Metra Speaker Harness Polarity (updated)

[Eomund]

BLUF --- Trust, but verify....... Ok. For those wondering on the Alpine Amplified system, I can confirm that at least in my 22 392 the back soundbar speakers are both wired from the factory such that black is (+) and white is (-). I confirmed this by pulling out the stock speakers and performing a 9V check. Both the 4 inch woofer and 3 inch tweeter showed positive (outward) movement with the (-) on the white wire and the (+) on the black wire (from the factory harness) and then inward movement when that polarity was reversed. Now when I plugged in both my Metra 72-6514 Speaker Harness for Select Chrysler/Dodge Vehicles to the four inch (bigger plug) and RED WOLF Front Dash Tweeters Speaker Wiring Harness Adapter Connector Plug Replacement for Dodge Ram Jeep Chrysler 2005-2022 Aftermarket Dash Tweeters to the three inch (smaller plug), BOTH adapters swap such that at the adapter the polarity is changed to what we all would normally assume Black for (-) and White<Metra>/or Red<Red Wolf> for (+). Off to do the front dash and check those next. Pics to follow.

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[m3reno]

I installed Infinity Reference REF-3032cfx speakers in the front upper dash. I also used the supplied Metra wire and capacitor. It sounds great but I get a pop when shutting down or starting my Jeep. Is it the capacitor or the Metra wires being reversed the issue??

 

[Eomund]

I installed Infinity Reference REF-3032cfx speakers in the front upper dash. I also used the supplied Metra wire and capacitor. It sounds great but I get a pop when shutting down or starting my Jeep. Is it the capacitor or the Metra wires being reversed the issue??

Give me a few hours and I will shoot the pics of my front wiring when I swapped out my fronts.

 

[Eomund]

I installed Infinity Reference REF-3032cfx speakers in the front upper dash. I also used the supplied Metra wire and capacitor. It sounds great but I get a pop when shutting down or starting my Jeep. Is it the capacitor or the Metra wires being reversed the issue??

Ok so the fronts do the same thing. The Crutchfield docs would appear to be backwards going off a 9V battery test. They list Grey/Orange as (+) and Grey/Yellow as (-), but when you install either the Metra or the Red Wolf adapter they swap it so that Grey/Orange becomes (-)(black wire) and the Grey/Yellow becomes (+) (white wire Metra/red wire Red Wolf).

 

[Rico1111]

I had been reading these posts and decided to check all of my speakers (all replaced) and according to speaker pop(the app) they are all in negative phase, isolating each had them in negative. As long as they all are I guess they're fine.
forgot to add that I used the metra harness's on all.

 

[Jebiruph]

I installed Infinity Reference REF-3032cfx speakers in the front upper dash. I also used the supplied Metra wire and capacitor. It sounds great but I get a pop when shutting down or starting my Jeep. Is it the capacitor or the Metra wires being reversed the issue??

Don't use the capacitors if you have the Alpine system. A pop shouldn't have anything to do with the Metra wires being reversed, that would only affect sound quality if all the speakers are not wired with consistent polarity.

 

[Eomund]

I had been reading these posts and decided to check all of my speakers (all replaced) and according to speaker pop(the app) they are all in negative phase, isolating each had them in negative. As long as they all are I guess they're fine.
forgot to add that I used the metra harness's on all.

So this really is the key. Choose a standard and stick with it. Just odd that FCA did this (its the same on a Trackhawk). I started to notice it when I only swapped out only the front dash speakers and it was noticeable with them being out of phase with the 4 inch in the knee pods.

 

[Jebiruph]

I ended up purchasing a cheap speaker phase/polarity tester and doing some additional testing. Keep in mind that both my JL and JT are base systems and I don't think my results apply to a premium system.

The tester showed my upgraded speakers with the rewired Metra adpaters as positive polarity, but the factory knee panel speakers as negative polarity. I temporarily reinstalled all the driver's side factory speakers and the polarity tester showed all of them as negative polarity. Based on my testing it looks like while the wiring diagram correctly identifies the + and - speaker wires, those wires are plugged into the factory connectors reversed and that's why the factory speakers have negative polarity.

It looks like the Metra adapters aren't the propblem after all and rewiring them was correcting the base system's reversed wired factory connectors. The $12 for the speaker phase/polarity tester was money well spent.

 

[THAW]

For what it's worth, I checked the polarity of the dash and knee panel speakers on my '23 8.4 Alpine system using a multimeter and battery test before upgrading all 4 locations.

Results: driver side dash positive wire connected to speaker negative terminal; driver knee panel positive wire connected to speaker positive terminal; passenger dash positive wire connected to speaker positive terminal; passenger knee panel positive wire connected to speaker negative terminal.

In other words, the dash speakers were out of phase with each other and in in phase with the opposite side knee panel. Seems strange.

For the upgrade, I installed Infinity 3032cfx 3.5s in the dash and 6530cx 6.5" woofers in the knee panel (using sound deadened Metra pods). I reversed the Metra connectors at the pins for the drivers dash and passenger knee panel so all the new speakers are in phase and have positive wires connected to the positive speaker terminal.

As others have noted in various threads, It's a fair bit of work to install the knee panel pods. In my case, I was already committed to pulling apart the entire dash to swap out the Rubicon red trim panels so there wasn't much extra work required. Unlike some others, I find the knee panel upgrade to be absolutely worthwhile. The midrange/bass from the knee panels is punchy and noticeably crisper than the stock 4". This result may be partially attributable to the sound deadened sealed pod vs the stock ported one.

Again, as others have noted, the 3032s are bright. But the addition of a tweeter is overwhelmingly a positive.

I'm very pleased with the results of this relatively inexpensive upgrade. The cost was approximately the same as Terra Acoustics - which I was on the list for before going down the forum rabbit hole.

UPDATE: As noted by another poster in this or a related thread, the 3032cfx tweeters break in after several hours of use, noticably reducing the brightness. I'm even more pleased with the upgrade after the initial break-in.

 

[LV_Blankenburg]

Has anyone installed the Kicker 47KSc3504 speakers in their dash and found them much quieter with the Alpine system than the stock speakers were? I get a wider frequency response than the stock but they are noticeably quieter. About 3-4 numbers on the volume level. I did use the capacitor.

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