[foxxinabox]

While putting a new aftermarket stereo in the wife's '02 Outback today I noticed she did not have any sound from the rear door speakers. She doesn't believe she ever did since we've had the car (about three months). Checking both the new and old units still equates to no sound. I've read through the various threads on here but am still having issues.

1) Checked the ohms for all speakers through the wiring at the head unit - 4 ohms for each front, none in the rear

2) Checked the ohms and continuity at the right rear door speaker - ~1.4 ohm and continuous.

3) Checked the wiring harness at the right rear door (with the head unit plugged in an on) - not continuous

This leads me to believe the problems I may be having are in the wiring. I'm not opposed to running new (or replacing speakers) but I want to check everything first. Is there a common ground or fuse for the rear speakers? Would one bad speaker cause both to act funky? Please help. In the process of pulling out the center console I scratched the shifter gate and I'm needing something to assuage the wife. :gasp: Thanks.

 

[plain OM]

1) Checked the ohms for all speakers through the wiring at the head unit - 4 ohms for each front, none in the rear

2) Checked the ohms and continuity at the right rear door speaker - ~1.4 ohm and continuous.

3) Checked the wiring harness at the right rear door (with the head unit plugged in an on) - not continuous

Is the resistance of the RR speaker, at the speaker's terminals, 1.4 Ohms? That's not right. It should measure close to 4 Ohms, as was the case for the front speakers.

Also, I don't fully understand what's being measured in #3. If you measure between the two wires going back from the speaker to the radio, it won't be a low resistance. To check the wiring harness, you would have to measure the resistance between each of the speaker connector terminals (the ones on the harness) and their corresponding terminal at the radio connector.

It's not uncommon for the speakers to fail. There's a fair number of posts here where someone has bought a car and found some, or even all, of the speakers to be bad.

The easiest way to determine if it's a bad speaker or something else is to connect a known good speaker in place of the suspected one. Any 4 or 8 Ohm speaker in the same size range can be used -- it's just a matter of seeing if there's sound with the temporary substitute.

 

[foxxinabox]

Is the resistance of the RR speaker, at the speaker's terminals, 1.4 Ohms? That's not right. It should measure close to 4 Ohms, as was the case for the front speakers.

Also, I don't fully understand what's being measured in #3. If you measure between the two wires going back from the speaker to the radio, it won't be a low resistance. To check the wiring harness, you would have to measure the resistance between each of the speaker connector terminals (the ones on the harness) and their corresponding terminal at the radio connector.

It's not uncommon for the speakers to fail. There's a fair number of posts here where someone has bought a car and found some, or even all, of the speakers to be bad.

The easiest way to determine if it's a bad speaker or something else is to connect a known good speaker in place of the suspected one. Any 4 or 8 Ohm speaker in the same size range can be used -- it's just a matter of seeing if there's sound with the temporary substitute.

Will dig and see what I can find for speakers and try another. In #3 I was measuring continuity through the wiring harness from the radio to the speaker. It was showing as not continuous which makes me think broken wire. But for both speakers? I'll see what I can dredge up tomorrow. Thanks for the input.

 

[coz375]

I just went through this whole deal with my 2003 and three of the speakers were dead and the forth is working intermittently. I was also surprised that all the speakers could be screwed up. I just bought new ones from Crutchfield.

 

[idosubaru]

This isn't a model with the McIntosh system right? Only the front speakers work in mine after I swapped in a WRX Subaru stereo into mine, it was plug and play.

Still haven't figured it out but folks are saying the wiring is different on those models.

Does your model have an amp under the seat, would that make a difference?