Wiring a 2 or 4 channel amp to your stock speaker harness without cutting the factory wiring

Lorenzo shows you how to wire your speakers to your factory wiring harness, being powered by the head unit's amplifier or an aftermarket Kenwood amplifier. He shows a 2 channel set up and a 4 channel setup!
Video Chapters:
00:00 We get started
00:25 Run Speaker Wires from Amp to Stock Head Unit
01:00 Wire Output of Amp to Wiring Harness
01:15 Pre-Install Layout
02:00 Disassemble Harness
02:35 Identify Front Speaker Leads on Harness
03:00 Label Speaker Wires
04:05 Strip Speaker Wires
04:40 Prepare Heat Shrink Tubing
04:55 Identify Positive and Negtive wires to Properly Match
05:10 Solder Front Speaker Connections and add Heat Shrink
06:00 Remote Turn On Lead - Do You Need it for Speakers, Amp, or Power Antenna
06:55 Lay Out Harness and Remote Turn On
07:15 Solder Spade Connection to Remote Turn On Lead
07:40 Insulate Unused Wires
08:40 Tape Up Finished 2 Channel Harness - Create T-Harness
09:55 Make 2 Channel Connection to Amplifier
10:25 Connect RCA's from Stereo to Amplifier
10:50 Completed 2 Channel System
11:05 Wire a 4 Channel System - Now Adding Rear Speakers
11:35 Disassemble Harness (AGAIN!)
11:45 Disconnect Rear Speaker Connections from Aftermarket Harness
12:00 Strip, Solder, Heat Shrink Rear Speaker Connections
13:20 Set Up New T-Harness with Tesa Tape
14:08 Make 4 Channel Connections to Amplifier, starting with Rear Speakers First

Parts:
Car Stereo Wiring Harnesses

Car Stereo Interfaces

Car Stereos - Single Din and Double DIN

Klein Tools Crimper

Tesa 3/4" Cloth Tape

Instagram: @qualitymobilevideo
Twitter: @qualitymobilevi

[Keldren.]

For those needing some context on this video, the idea is that RCA's will be the signal out of the head unit run through the vehicle into the amp, then the power out of the amp will run back up to the dash on your own speaker wires and plug into the factory harness which will then carry the power back throughout the vehicle to the door speakers using factory wiring.. thus completely bypassing the head unit's built in amp and wiring and eliminating the work involved in running your own wires from the amp to each door speaker yourself.

[hairball]

Man, I just just LOVE the professionalism you put into all your connections! Nothing is coming disconnected from one of YOUR installs! Makes me want to run out and stock up on heat shrink now, and FINALLY learn how to solder at 60 years of age! As for so many viewer comments not really understanding what you just did, I found it quite easy to understand. So I'll try to explain it like an old guy would: If you pull your stereo out of the dash, you will find a plug (some factory decks have 2). If you're lucky enough to have a car with an aftermarket deck (head unit as the pros call them), you're in more luck because they will most like already have a Metra-type (or Scosche or some brand) or harness in between your deck and speakers. You simply cut the factory speaker wires that go up into your dash (the end NOT on the side of the harness that go to the deck, and hook the speaker leads from your new amp to those factory wires going up into your dash. What I do on EVERY car audio job I ever do, especially when it's someone else's car, is to FIRST look up the radio wiring diagram (colors) for that specific year, make and model of vehicle FREE on The12Volt's website! I copy them down into my little car audio note book, plus copy them onto a MS Word document to keep on my laptop for future use. So back to this: It's really a simple job! He just made it seem more complicated because he took the time to neatly cut everything (including his fingers a few times I noticed! LOL!), then solder and heat shrink and label everything. I truly believe if he would have just done it like MOST backyard stereo installers, and just crimped wires and connected them a little faster, this video would have been easier to understand. ONE NOTE: when you cut your factory harness wires, make 100% SURE you know exactly which wires are for your speakers before you start cutting! Remember, 1 or more of those wires you could cut will be to constant 12V, another to switched 12V, and another to ground and maybe even illumination/dimmer. So you REALLY need to make sure to cut the correct wires. One way I used to do it, a trick I learned back in the early 80's, was once you narrow down your factory speaker leads but aren't exactly sure which one goes to which speaker? Simply take a C or D battery and strip off a little of the end of each lead. Chances are the wires to each speaker will be CLOSE to the same color, but not always. Anyway, if you take 1 wire and hold it to the bottom of the battery, you can then take each wire one at a time and tap the top of the battery with it. You won't hurt anything, believe me. When you find 2 wires that go the same speaker, you will hear a small pop at one of the speakers and BAM, you found ONE speaker! Tape those 2 leads together and keep doing this until you find the other 4. Sounds cheesy but it works! Especially if you have a wide variety of speaker lead colors like Honda's often do or my current Saturn. OKAY, THAT'S MY 2 CENT COMMENT for now. LOVED this video! But myself, being old and lazy, am going to go a different route to connect my Kenwood KAC-8406 to my factory speakers: I'm going to do the rear-to-front jump trick. Takes less time and less wire. Okay, gotta go read my 2 bibles!

