common ground speakers

[Ti Kan]

George Nimmer writes:
> It appears as if the audi 4kq's have "common ground" speaker wiring?
> Are these chassis grounded?
> ...

"Common ground" means that the '-' speaker wires of the two channels
are tied together.  It is assumed that the amplifier output of the radio
has its '-' terminals also internally connected to ground.

"High power" radios (more than 4W per channel RMS or so) and many
outboard power amplifiers employ a "bridged" output configuration,
where the '+' and '-' speaker terminals are both active outputs, each
inverted in polarity to the other.  You must not connect the '-' terminals
to ground or to each other.  Doing so effectively short circuits the
'-' output and may damage the amplifier.

If your radio or amplifier has the bridged outputs, then you cannot
use the stock common ground speaker wiring.  You must run individual
wire pairs to each speaker.

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
2001 S4 biturbo 6-sp
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0 5-sp
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