I wonder if your speaker wires aren't further downstream from the cables you
describe... if nothing else there shouldn't be any bare wires or strands
involved.
In my '87 GL the speaker wires native to the van are as follows:

Left Front +:     Brown w/Blue Stripe

Left Front -:      Solid Blue

Right Front +:   Solid Red

Right Front -:    Tan w/White Stripe

Left Rear +:      Tan w/Red Stripe

Left Rear -:       Blue w/Green Stripe

Right Rear +:    Red w/Green Stripe

Right Rear -:     Brown w/Black Stripe

Being as it was in tight quarters and the light was poor (I was looking thru
the ashtray slot) I'm not prepared to say that is 100% accurate- for one
thing I find it a little odd that they would use a solid red wire for a
speaker wire but this is a VW so who knows.

I say 'native' to the van as I'm pretty sure the POs didn't run any new wire
for the speakers. However as I think about it when I got the van my rear
speakers were gone as well as the stereo so I 'assigned' the polarity to the
various wires without giving it a great deal of thought, partly because I
knew that I would be re-doing the whole thing in the future. Looking at it
now, I wonder if, for instance, the brown wires w/stripes shouldn't have
been both for the left speakers, either + or - and likewise the tan wires
w/stripes for the right. At any rate I matched the marked polarity from the
head with the marked polarity on the speaker so it shouldn't matter. The
point is, if the wires are the same/right colors and you can find them in
your van hopefully that'll get you on the right track.

If you're going with any kind of power at all you might consider pulling
some heavier wire anyway. The stock wires aren't really up to the high power
applications that are common now. Several people have done this (check the
archives) and I'll be doing it eventually.

When I realized what I was in for as far as the electrical for this van I
made a jumper wire- about a 20' wire with alligator clips on both ends so
that I could use my multimeter for things like this.

Good luck,

Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jesse Reynolds" <jesse@REYNOLDS.NAME>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 8:15 AM
Subject: stereo speaker wire colors?

> Hi folks,
>
> I am new to the list, and new to the water-cooled VW vans. (I owned a 76
> for years.)  I recently got an 1986 Westy, and I am upgrading the
> stereo. I can't figure out the speaker wiring, partially because I am
> not 100% sure that all the speakers work.
>
> Does anyone have knowledge of the speaker wire colors? The speakers
> don't seem to be on the Bentley book's wiring diagram. I do know that on
> most 80's vans, the rear speakers shared a common negative, and that
> needs to be re-wired for most after market stereos.
>
> A cable wrapped in black comes off the original stereo. Inside it is a
> twist of copper strands, a red wire, a brown wire, and two cables with
> still more wires inside: there is a gray cable with a twist of aluminum
> strands, a blue wire, and a green wire, and there is a  white cable with
> a twist of aluminum strands, a white wire, and a yellow wire.
>
> What stumps me is this: 4 speakers = 8 wires. If the rear uses a common
> ground, that is 7 wires. But there are 6 wires not including the loose
> strands, and 9 if they are included.
>
> Any help is appreciated - thanks in advance!
>
> - Jesse