[robertemmons]

I like the clear heat shrink over the labels idea. Definitely will last longer than bare masking tape.

[Ella-gbrj]

Great tutorial! I was able to successfully wire up my aftermarket amplifier to my stock speaker harness without any issues. Thanks for sharing your expertise and making this process accessible to DIY enthusiasts like myself. Keep up the good work!

[rrsblack]

This was the most satisfying wiring video I've ever watched. That was on CLEAN install!

[jpayne]

Been doing this since the advent of factory to aftermarket wiring harnesses. Made life SOOO much easier. Especially when installing aftermarket stereos in leased vehicles. Now, if only they could come up with aftermarket plugs to make bypassing factory amplifiers this

[lulop]

Exactly what I needed when trying how to power my aftermarket speakers with after market amp using OE speaker wire..Awesome 👍🏻👍🏻

[tcaudiomute]

by far the best tutorial ever ! Manage to save tons of cash running new sets of speaker wire.

[lowhertzhighspl]

*The reason why this video has ONE MILLION views is because I (and likely many others) have had to watch this explanation over and over again in order to understand! :-]

[MrUkielover]

Wow...that harness was a masterpiece. 👏🏽

The installers at Best Buy left a shit show behind my radio

[emailkenny]

So. 1) Connect the 2 or 4 channel RCA cables from the head-unit to amp. 2) Connect 4 speaker wires, from the amp to the factory harness. 2A) Keep in mind that you have to disconnect the factory harness speaker wires from the Metra harness speaker wires. 2B) You also have to cap (seal) the Metra speaker wires. 2C) Match, then connect the amp speaker wires to the factory harness speaker wires. Connect the other or opposing ends of the speaker wires to the amp. 2D) You’re now “ done “ with the amp to factory speaker wires connection & the head-unit signal to amp connection.

[-WolfMan-]

Hell Yeah!!
I Love It when it's 'HYPER'thetically setup!!

[CarbonEarth]

Great video and great quality work. If someone doesn't understand how to wire it up after watching this video, they probably don't need to be doing it to begin with!

[azizshavershian]

this is the best video on youtube for explaining this. thank you

[rdjgarcia]

What's missing is other important information.. 1. is your amp built for the gauge size wire coming from the wire harness. 2. Power into the amp can make the difference of the true wattage output. 3. This easy connect method is brilliant if it's applicable to any car amplifier universally without declining performance from the amp.

[dickhassett]

This is the best video on this I have seen. The attention to detail is astonishing. Great job.

[MrManny]

Best informative video I've seen. Very helpful to a beginner such as myself.

[matthewline]

So the only thing I was confused on, do you still need to run a power and ground wire to the amp? It may sound dumb, but you didn't show anything about those so I'm just trying to make sure

[ball]

I am a noon at car audio but after this vid I feel pretty knowledgeable. I’ll be installing mine next week

[omnymisa]

Your work is so sharp, so professional!