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Speaker wire polarity.

F

FOAK

Jan 1, 1970
0
I know this one will be too easy for some of you but I'm a newbie so
stay with me.

I am changing speakers in my car and I wish to verify the polarity of
the speaker
wires themselves.

I don't need advice in determining the polarity of the speakers, just
the wires that lead to
the speakers.

Thanks in Advance!
 
C

Charles Schuler

Jan 1, 1970
0
FOAK said:
I know this one will be too easy for some of you but I'm a newbie so
stay with me.

I am changing speakers in my car and I wish to verify the polarity of
the speaker
wires themselves.

I don't need advice in determining the polarity of the speakers, just
the wires that lead to
the speakers.

Not sure that I understand what you want to do. I'll guess that you want to
identify the wires because they are not marked or coded in any way. If you
have a voltmeter, you can connect a AA cell at one end and then measure the
dc polarity at the other end.
 
A

Arfa Daily

Jan 1, 1970
0
Charles Schuler said:
Not sure that I understand what you want to do. I'll guess that you want
to identify the wires because they are not marked or coded in any way. If
you have a voltmeter, you can connect a AA cell at one end and then
measure the dc polarity at the other end.
Unless someone has fitted new wires that are identical, there must be some
identifying mark(s) on them. Are they individual wires, or a piece of twin ?
If twin, there will usually be a stripe on one wire, or text printed along
the sleeve, or a difference in the sleeve profile between top and bottom, or
even the strands inside may be different colours - gold in one conductor,
silver in the other. If it really is two absolutely identical wires, then
you will need to get at both ends, and use a battery and meter as suggested
by the other poster. Alternatively, you can connect to the speakers with no
regard to polarity, then use at 1.5v cell at the far end. The speaker cone
will move either out or in. So long as you then pick one wire to arbitrarily
be "+", and arrange for the same direction of cone movement on the other
speaker, to arrive at a similar arbitrary "+", then your speakers will end
up correctly in phase with one another.

Arfa
 
W

w9gb

Jan 1, 1970
0
FOAK said:
I know this one will be too easy for some of you but I'm a newbie so
stay with me.

I am changing speakers in my car and I wish to verify the polarity of
the speaker
wires themselves.

I don't need advice in determining the polarity of the speakers, just
the wires that lead to
the speakers.

Thanks in Advance!

ARE YOU ASKING FOR WIRE COLOR USED?
WHICH ONE USES THE RIB IN ZIP CORD? or
WHAT?

gb
 
F

FOAK

Jan 1, 1970
0
\
ARE YOU ASKING FOR WIRE COLOR USED?
WHICH ONE USES THE RIB IN ZIP CORD? or
WHAT?

gb

I have two wires coming from my radio. The wires go to the speaker.

One wire is a solid color, the other wire is striped.

Which one goes to the positive terminal on my speaker and wich one goes
to the negative terminal?
 
C

Charles Schuler

Jan 1, 1970
0
FOAK said:
\

I have two wires coming from my radio. The wires go to the speaker.

One wire is a solid color, the other wire is striped.

Which one goes to the positive terminal on my speaker and wich one goes
to the negative terminal?

Does not matter ... just be consistent with all the speakers.
 
C

CJT

Jan 1, 1970
0
FOAK said:
\



I have two wires coming from my radio. The wires go to the speaker.

One wire is a solid color, the other wire is striped.

Which one goes to the positive terminal on my speaker and wich one goes
to the negative terminal?
It doesn't matter. Electrons can't see the stripe. But ...

If you have stereo, the left and right channels should be consistent.

If one of the speaker terminals is grounded at the speaker, you need
to connect that one to whichever terminal at the radio is grounded.
 
F

FOAK

Jan 1, 1970
0
Does not matter ... just be consistent with all the speakers.

I'm only replacing one speaker. The speaker terminals are marked + and
- .


(The old speaker has no markings on it.)

The wire pair is marked, one wire is a solid color, one wire is
striped.

There must be some way to determine polarity.....
 
C

Charles Schuler

Jan 1, 1970
0
FOAK said:
I'm only replacing one speaker. The speaker terminals are marked + and

Well, then just connect it and stop worrying!
 
C

CJT

Jan 1, 1970
0
FOAK said:
I'm only replacing one speaker. The speaker terminals are marked + and
- .

If that's the only speaker, then "polarity" is irrelevant.

If you're replacing one speaker in a stereo system, then connect
it consistent with the other one. That means determining the
polarity of the other speaker, which you can do with a 1.5 volt
battery. But you already said you don't need help with that.
 
