Mk1 speaker wiring

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citsncycles
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Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citsncycles »

Question for you Mk1 experts out there - to wire up the original dash speakers, what colour wires should I be looking for behind the radio aperture, and where will they be running from?

I know the drivers side speaker is connected to the loom, but lost track of where the wires went after that.
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citronut »

a MK1 has a double conned base speaker under the dash behind the glove box, and then two tweeters one each end of the top of the dash,

behind the radio there should be two brown and two green wires,
eother the green or brown are left,

if someone knows different please feel free to shoot me down in flames :shock: :roll: :wink:

regards malcolm
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citsncycles »

Ah, that makes sense - I did find some wires like that when I fitted the radio. Time to break out the multi meter I think. I just have to work out the + and - contacts as I suspect wiring each side differently wouldn't do the big speaker much good.
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citronut »

a TV engineer friend of mine showed me how to test polarity of speaker wiring,

apparently it wont hurt the speaker being wired the wrong way round, but just cause the cone to move in when it should be an out stroke,

i was told its only music concourses that can hear the difference,

get hold of each pair brown then the green and tap/contact them across an AA battery, whilst watching the speaker cone center, if it comes outwards as you touch the wires across the battery, the wire you have at the positive terminal is the pluss for the speaker,

you dont need a multi meter just the AA battery as not only will you see the speaker cone move but it will create a pop sound,

do not keep the battery connected though

regards malcolm
curent ride
K reg BX 17TD TZD est
also own
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citsncycles »

It's the double cone design of the bass speaker which may be upset by polarity problems - 2 cones moving in opposite directions may stress things
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BX 19RD Estate Mk1 - Timex!
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by mat_fenwick »

That's the way to check the speaker, but struggling to visualise the double cone unit. Do you mean two speakers side by side? WHy would one move in the opposite direction? :?
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citronut »

mat_fenwick wrote:That's the way to check the speaker, but struggling to visualise the double cone unit. Do you mean two speakers side by side? WHy would one move in the opposite direction? :?
i cant remember what the innards look like, but i seem to remember it being said when the BX was a current model,
the base speaker under the dash was one speaker with two cones, ( stereo base box ???? )

regards malcolm
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by Way2go »

citronut wrote: i cant remember what the innards look like, but i seem to remember it being said when the BX was a current model, the base speaker under the dash was one speaker with two cones, ( stereo base box ???? )
regards malcolm
???

Are you sure you're not talking about a speaker with a concentric tweeter unit?

You cannot get a stereo effect from the type of speaker that you are describing as to obtain stereo there must be spatial separation of the speakers.

In more recent times with home cinema they are able to create trick spatial separation but that is not likely to be an answer in a car even if Citroen have a reputation for being ahead of the game. :)
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by RobC »

i think it's referring to the fact that you wouldn't want (eg) only the left channel coming out of the bass box (in beatles stereo recording for example they were often hard panned, and if the bass guitar happened to be in the right channel then it would be lost!) - so both channels will be fed to it. it will therefore either have two cones side by side (leaving the stereo separation to be taken up by the dash speakers) or will have some way internally of combining the two channels before it hits a single cone.
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by Way2go »

RobC wrote:i think it's referring to the fact that you wouldn't want (eg) only the left channel coming out of the bass box (in beatles stereo recording for example they were often hard panned, and if the bass guitar happened to be in the right channel then it would be lost!) - so both channels will be fed to it. it will therefore either have two cones side by side (leaving the stereo separation to be taken up by the dash speakers) or will have some way internally of combining the two channels before it hits a single cone.
:? But surely no BX was fitted with a dedicated bass box (or woofer) from the factory and the main speakers will be full range anyway with either integral or dash tweeters?

If the setup was mono then the radio/tape would be mono with the tape 2-track rather than 4-track, such that if you played a stereo Beatles tape then the contents of both tracks would be read/combined by the head?
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citsncycles »

The speakers in the top of the dash are only about 2" diameter, so really are mid range/tweeters. Having looked at the connecting plug to the main loom on one of them, each side is also connected to a box under the dash that looks like a large shelf mount speaker. There's some sort of electric component soldered to the back of the small speakers (not sure what as my electronics knoweledge is very rusty), which I guess limits the lower range of output to them. It's the large speaker under the dash that has the 2 cones and produces the lower sound waves, without the need for the crossover circuits used by more modern systems. Not knowing the exact construction, I don't know if these cones are separte units in a single case or are physically connected together somehow - if the latter this was my concern with regards to wiring them the right way round.

From what I know of sound systems, I believe it's the higher pitch notes that are more critical for the stereo separation, while the speakers giving out the bass notes can be simply tucked out the way in a suitable corner somewhere.
Mike Sims
BX 19RD Estate Mk1 - Timex!
BX 4X4 Estate - Oh god, I've done it again!
BX 17RD MK1 - it called to me!
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by RobC »

Way2go wrote:
RobC wrote:i think it's referring to the fact that you wouldn't want (eg) only the left channel coming out of the bass box (in beatles stereo recording for example they were often hard panned, and if the bass guitar happened to be in the right channel then it would be lost!) - so both channels will be fed to it. it will therefore either have two cones side by side (leaving the stereo separation to be taken up by the dash speakers) or will have some way internally of combining the two channels before it hits a single cone.
:? But surely no BX was fitted with a dedicated bass box (or woofer) from the factory and the main speakers will be full range anyway with either integral or dash tweeters?

If the setup was mono then the radio/tape would be mono with the tape 2-track rather than 4-track, such that if you played a stereo Beatles tape then the contents of both tracks would be read/combined by the head?
Amazingly, tho I stand to be corrected, the posher mk1's had the bass box / 'boomer' / whatever you want to call it factory fitted!

Shame they didn't carry it over to the mk2s, but I guess there was less space under the dash.
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citronut »

im fairly certain the base box under the dash had crossover circuits inside the box, and the cars that had this base box did not have any door speakers but just the tweeters in the top of the dash fascia, and no other speakers


regards malcolm
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K reg BX 17TD TZD est
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by citsncycles »

I had some time after work, so I pulled the radio and had a dig around behind, finding 2 of each green and brown wires. A quick check of one of the dash top speakers determined which colour was for which side then a closer look at the wires behind the radio revealed one of each colour had a white mark on it, so I simply wired each side into the back of the radio the same way.

The reason for all this was that at the Bristol Classic Car Show I was given a set of MK1 door cards (thanks Grant!) Which I have fitted in place of the MK2 cards that were there before. Having run the same radio with both the MK1 and MK2 factory speakers, I can confirm that while the MK2 speakers are louder, the MK1 set up gives better sound quality.

Thanks for the advice guys.
Mike Sims
BX 19RD Estate Mk1 - Timex!
BX 4X4 Estate - Oh god, I've done it again!
BX 17RD MK1 - it called to me!
BX14 TGE, - SOLD
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Re: Mk1 speaker wiring

Post by MULLEY »

I suspect the quality of all the mk1 speakers in comparision to modern speakers is total rubbish & i certainly wouldn't have thought that the bass one would be a patch on a modern unit. Just replace all of them if your budget allows. I fancied Focal one's, but they were a bit too expensive, but look the absolute biz :)
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