Put it this way, the power wire for the stereo, goes to just below the fuse box, where there is a thick power wire coming down. All the installer did was strip big fat power wire, wrap the stereo wire's stripped end around it. DIDNT EVEN TAPE IT. i was wondering why my stereo kept shutting off before i stopped driving it. its because it was half assed wrapped around that wire bouncing off. that would explain why when i kicked around down there a bit it would start working again...

Anyway about the back speakers. They did get some sound out of them when i had the old junky speakers the PO (who i really hate now,, this car is such a hack job in itself) . It seemed there was a wire coming through the panel that holds the pin that locks teh top of the rear seat. and another wire that was coming from the footwell, probably just grounded. i followed that ot the front, under that strip you were talking about... and of course, its just routed into the power wire of teh door speaker on that side. so scratch that idea. in teh footwell there is also two wires coming out that are brownish (might have white or yellow stripes, not completely sure) that had stripped ends of wires with nothing else. hooked teh speakers up to th ere, tried every combo of wires i had laying in the console , and no luck there. ON the otherside, in teh footwell, there were two green wires, (one with a yellow stripe. i looked and it wasnt in that strip on teh passenger door). hooked those up, tried every combo... no luck. so i guessi have to wire them myself. are you sure it would be easier to do the rear speakers through that strip?

I'm also goign to be putting an amp back there in the next week or so.. so im going to have to do something similar there. and it seems down the middle of the car under the console is the easiest way (shortest, not sure how far my rca cables are gonna reach... any tips to how you did it?

Or any other advice, comments, agreements , anything? thanks

Robert D

Ahh ok, the brown and green wires you found are the factory wires. They should lead to the main harness behind the stereo. If it even exists anymore on your car . The guy probably had trouble with these wires in the past and decided to run them off of the front speakers...dunno why .

However, if you plan on installing an amp for the car speakers the easiest place I have found is underneath the passenger seat. This allows short RCA's to run under the carpet to the HU and the speaker wires for the fronts can run also under the carpet to the HU and connect to your existing wires.
For the rears, the lower portion of the back seat is basically glued down (bolts for seatbelts of course). So, if you ran wires from an amp under the passenger seat, along the side carpet and up to the passenger rear speaker you could also run a wire along with it only run it under this lower seat cushion to the other side. Now I am assuming you are installing these 6x9's in the existing speaker openings using a dremel/bracket of some sort (I did this as well, watch out that metal hurts to cut yourself on).
This being said, you dont have an amp yet. If you want to run them down the center for now, I recommend removing that center console. Reason being, you will need to run the wires under the rear seat cushion and along the top of that hump. To get the carpet on the hump to provide enough room for the wires to fit through you will need the console to not put pressure on it (you can probably unscrew the screws along the hump part of the console and leave it attached where the stereo is. To run the wires...that carpet is glued down. You will need to use something like a metal clothes hanger with the wires attached to the end (you can probably do them one at a time). They only need to reach about to where the shifter is, which is where the carpet ends. Don't worry about removing the lower part of the rear seat. It is glued down, to reinstall I used liquid nails and a caulk gun (avoid being messy with the stuff ). Hope this helps, if you have any other questions feel free to shoot me an email (robert.d@mail.utexas.edu). I'd be glad to go look at the wiring in my car if you want to try to salvage the factory stuff.

Robert D

Ahh, I just read that the factory stuff is dead. It will be much easier to run your own wires...
To remove that console unscrew the armwrest hinge and remove, pull up the ashtray as there are a few screws under it (if i remember correctly). I also believe there are a few under the shifter boot. You shouldn't have to entirely remove the console, just enough provide a little breathing room for running the wires. I believe there is a seam between the rear carpet piece that runs over the hump and the front piece. They only overlap about an inch or so. The job isn't fun, but the end result will be .

Yabo

Hmm. great info. well i definately dont care about going back to factory, since i just did my own for the front. You think i should put the amp under the passenger seat, and then run sub wires to the back? i guess that could work. but might mean getting longer monster cables for the sub in the back. im runnign the front speakers from the head unit, as well as the 6x9's.. the only thing coming off the amp will be the sub. i already have the amp and sub (stealing it from my range rover for now) its a kenwood amp wiht a JL 10w0....

I guess ill try to avoide the rear seat...

Yabo

I dont wnat to deal with tearing up my rear seats, afraid i'll destroy them or me.. ill prob just try to run it through behind the trim on the sides of the rear seats and then who knows from there, but ill figure something. thanks

Robert D

OH, thought you were getting the amp for the speakers. Put the sub amp in back near the sub. It will be tough to run the RCA's down the middle, unless you pull the carpet up and retack it down with liquid nails or something else. For a sub install, do RCA's on the driver's side along the side and power cables along the passenger side (supposed to be separate). There is an opening in the firewall for the antenna wire, with a rubber seal. You can run the power cable through this and it will pop out next to the battery positive lead. I haven't had trouble with water coming through afterwards, but if you're worried. Use silicon to make a seal around the wires.

Robert D

Yeah, the easiest way for the rear speakers is to run them along the sides and under the carpet to the stereo.

Yabo

thanks for the help. ill try this saturday probably.