F

FOAK

Jan 1, 1970
0
It doesn't matter. Electrons can't see the stripe. But ...

If you have stereo, the left and right channels should be consistent.

If one of the speaker terminals is grounded at the speaker, you need
to connect that one to whichever terminal at the radio is grounded.

I just did some checking, speakers use ac, correct? At least in home
speakers do.

If my car speakers use AC then polarity should mean very little, as in
I
won't fry anything???? That's my main worry, destruction thru reverse
polarity.

For the speakers in question I am using the striped wire to connect to
the
minus terminals on the new 5 1/14 inch speakers. They sound fine and
a lot better than the old ones.
 
C

Charles Schuler

Jan 1, 1970
0
I just did some checking, speakers use ac, correct? At least in home
speakers do.

Yes and yes.
If my car speakers use AC then polarity should mean very little, as in
I
won't fry anything???? That's my main worry, destruction thru reverse
polarity.

No, nothing will be fried except your ears and brain if you play it too
loudly.
For the speakers in question I am using the striped wire to connect to
the
minus terminals on the new 5 1/14 inch speakers. They sound fine and
a lot better than the old ones.

With stereo speakers, they should be in-phase ... if they are out-of-phase,
there will be cancellation of the lower frequencies ... but no frying!
 
Charles Schuler wrote:

With stereo speakers, they should be in-phase ... if they are out-of-phase,
there will be cancellation of the lower frequencies ... but no frying!

Actually the OP was saying car speakers. If they are in the doors or
facing each other (one in the dash the other on the rear, they need to
be out-of-phase. If they are side by side, then they need to be
in-phase. And Charles is right - if you get it wrong all those lovely
bass notes will be reduced. So just try it one way then the other, and
if the bass sounds better one way - wire it that way. And like Charles
says - no frying, as they are AC.

HTH,

John
 
B

Bob Shuman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Why would you want them out of phase if on facing doors? Explain.

I personally would make sure the polarities are the same on both (in phase)
since this is the way the music was originally recorded to be played back.

Bob
 
C

CJT

Jan 1, 1970
0
Charles said:
Yes and yes.




No, nothing will be fried except your ears and brain if you play it too
loudly.




With stereo speakers, they should be in-phase ... if they are out-of-phase,
there will be cancellation of the lower frequencies ... but no frying!
What he said.
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
Bob said:
Why would you want them out of phase if on facing doors? Explain.

I personally would make sure the polarities are the same on both (in phase)
since this is the way the music was originally recorded to be played back.


Try it for yourself. If they are facing each other and in phase the
sound waves create a dead zone where they cancel out. If you reverse
one side they are aiding each other. When they are on the same wall the
effect is reversed. What is real fun is when someone puts speakers
along all four walls for paging, and you can't hear anything in the
center of the room. Sometimes you want a dead zone, and if you can
place the phase the speakers properly it is amazing. I installed a
sound system in a high school football stadium about 30 years ago. They
told me they wanted to be able to use a live microphone from goal post
to goal post for the band. It worked so well that the coaches from
visiting teams never failed to complain, "My boys can't hear your PA
system!" I would jusT smile and tell them to "Teach your boys to play
ball, not to listen to the game". Losing coaches have no sense of
humor, but the school was thrilled with the way it worked.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
D

Dave Plowman (News)

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm only replacing one speaker. The speaker terminals are marked + and -

(The old speaker has no markings on it.)
The wire pair is marked, one wire is a solid color, one wire is
striped.
There must be some way to determine polarity.....

They usually have different sized terminals.
 
D

Dave Plowman (News)

Jan 1, 1970
0
Actually the OP was saying car speakers. If they are in the doors or
facing each other (one in the dash the other on the rear, they need to
be out-of-phase.

Not so.

If they are side by side, then they need to be
in-phase.

At least that bit's correct.
 
D

Dave Plowman (News)

Jan 1, 1970
0
Try it for yourself. If they are facing each other and in phase the
sound waves create a dead zone where they cancel out. If you reverse
one side they are aiding each other. When they are on the same wall the
effect is reversed. What is real fun is when someone puts speakers
along all four walls for paging, and you can't hear anything in the
center of the room.

I'd suggest you actually try this. You just don't get cancellation in the
centre. You will if the speakers are so close as to near touch one another.
 
D

Dave Plowman (News)

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have two wires coming from my radio. The wires go to the speaker.
One wire is a solid color, the other wire is striped.
Which one goes to the positive terminal on my speaker and wich one goes
to the negative terminal?

It's most usual to identify the negative.
 
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