speaker wire pos vs neg

[xirdneh]

looking at wiring diagram does not tell which is positive or negative. My rear speaker wires were cut on all cars that had a rear speaker so i'm guessing the solid color is the positive (black vs black w/white stripe). am i right?

[Ron B.]

This is just an educated guess but you can probably bet on it. I built many Heath Kits, color TV kits included, and read Popular Electronics Magazine for many years. Those are my puny credentials.

Looking at the back of the speaker, the left terminal in the connector accepts the black wire with the white tracer and red marks. I would assume this is the positive terminal. You can prove this by using either a D or C, 1.5 volt battery. Connect one side of the battery to a speaker terminal with a jumper lead or piece of wire. Temporarily connect the remaining speaker lead to the other side of the battery.

The speaker cone will move out when the speaker's positive terminal is connected to the positive battery terminal. It will move in when the connections are reversed.

No harm will be caused to either the radio or the speakers if the connections are reversed. The problem would manifest itself as phase reversal. If a pair of speakers are connected where one is connected properly and the other is reversed, the speaker cones would be moving in opposite directions at the same time. Not good. The problem is that, in theory, the sounds from one speaker would actually cancel the other speaker's sound. In practice, the sound would appear hollow and base and high notes would be diminished.

[xirdneh]

i will try that . thanks