Wiring 3.5mm cable to car speakers

**Andrew White** · 04-07-2011, 09:28 AM

Hey all,

Long time reader, first time poster.

Quick question. I'll be working on a car computer and various other car electronic projects over the next few months.

My question for now is, is there a way I can wire up a 3.5mm headphone cable (cut up) into my speakers directly?

I figure this is possible - the copper in the headphone jack would just connect straight to the speaker wires, right?

I stripped off a 3.5mm cable and tried wiring it to 2 of the speaker wires - no sound output.

Can anyone offer me any ideas?

Thanks!

- Whitey

**bhart2489** · 04-09-2011, 03:05 AM

the problem your going to have is you dont have the wattage the speakers require to work, you need to have an amp of some sort... 15 watt rms would do it.... but 25 to 35 would be great

**kegobeer** · 04-09-2011, 07:06 AM

The short answer is no, you can't just hook up a stereo headphone cable to your car speakers. Car speakers require external amplification, which is delivered by either a head unit or an amplifier.

**soundman98** · 04-09-2011, 02:38 PM

technically, you can connect speakers to a headphone jack off the pc. but they will probably be so quiet that you won't be able to hear anything unless the car is off, and you have your ear next to the speaker...

there are tons of very small, very cheap amps that have very recently been flooding the market-- check parts express just for a small sample..