Base 6 speaker system 6x9 UPGRADE !

[brian42]

The metra harnesses for my dash speakers were wired correctly. 72-7902

I called Metra and I wasn't the first one to complain about the 72-7902 polarity. Don't know how they would be producing the same part number in different configurations but hopefully they got it sorted out.

 

[John89]

You can easily swap the pins on the side that connects to the factory harness if they are reversed.

Okay. So which one is the Positive (+) and which one is the negative (-)? See picture below, I have a grey/purple wire and and grey/yellow wire.

 

[John89]

I depinned my metra connector and swapped the locations but I want to make sure this is correct for my 2021 1500...

here’s what it looks like after I swapped the locations of the wires on the metra harness:

 

[brian42]

Okay. So which one is the Positive (+) and which one is the negative (-)? See picture below, I have a grey/purple wire and and grey/yellow wire.

The wire with the purple tracer is (+) and the wire with the yellow tracer is (-).

Here is the base audio wiring diagram:

 

[John89]

The wire with the purple tracer is (+) and the wire with the yellow tracer is (-).

Here is the base audio wiring diagram:

So then it seems like I didn’t have to swap the wires at all based on what I’m seeing. If the purple tracer is positive it should be linked up to the white wire....

 

[brian42]

So then it seems like I didn’t have to swap the wires at all based on what I’m seeing. If the purple tracer is positive it should be linked up to the white wire....

Yes. White wire on the Metra connector is (+) and the black wire is (-).

 

[John89]

Yes. White wire on the Metra connector is (+) and the black wire is (-).

Thanks man! Appreciate it. I swapped it back....

I think since @Sascwatch has the Harmon Kardon system, the factory harness must be different assuming his polarity is correct. Because clearly on my 2021 Ram 1500 6 speaker base system, the metra 72-6514 is correctly wired with the white wire leading to the purple tracer wire

Hopefully this saves a few people some time lol...

 

[Sascwatch]

Which door is that? Left front? Crutchfield has grey with yellow as + and grey with purple as -

The wiring diagram posted is the opposite for some reason. I could see the HK system having different wire colours than the base.

Easy way to tell is put on some bass and see which way the speaker moves, this could be why some people think the speaker upgrade isn’t worth it.

 

[John89]

Which door is that? Left front? Crutchfield has grey with yellow as + and grey with purple as -

The wiring diagram posted is the opposite for some reason. I could see the HK system having different wire colours than the base.

Easy way to tell is put on some bass and see which way the speaker moves, this could be why some people think the speaker upgrade isn’t worth it.

It is the front left door.

Yeah, I tried it out with the wires reversed, and the speaker was actually popping inwards... Apart from this, the bass and sound quality was reduced and sounded a bit thin/tinny compared to how they were originally wired.

 

[Sascwatch]

It is the front left door.

Yeah, I tried it out with the wires reversed, and the speaker was actually popping inwards... Apart from this, the bass and sound quality was reduced and sounded a bit thin/tinny compared to how they were originally wired.

I guess that means the HK system is wired differently than the base system then because the 72-6515 adapters are correct for my truck.

 

[John89]

I guess that means the HK system is wired differently than the base system then because the 72-6515 adapters are correct for my truck.

Whats odd is that crutchfield also says that the 72-6515 fits my vehicle without the alpine system and the 72-6514 doesn’t fit...

 

[Sascwatch]

Whats odd is that crutchfield also says that the 72-6515 fits my vehicle without the alpine system and the 72-6514 doesn’t fit...

I’d say maybe they have their polarities mixed up but that would mean the 72-6515 I am using is wrong and would cause the speakers to move in like yours when you swapped the terminals.

Or maybe they had a HK equipped truck in and got their polarity info from that and its different from the base system? I only get the low signals to my door speakers with the HK system, installing a 3 way 6x9 is a bit of a waste.

 

[John89]

I’d say maybe they have their polarities mixed up but that would mean the 72-6515 I am using is wrong and would cause the speakers to move in like yours when you swapped the terminals.

Or maybe they had a HK equipped truck in and got their polarity info from that and its different from the base system? I only get the low signals to my door speakers with the HK system, installing a 3 way 6x9 is a bit of a waste.

I just used the speaker pop app and all my door speakers have the correct polarity (+ according to the speaker pop app). BUT the dash speakers which I didn’t swap out show - on the app, which means the polarity on this vehicle is reversed! Im going to do one final test using a multimeter just to be 100% sure. Keep y’all posted!

