Car Stereos: JVC KD_G340, lincoln mark vii, jvc kd

Question
Hello,

I will try to not make this lengthy.  I have a 1990 Lincoln Mark VII.  I just bought a JVC stereo for my car from ABC Warehouse.  I also bought 2 infinity speakers for my doors.  The radio is replacing an older aftermarket Clarion.  

There is a factory amp in the trunk.  I heard this cannot be used with aftermarket radio.  Who ever installed the Clarion cut the wires into and out of the amp, and spliced them together.  The harness that fed the amp...in the dash...is also cut and spliced, with all the speaker wires.  So the amp feed is connecting the aftermarket radio to the speakers.  The Clarion worked, but would cut out power at will.  I believe that problem was internal.  

I installed the radio.    The plugs are different between the radios.  No schematic with the Clarion.  I snip off the Clarion connector and splice like-colored wires to the new JVC harness.  I dont have a good schematic to verify the Lincoln speaker wires are connected to the correct outputs from the radio.  

The power, ground and memory wires are all hooked up, as it the antenna.  I turn on the radio and the face lights up.  I can use scan and it stops at the correct stations.  

I HAVE NO SOUND FROM THE SPEAKERS.  ONLY A POP WHEN YOU TURN THE RADIO ON, FROM ONE SPEAKER.  

I cut the + and - wire for one speaker at the radio and spliced in one of my new speakers...in my lap.  No sound.  It is like a mute is pushed somewhere.  What do you think  I am missing???????

Thanks

Answer
Hi Wayne,

The easiest way to find the lead for each of your speakers is to use an every day AA battery.  Disconnect the +/- from each speaker at the harness, and test them all against one another with a multimeter to ensure there is no power in them and you don't have the wrong wires.

Then, with the same multimeter, test each wire until you find two wires with 4ohm impedance across them.  Once you find a pair, touch the two ends of the speaker wire to each end of an AA battery, and run your finger alongside the battery.  This will make static come out of the speaker you've located.  Use that to hook it up to the deck.  In this situation, it would also be prudent to take the door panels off and look at the speakers themselves, to make sure the cone is moving OUT when you tap the battery, so you don't get the polarity reversed.

Then, reconnect the wires to the marked locations on the harness, and you should be good to go.

Justin