Kavin Tyler 
If you want to add light to your stereo speaker, consider getting some LED lights and wiring them into the speaker’s output. This will give you an elegant, reactive light show that matches the rhythm of your music, complete with flashes and strobes in time with the music volume.
This adds a visual element to your speakers. Still, it also serves as a very effective way to alert people in the room of sudden changes in volume without having to raise your voice or play with any knobs on the audio system itself.
How To Wire Led Lights To Speakers
Before you decide to add LED light effects to your speaker system, you must take some time to plan your project. Adding led lights inside a speaker enclosure can be relatively simple; however, you can risk damaging your equipment or setting yourself up for failure without proper planning.
When installing LEDs in a series with an audio circuit, many important details must be addressed so that it doesn’t endanger people or create a fire hazard. The basic concept is very simple; however, there are multiple things you should consider before getting started with the installation.
What materials required
Wire, speaker wire, a soldering iron, solder, light strips. Solderless connections are available for light strips, but you still need a wire to run power from your speaker box from an electrical outlet. It would help if you also had a good multimeter (for testing wires), a screwdriver (to open up your speaker box), and some double-sided tape or hot glue (to secure your wiring inside of your speaker box).
Tools of choice vary depending on how you choose to hook up your lights you might have everything you need in your toolbox, or you might want to buy some additional stuff. It’s really whatever works best for your needs.
List of Speaker Wire Colors
First things first, let’s review some speaker wire colour codes. The most common speaker wire colours are red, black, blue, green, and yellow. Usually, these colours are used for anything from mono to stereo speaker setup. When wiring in pairs (i.e., left & right channels), both pairs must have matching coloured wires on each end. For example, if you’re using a pair of red wires on one end, you need to use a pair of red wires on your other end.
If you mix up your speaker wire colours or try to use different coloured wires together (such as using a pair of reds with a pair of blacks), you’ll likely experience poor sound quality or even no sound. Here is a list of commonly used speaker wire colours:
Red – Right channel Black – Left channel Blue – Center channel Green – Ground Yellow – Left rear channel White/Gray – Right rear channel Brown/Orange – Subwoofer.
How To Add Color To The Wires
Before you start putting any wires into your speaker box, you’ll need to make sure they’re colour-coded. Run tests with different combinations of power supply cable or speaker wires and a multimeter to determine which is positive, negative, or ground. Alternatively, you can use an existing speaker (preferably one of similar impedance) as a guinea pig for your trial runs.
Once you know how to wire led lights to speakers, put a layer of white tape on each colour cable about 1 foot from either end for visibility in case of future reference. Add double-sided adhesive tape around that region, so it doesn’t unravel during future disassembly & repair.
Additional wires are needed (depending on the type of speaker system)
15-20 feet of 18-gauge speaker wire, 15-20 feet of 22- or 24-gauge speaker wire. Add another 15-20 feet of 18 gauge speaker wire if you want your lighting effects in both channels. You will also need a power source that can provide between 10A (the total capacity for LED strips that run at 5V/10A) and 13A (the total capacity for LED strips that run at 12V/4A) for each channel. Each channel needs its power source because it needs to be independent; if one goes out, you can use your other system as normal.
Things To Keep In Mind While Wiring Led Lights To Speakers
LED lights are available in many colours, so if you need a specific colour (such as blue), be sure to get it.
Make sure you get your wires connected properly, or you won’t see any light. And finally, before you attach everything, test your system and make sure that your music syncs up with your lights.
The only thing better than adding light to your speaker box is adding music-syncing lighting. If you’re an audiophile who loves bass-heavy beats, adding reactive lighting effects to your next build will turn some heads.
Conclusion
While you can buy LED light kits for speakers online or in some audio shops, making your own set is quite easy. Depending on how many LED lights you want, you may need a soldering iron and wiring components or a power supply with appropriate input. Depending on your choice of setup, you’ll also need speaker wire; if that’s confusing, ask someone who works at an electronics store for help when you’re ready to start adding them.
FAQs
Can Speaker Wire Run Led Lights?
Yes, As long as there is enough space between your speaker wire and other components such as amplifiers or equalizers. This can sometimes be a challenge because most of these pieces of equipment tend to use thicker gauge wiring than speakers do. However, one great way around these limitations is installing larger gauge cables into each component separately and connecting them at their endpoints.
How do you put lights on a speaker?
First, you need to remove your old speaker grille. If your speaker doesn’t have a grill, you may consider finding another set of speakers ready to go with LED lighting, such as on Behringer Eurolive B205D or QSC KW181P.
Next, find an area where you can mount your LED light strip. Since most of these strips are adhesive-backed, they should be easy enough to stick onto most surfaces. I found it helpful to use a pencil eraser or something similar (other plastic) to smooth out any air bubbles that might form after you peel off the protective backing on your LED strip.
How do you wire LED lights to subs?
To wire LED lights to subs, you will need to wire them to the positive and negative terminals on the battery. Follow the positive and negative wire with the LED’s leads and then connect the LED’s leads to the battery.
How do you make LED lights flash with bass?
If you want to make the LED lights flash, you will need to add a speaker and a power amp. The speaker will need to be about one inch from the LED lights and the amp will need to be about four inches away from the speaker.
