# How to install your own speaker wire in B5 Passat



## Hard_Timez (Dec 4, 2004)

ok, this one is for you old farts and young punks always complaining about how to install your own speaker wire through the front doors. so tonight i did my left door (not enough sunlight so right door will be finished tomorrow.) this is only to install speaker cable, refer to the SEARCH to find how to remove your door paneling first. first off you need:
wire (18-16 gauge wire, unless you have some huge power hungry woofer then go with 14 gauge)
{if you run external crossovers in the front of the car like i did, use 18 or 16 GA wire to hook the speakers up to the x-over, then use 14 GA to run them back to the amp}
wire cutter/stripper/crimper
razorblade or similar cutting device
philips screwdriver
flathead screwdriver for prying
wire connectors (based on the install)
flashlight
and of course
patience
pry the door panels off (please use search function here or car manual (bently, haynes, etc)
unscrew the single philips screw on the plastic trim right under the glovebox (under the steering wheel on the right of the car)
on the door you'll see this








you want to gently pry this rubber piece out








then tug on the rubber hose between the door and the car until the door side of it is loose and unconnected








those two gromments are connected inside the door by this








it's a little plastic tunnel that will guide the wire between the door.
in the inside of the car behind the plastic trim you removed is this foam thing plugging up the hole from where the rubber hose between the door goes inside of the car. gently pry it out. now the car is set up to easily push the wire into the car from the door.








now using the razor blade, cut into this gromment and push the wire through into the door








slide the wire down the inner plastic tunnel in the door and it'll pop out at the rubber hose in the door jam








now past that, you'll have to stick your hands in the hole on the inside of the car to feel around for the wire and grab it when you do.
















leave about a foot and a half of while in the car if you stash the x-cover under the dash like i did. connect the wire to the woofer (or tweeter depending on the speaker) to the x-over.
















now on the door side, (for the woofer) take the wire and snake it down through one of those rubber gromment with the hinged seal (remember to leave some slack so the window going up and down won't bother it or become disconnected)
















pull the wire out of the speaker hole (instead of using the gromment, you can drill a hole in the door or drill a hole in the speaker's spacer but do that at your own risk)
















strip wire and crimp of connectors then connector to speaker








for tweeter do the same as above but instead of fishing the wire inside the door like we did for the woofer, just crimp it above/outside the door to the speaker
















you can see the red crimps that hang off the soldered wires that came with my tweeter. that's where the tweeter connected to)








now all you need to do is figure out how and where you mount the x-overs and run cable from it to the amps. your length of cable will vary depending on where these go and if you run only one or two sets of wire from the front all the way to the rear.








the foam piece inside the car goes back easy








the gromments on the door are just pushed back in
















but the door jam hose is a bit tricky, make sure you run your fingers all around it making sure it's fully back on and tight. if not, knowing these cars, it'll flood the interior during a rain storm.








feel free to get mad after it doesn't work the first couple dozen times. 








just hang in there and take your time. it's easier if you have thin woman hands/fingers like me to get in the back of it.







if you don't have awesome hands like this, get a wife or hire that girl on the corner to provide you with this service...and be sure to pay her for her troubles, but if a cop drives by, wait until he/she passes before you hand over the money. you pull the rubber and try to overlap the plastic connector until the hump on the inside goes into the grove on the door.
now you will get a warm fuzzy feeling that you accomplished something and be the envy of fellow v-dubbers and also not worrying about the shady oem wires and their many clips and connector anymore.








now sit back and enjoy beverage of choice.








i prefer the ol' "barcadi special"







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let me know if i left anything out. Godspeed all y'all.
Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for your actions while following this DIY. Depending on your knowledge/tools you should be able to do this in about an hour and a half (per door). DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!


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## [email protected] (Mar 15, 2009)

*Re: How to install your own speaker wire in B5 Passat (Hard_Timez)*

Thanks for the write up, I should be going for attempt #2 this upcoming weekend. Two things though, how did the tweeter install go, do you have any pictures of the tweeter pod?
And are you running the crossover before the amp or after?


