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.

"mm" wrote in message
...
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?

Depends on which ear you are most deaf in...


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

and the band played beliee it or not.

same wherever one sit. No one sits in the center of a 4-seate car,

and why not?

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.

Hi!

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. *

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

On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:45:22 -0700 (PDT), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

Hi!

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. *

Why do you say this?

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.

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

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.

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.

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

William

HI!

So I guess it's past tense. *I'm almost positive my 72 or 73 Buick
Centurion convertible had the speakers this way.

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...

And after that I had to buy Chryslers.

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.

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.

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.

Was there any circuit logic in the 1970's?

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

On Apr 18, 4:14*pm, mm wrote:
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.



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.

On Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:25:34 -0700 (PDT), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

HI!

So I guess it's past tense. *I'm almost positive my 72 or 73 Buick
Centurion convertible had the speakers this way.

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...

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.

And after that I had to buy Chryslers.

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.

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.

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.

Was there any circuit logic in the 1970's?

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