The Basic Elements of the Car’s Electrical System

Any article that offers advice on how to wire car speaker systems needs to begin with an admission. There is not one way to wire a car speaker system. The car owner who wants to install a set of speakers can wire those speakers using either parallel or series wiring. In order to understand the advantages and disadvantages of both types of wiring, one needs to become familiar with the three basic elements of any electrical system.

Any electrical system contains a source of power. In car speaker system that power comes from the battery. A stronger battery delivers more power. The power of a battery is denoted by its voltage. The power controls the current in the system. However, the strength of the current in a car audio system does not remain constant during its entire passage through that system. The current encounters resistance from components in the car audio system, including resistance from elements in the car speakers. That is why the car owner must study carefully how to wire car speaker systems.

If a car owner chooses to wire car speakers in a parallel manner, then those speakers share the same voltage, and that voltage coming from the speakers goes to the amplifier. Therefore, when a car owner chooses to wire a car speaker system in a parallel manner, the shared power, i.e. the voltage, in the system reduces the resistance in each of the wired speakers. Because each of the wired car speakers has less resistance, more current can flow through each of those same speakers (I=V/R).

Of course the parallel wiring of car speakers represents only one of two ways to wire a car speaker system. Speakers can also be connected in a series pattern. If car speakers are connected in series then each of those speakers receives just a fraction of the current in the entire car speaker system. Because the voltage in any electrical system depends on both the current and the resistance (V=IR), the voltage leaving the amplifier that is wired to the speakers will be reduced.

Now pay heed to the fact that each amplifier has an input voltage range and an output voltage range. If the output voltage for an amplifier falls below that range, then the amplifier fails to function properly. That fact points out one of the disadvantages to selecting a series pattern when one stands ready to wire car speaker systems.