 

[John89]

just saw this in the speaker pop app:


Anomalies

Note that many speaker manufacturers wire the tweeter backwards, compared to the main drive or woofer. So, you might read a minus near the tweeter, and a plus near the main (larger) driver. This is normal, and you should use the results from the main driver.

Could this be why I get the - for the left dash speaker?

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

The polarity would be "backwards" at the snap-in factory harness coupling if that were true. I looked online at Crutchfield, and both the 6514 and 6515 have the larger connector on the white wire (+) and the smaller connector on the black wire (-). I'm not sure why they'd change polarity between ad 2019 and 2020 model years, but anything's possible.

Here is a pic of the back of the Pioneer speaker box showing the preferred polarity:


View attachment 86817

Yea, it's blurry AF but clear enough to see that the white wire (+) has the larger connector to the speaker and the smaller connector belongs to the black wire (-).

And here's another blurry photo of the back of the Metra 72-6515 packaging that essentially shows the same thing:

View attachment 86818

I looked on the speakers themselves for any markings that indicated either a positive or negative side and didn't see any. That's when my naturally blonde brain realized that the connectors themselves were different sizes. It's rare for me to have an epiphany like that during daylight hours or before all of the tools are put away, so I was actually kind of pleased I spotted it all.

With all of that said, I didn't really examine the color of the speaker wires pre-factory harness to see if it aligns with the color coding provided by Crutchfield. I actually had that document on hand as that's where I ordered my ANC bypass harness from the previous week. It served as a handy installation guide.

Hmmm. I am reading that last part but just not comprehending. Installation guide? What is this? Is that like the make-believe fairytale thing called directions that my wife keeps telling me to read when I am building something?

 

[Sascwatch]

just saw this in the speaker pop app:


Anomalies

Note that many speaker manufacturers wire the tweeter backwards, compared to the main drive or woofer. So, you might read a minus near the tweeter, and a plus near the main (larger) driver. This is normal, and you should use the results from the main driver.

Could this be why I get the - for the left dash speaker?

I never knew this, I’ll have to look into it further as I swapped my tweeters out for infinity reference coaxials.

Will be interesting to see what your multimeter shows.

 

[John89]

I never knew this, I’ll have to look into it further as I swapped my tweeters out for infinity reference coaxials.

Will be interesting to see what your multimeter shows.

3-way in the doors is pointless. The front doors will only play the lows anyways. I went with CDT HD-690CFS.2 for my doors. Great mid bass and are 2 ohm to match the factory setup.

Your factory amp will run these and the dash speakers just fine.

For polarity my dash corner speakers were revered. You can get a polarity tester on Amazon for cheap.

AUTUT Automotive Plastic Shell Speaker Polarity Tester Phasemeter Tool https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MQ55QHL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_MZEaGb8WDE8SG

^^ I’m not the only one who’s noticed the polarity is reversed on the factory dash speakers..

 

[John89]

@Sascwatch Confirmed with the multimeter. The grey/violet is positive and the grey/yellow is negative. The polarity on the speakers of the car are negative. So if you dont swap all the speakers on your car and ensure the polarity is the same on all, they will be out of phase relative to one another....

 

[Sascwatch]

@Sascwatch Confirmed with the multimeter. The grey/violet is positive and the grey/yellow is negative. The polarity on the speakers of the car are negative. So if you dont swap all the speakers on your car and ensure the polarity is the same on all, they will be out of phase relative to one another....

I will pop off a couple door panels and the tweeters and check polarity on my HK system later today, it’s weird that the base system would differ from the HK system wiring. I know for sure all of my speakers move out like they are supposed to and this is with the 72-6515 adapters.

 

[brian42]

I will pop off a couple door panels and the tweeters and check polarity on my HK system later today, it’s weird that the base system would differ from the HK system wiring. I know for sure all of my speakers move out like they are supposed to and this is with the 72-6515 adapters.

The base audio is a different animal from the amplified Alpine and HK systems. It all looks the same from the driver's perspective but the base audio has high-level signals coming out from the head unit to the speakers. The Alpine and HK have low-level signals coming out going to the amplifier then to the speakers.

The base audio dash speakers are 8 ohm (with high-pass filter/bass blocker) and are wired in parallel with the front door speakers where the amplified systems have 2 ohm dash speakers that are "clipped" at the amp for the high level signals and I think are on their own channel (not wired in parallel with another speaker).

The "what to do to my OEM audio" threads you find will have an early start date (early in the generation...2018/2019) until people started realizing the differences between the audio systems. Now you will see people starting threads about specific audio systems, like this one.

While it is great to get ideas from everybody, what works for the amplified systems does not always translate to those of us with the base 6-speaker audio, especially wiring and speaker specs.