I'm trying to install a new radio in my old suv... the original radio worked fine before I pulled it out... I'm trying to map out the 8 speaker wires coming out of my panel, but I'm having a problem: I'm applying a hot audio pair coming off the new radio to every pair combo possible (back into the panel), but... I can't get a peep out of any of the four in-the-door speakers! I test the radio pair with an external speaker... it screams. I notice that these speaker wires are like super thin (30 guage?!?)... Is it possible that I'm not going to hear anything from a valid pair until it's terminated tight/final - as oppossed to my merely touching the pairs during my test ?
It's much more likely your car has an internal amplifier and only uses the outputs from your radio as input signals. In this case there's going to be a wire you need to provide power to before the amplifier comes on.