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## Hard_Timez (Dec 4, 2004)

*Re: How to install your own speaker wire in B5 Passat ([email protected])*

you're very welcome. for the tweeter (it was a little bit bigger in diameter than the oem one, but just barely we're talking like 1 or 2 mm. i did the tweeter install many months ago (i actually originally had the crossovers in the back on the shelf above the cd changer and i tapped into the wires from the monsoon amp. i never liked this idea, but i was originally confused on how to get them in the doors and run my own wire instead and no one did a write up on this) i took the oem tweet out of the pod (it's held by three tabs that you turn the tweeter to pop out and some weak glue that is easy to pop off. i had to cut the back housing down on the tweeter to fit the plastic trim piece over it again. i didn't cut much but most tweeters will probably need this done to fit. the three tabs that held the oem tweeter broke off in the process but it had to be done and worked perfectly. always run the crossovers BEFORE the AMP. good luck. as soon as the rain stops, i might do the left door today. i gotta pick up some wal-mart 14 ga wire though in the meantime. i just ran out.


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## Hard_Timez (Dec 4, 2004)

*Re: How to install your own speaker wire in B5 Passat (Hard_Timez)*

alright i updated this to include the left door which is slightly more trickier and not as much room to hide the crossover on that side as it was in the right door.
it's pretty much the same instructions but to access the inside hole going into the cabin, you have to pull the trunk release toward you to access it.
























here's a pic of the plug you need to feed the wire through in the door to connect to the woofer
































































now cover everything back and run larger gauge cable to the amps








i put my crossovers up underneath the dash panels on either side of the car








































just make sure it doesn't hit anything and that install is clean
















i chose to run the wire on the right door under the dash to the left side and run the 2 pairs (left and right doors) down the same side (left)
















connect to amp of choice








before this was done, this was my old set-up off the monsoon amp wires that fed into my aftermarket amps








now it's so much cleaner and no worries
sit back, turn on amp and blast the music of your choice (i'm not responsible if you go deaf.) then show off to your hunny as roll to favorite burger joint and clown the old timers there with your new and improved passat. just please be careful of that burger:











































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## myturn (Jun 11, 2009)

Could I hook the TW and the WF striaght from the amps? Do I have to have the crossovers?


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## Non_Affiliated (Feb 12, 2002)

*Re: (myturn)*

Also if your going to let the speakers go with the car if you ever sell it. You can just use the old trick of digging out the factory speaker wire, strip the end off of the old wire and the new wire. Use the smallest crimp butt connector pissible, and crimp the wires together.
Then wrap some elctrical tape around the crimp area, and pull the old wire out to pull the new wire in.


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## BriGreentea (Mar 10, 2009)

*Re: (Non_Affiliated)*

Very nice. I have a question though. I just bought some 3 way Cadence speakers and waiting for the speaker rings to put the woofer on.
The way you have yours is the speakers is the wires going into the amp. I also have a 4 channel amp for my factory Monsoon speakers but I was going to use my own wire but use the factory speaker wire to the cd player and just use RCA's that I have now from the amp to the cd player?
Is there any incentive to using your own speaker wire to the amplifier opposed to not running speaker wires and using the factory wire? I could do what you just did however my amp is in the trunk. But since I know how to remove panels when I installed my sub amp maybe it won't be a big deal.
If I was going to do it my way, there is so many wire in the door panel I have to find out what wire is what. I plan on doing this next weekend.


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## Non_Affiliated (Feb 12, 2002)

*Re: (BriGreentea)*

Using the factory wire is completely fine. But if you have a really old car with factory wiring, it is usually best to run your own as the factory wiring old cars I have seen the braided wire have bad oxidation from one end to the other. 
Seeing you have a '07 Jetta It's definitly safe to say you could use the factory wire.


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## BriGreentea (Mar 10, 2009)

*Re: (Non_Affiliated)*

I forgot to say that a few months ago or so I had a 4 channel amp installed into the factory radio using a 4 way line output converter. Then I got a new cd player upgrade. At the time the cd player only had one set of outputs so insted of using a Y connector they used the lineoutput converter insted of using the rca outs on the cd player.
To make it more confusing I got a sub and sub amp and blew an internal noise filter in the cd player after much q and a.
Now I"m using 3 sets of RCA outs and I have no idea where the speaker wire is going to into my cd player. I will have to take out the cd player it out to find out. It would be much better to use the existing wire they already put in themselves but on the other hand I got really sick of taking off panels and lifting up carpet with all the installations. Installing anything in this Jetta has been a pain. Perhaps I should just run my own wire to the 4 channel amp and just rip out the old wire or should I find the existing wire from the cd player and do it there? In any case, I was going to try and find the factory wire inside the door but screw that, I don't want to cut some non speaker wire so I'll just feed new wire myself.


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