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GM car speakers versus other makes

GM car speakers versus other makes

Chryslers and maybe many other makes have the two left speakers connected to the left channel of the radio. GM radios OTOH did or do connect the front left and rear right speakers to the left channel, and the others to the right.

Or course, one can rewire his car either way, in most cases just by interchanging two pairs of wires.

In the opinion of the readers here, which method has more advantages?

Which is better for someone who is usually in the car alone?

With GM I guess if you're in the back seat, the violins aren't on the left anymore, but otoh, the volume for both channels should be the same wherever one sit. No one sits in the center of a 4-seate car, on the console or half-way between the front seat and back seat, so the Chrysler system, used by most cars maybe, has a disadvantage that if you have someone in the passenger seat, he hears more of the right channel and you hear more of the left.

GM's design solves most or all of that. But it depends on how often the driver will be alone and how often there will be 1, 2,

3 passengers AND he'll be playing the radio.

OT3H, with Chrysler's design, if you are driving and others are sleeping, you can move all the sound to the left front and leave the other speakers very quiet, so they can sleep. Or if you're the passenger and the driver doesn't like the station you want (though in my world the driver gets to pick the station) you can turn everything to the right front.

Reply to
mm
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Depends on which ear you are most deaf in...

and the band played beliee it or not.

and why not?

Reply to
Big Chief FO

Hi!

Why do you say this? I don't think it's true--across an 84 GMC Sierra,

88 Buick LeSabre, 89 Buick Electra, 94 Chevy W/T and a 2003 S-10, none have their audio systems wired this way. Left is left, right is right, no matter front or back. All have four speakers installed.

I've tested those systems with an FM stereo input signal (from a low power modulator) consisting of tones that play in either the left or right channels. I have never noticed them being swapped in any of the vehicles...playing a sound on the left speakers results in it coming out of the left speakers, both front and back.

All have their stock speaker wiring, as well as the factory speakers. Only the 84 GMC and 2003 S-10 have had their radios replaced with aftermarket units.

As the fader and balance controls produce the expected results on each vehicle, I doubt that any of the wiring is swapped. From a cursory look at things, I think that "correcting" the circuit logic of these controls so that they do the "right thing" with swapped channels between the front and rear when operated would be complicated.

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

I guess things have changed, but I did give a choice of "did or do". So I guess it's past tense. I'm almost positive my 72 or 73 Buick Centurion convertible had the speakers this way. My car radios prior to that were monaural. And after that I had to buy Chryslers.

Based on everything you say, I'm more than sure that your wiring wasn't swapped. And if GM changed the way they do things, they must have decided the normal way is better.

But i'm still interested in opinions about the swapped way, like the fact that with the regular way, with 2 or more in the car and the sound balanced left to right, people on the left hear more of the left than the right, and people on the right hear more of the right than the left. With swapped channels in the rear, it's more even, even though stereo separation would be less.

Was there any circuit logic in the 1970's? Or maybe I don't know what you mean.

Reply to
mm

HI!

I couldn't tell you for sure. If you wanted to be really sure, I'll bet you could pick up a factory service manual for these cars secondhand. There ought to be some around...

I don't think that's a bad thing. I paid $100 for a 1984 Reliant in decent condition (if you didn't count the fact that the underbody was so badly rusted). I and one of my brothers drove the daylights out of that little car, and we loved it. It was a breeze to work on!

It had a monaural AM radio that was half nuts--the digital display would try to show the time and station all at once, with jumbled results. So I pulled it and put a cheap Best Buy car stereo in there after adding the two front speakers. Later, I added but did not hook up the two rear 5x7 speakers.

Before I got rid of the car, I hooked the rear speakers up temporarily and soon realized that I should have done so a long time ago. The bigger speakers would have improved the listening experience considerably.

Oops. There I go on another story.

I don't think I can help you much there. :-)

What I can say is that I've seen car stereos that have a feature claiming to set the speakers up such that the listening position is optimized for one occupant in the car--or sometimes two. I could perceive a difference from this, although I'm not totally sure what it did. It sounded very much like it just boosted the sound coming from some speakers while cutting the others.

Oh, sure. I *think* it would be correct to say that even a simple circuit would be a simple expression of logic. Microprocessor ICs were still very much in their infancy, but digital clocks and tuners had already started to enter the mainstream. (I've seen 1970s Cadillacs with digitally tuned radios. What they have is yellow LED lit seven- segment displays, one for each major character. It looks so primitive today but must have really been something back in the day.)

(I almost forgot...! My dad's 1979 Cadillac has its left and right speakers on the same side for front and back. All these years later, that electronically tuned radio and its auto stop cassette player-- yes, it's *not* an eight track!--still work like new.)

What I'm trying to say with that is "how the fader and balance controls are wired in relation to the speakers". It would be much easier to leave them "straight" so that balance is "left is left, right is right" and the fader is "rear is rear, front is front".

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

I have a 97 buick and a 2006 Chevrolet Avalanche. Both have the lefts on the left side and the rights on the right side. I have owned many vehicles, both GM and Chysler, from 1965 on and none have had the speakers crossed.

Reply to
sparky

There is one around here. It's in my house somewhere!

And I spent a lot of time looking at it in the 7 years I had the car, so that's one reason I'm so sure GM cars were done that way, although I think I also saw stuff about it somewhere else.

I haven't found it yet, but I plan to look more. Thanks for your reply and Sparky's.

Reply to
mm

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