What wire is the positive wire on the factory subwoofer?

A huge thanks to all who answered. I tried two multimeters without success. But I’m learning and your detailed reply is so appreciated! The 9volt battery suggestion worked like a charm. The old raggedy sub jumped up like a rabbit! Many many thanks to ALL.

Good to hear!!! The way the multimeter works is if you turn the radio on, connect the multimeter prongs to the speaker-level wire outputs from the amplifier. Reverse polarity produces negative results, and the correct polarity produces positive results. Pics attached as I just performed this.

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A huge thanks to all who answered. I tried two multimeters without success. But I’m learning and your detailed reply is so appreciated! The 9volt battery suggestion worked like a charm. The old raggedy sub jumped up like a rabbit! Many many thanks to ALL.
Glad you used the 9v battery idea and it worked for you. That's a time-honored method of determining a speaker's polarity or at least matching it to the other speaker's polarities. :)
 
A huge thanks to all who answered. I tried two multimeters without success. But I’m learning and your detailed reply is so appreciated! The 9volt battery suggestion worked like a charm. The old raggedy sub jumped up like a rabbit! Many many thanks to ALL.
 
I might as well add: in the red/black pair, black, with the larger terminal, is POSITIVE. In the gray/brown pair, gray, also larger terminal, is POSITIVE. Now begins further learning for me. The former owner replaced the factory radio with a nice Sony CDX-GT310. The old blown sub’s 12-pin connector, inside the console, was disconnected. Currently four speakers are “live”: L and R fronts in-dash and L and R rears, 5-1/4”, in the roll bar. I was able to get the new, Audiopipe 6.5” sub into the factory center console box, by Dremeling down the interior “fins” and drilling four new mounting holes. Had a devil of a time using the supplied clips over the mounting holes as they kept jumping onto the sub magnet. Patience, rubber cement and electrical tape finally held them in place. Now the real fun begins: Connecting the 12-pin harnesses failed to power the sub. The good news is nothing smoked, crackled, or blew up!! So, I shall seek a wiring diagram for the Sony and try to figure out what goes where. Or......replace the Sony with a BlueTooth unit and make a fresh start. For what it’s worth, the rear 5-1/4”s are pretty bassy and I had a great sense of accomplishment replacing the old sub. Again, thanks to all!!
 
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Folks I’m back, red faced but not defeated. I asked My mechanic for help checking PO wiring on aftermarket radio. Factory amp was found disconnected. Alas, he connected it and it blew the radio fuse. We left it disconnected and I pulled the amp and found no obvious signs of failure. No telltale odor of burnt components, etc. I really want to keep it as stock as possible. Does anyone have a source for a replacement amp or repair service?? I’ve Googled Used Parts, etc. without success. IF I could find a small amp that’d fit old enclosure I’d buy it. Again, my thanks!
 
Folks I’m back, red faced but not defeated. I asked My mechanic for help checking PO wiring on aftermarket radio. Factory amp was found disconnected. Alas, he connected it and it blew the radio fuse. We left it disconnected and I pulled the amp and found no obvious signs of failure. No telltale odor of burnt components, etc. I really want to keep it as stock as possible. Does anyone have a source for a replacement amp or repair service?? I’ve Googled Used Parts, etc. without success. IF I could find a small amp that’d fit old enclosure I’d buy it. Again, my thanks!

It will cost more to repair than to buy a cheap amplifier. I'm sure you can easily find a used OEM amplifer. I probably have mine, and if you want it you can have it for the cost of shipping.

As for aftermarket amps, I dont think any fit in the factory location that are reasonably priced.
 
If you are offering the amp, I will gladly accept! My Zip Code is 29316. Let me know what I owe and if you’ll take PayPal. Thanks so much!
 
If you are offering the amp, I will gladly accept! My Zip Code is 29316. Let me know what I owe and if you’ll take PayPal. Thanks so much!


If you are offering the amp, I will gladly accept! My Zip Code is 29316. Let me know what I owe and if you’ll take PayPal. Thanks so much!

The one issue is that the amplifier acts as "plug" for the subwoofer enclosure. I would actually need your broken one back. If you want to do that I can send you my amplifier, then you can test it out, if all good then send me back your broken one. If you happen to blow mine then just send me that one back.


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OK I understand! The sealed enclosure. If you’re willing to send me yours I’ll test it and hopefully return mine. Is it OK to put contact info here? Or how do we handle this?? Thank you!
 
Update to this old post. My local car audio guru told me the center console sub is acoustically designed to work with the factory-wired speakers. This news came after I bought a small Audiopipe sub and tried it in the center console. No worky worky. Quadratic offers an aftermarket “clone” of factory center console sub for $90. This worked for me, with Kenwood fronts and JBLs in roll bar, from Crutchfield with factory wiring adapters. Pioneer double-din with CarPlay and the TJ sounds fabulous!! PS I tried Pipneer single din with motorized flap and didn’t care for it, not to mention the flap blocks front AC/heater vents! Again, cheers to everyone for their kind assistance.
 
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Wrangler TJ factory sub. Two pairs wires: red/black and brown/grey. Which are the positive wires??
The positive wires are red and brown, the negative are black and grey. It's a little odd because in the LJ, with the sub in the center console, the positive wires have the smaller female connectors on them.
Note: I replaced the crappy stock sub with a Pioneer TS-SW2002D2 sub. Huge improvement! To mount it, you need to cut out the lip that the factory sub sat in. The Pioneer then fits right in that hole. Really good sound for just $70.
 
The positive wires are red and brown, the negative are black and grey. It's a little odd because in the LJ, with the sub in the center console, the positive wires have the smaller female connectors on them.
Note: I replaced the crappy stock sub with a Pioneer TS-SW2002D2 sub. Huge improvement! To mount it, you need to cut out the lip that the factory sub sat in. The Pioneer then fits right in that hole. Really good sound for just $70.
Thank you John! Whew...33 replies until we got an answer. I just replaced the blown subwoofer in my 2001. Factory amp works fine. Got a 6.5" subwoofer off eBay for $13 and it sounds great. Had to grind away a little of the plastic behind the speaker, but that was easy with a dremel.

The negative (black and Grey) clips were bigger than the tabs on the new speaker, but a little pinch with a needle nose and they held on fine.

Thanks all!
 
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This is the most confusing this in the world.

Just bought a kicker comp67 to replace my factory sub in my TJ 2005.

So red and brown are positive and black and grey negative.

Red and brown have small clip. Black and Grey have big clips.

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