No sound from LHS speakers

[iracer]

Recently bought an MX5 - didn't realise at the time that sound is only coming from the RHS speakers. It is a 1997 special edition (it has Bilstein shocks and Momo wheel). And the speakers have a tweeter at the top of the door and woofer at the bottom. Does not appear to have headrest speakers. Looks to be original head unit. (Has the Dins on the side so dont need to take the dash out)
So need to figure out if its the left channel on the head unit, or the speaker that has blown. Is it odd that there is no sound whatsoever from the tweeter and woofer if it was a blown speaker? I checked using the balance controls. If the woofer was blown would the tweeter still work? Seems strange that both dont go, or are they wired in series.
From what I've read post 1994 models you have to remove the door panel to get at the speaker - is that correct? (It has the chrome/steel teardrop type cover over the woofer). This is attached to a thin piece of board but the board has the pointy end of screws just showing through ie screwed on from the other side. So guess I need to take the whole door panel off? My thinking was to hook up a spare PC speaker once I have the speaker out to see if I get sound -if so points to the head unit. I dont think you can easily reverse the speaker connections on head unit end can you? (would save taking the door panel off). If I can get away with just a head unit or just new speakers I'd rather do that as not looking for any great sound system. Guess it means I need to get component ie separate tweeter and woofer speakers if thats what at fault. And is there some sort of crossover box in the door panel too?

[Mr. Shine]

Removing the door cards and getting at the speakers is a piece of piss, so just jump in and have a play around! Just take care when unclipping the door card, as the plastic bits have a tendency to snap easily.

My guess would be a wiring fault first and foremost, but if the wiring checks out fine you could swap the speakers between sides to see whether it's a blown speaker or a head unit issue.

I'd suspect the factory speakers use a built-in crossover.

[iracer]

Finally got round to taking the door panel off (and yes it was easy). I took the speaker out and hooked it up to a mini stereo system and it worked so speaker isnt blown. Not sure why I did this but I pulled/cut the wires out of the plastic connector and tried just with bare wire on the speaker terminals. I get a little bit of scratchy noise but thats about it. Not sure how I confirm if the wiring is at fault somewhere or the head unit? If I take the head unit out, its not like a home stereo with speaker binding posts that I can hook some other speakers up to and reverse the channels. I dont have any sort of meter to check if there is power at terminals. In the meantime I have put the panel back on and left the speaker out. First priority money wise will be new tyres soon and oil change. (Just did the front brake pads - a first for me - seem to be working OK!).
But short of seeing a broken/disconnected wire how do I test the wiring?

[Euen]

The simplest way if you don't have a meter is to use a 1.5v battery. If you connect the wires to the speaker and then touch the ends of the wires at the radio end to the battery, the speaker should give a noticeable click on each connection to the battery. If you can see the cone of the speaker you should also see it move. This assumes you can get to the ends of the wires at the radio end. You may need to use some short lengths of wire to interconnect if the wires to the speaker are connected through a multipin connector.

Alternatively you could connect a light bulb at the speaker end.

Hope that helps
E