Is there a way to check polars on speakerwire?
 

I'm re-installing some speakers, however the wire color changed somewhere along the way from amp to speaker, how do I check wich is positive and wich is negative?

(I don't have a meter)

Thank you,

George

What you are concerned about is the "phase". If you swap "+" and "-", the speaker will be out of phase. Both speaker can be out of phase so long as the are in the same phase. It is a question of the speaker cones travelling in the same direction, as opposed to one side pushing and the other side pulling. Try hooking them up and listening. Then switch + and - on ONE speaker. Does it now sound louder and fuller or weaker and thin? Choose the one that sounds best. Now, if I could find some speaker that easily fit in my door without cutting. Maybe someone has answered this already...searching...

Due to the 80's early 90's obsession with 15" subwoofer soundoffs and over exposure to sounds over 120dB, I have a hard time telling the diference. :(

Very easy. Take a standard flashlight battery and touch the speaker wires to the terminals. Watch the movement of the speaker cone. When the cone moves out when the wires are touched to the terminal, which ever wire is on the + side of the battery, that is the "positive" terminal. The other wire is the "negative" terminal.

Harbor Freight has a meter that works well enough for this type of work, and it costs all of $4.99, less when on sale. You own a 20+ year old car, trust me you will need it:) A continuity tester makes this type of testing easy. In a car I doubt if you could tell the difference anyway- and there is no harm if connected out of phase.
Enjoy the music
Gary

I know of no way to use a multimeter to check speaker phase.

If the speakers are out of phase there will be a dramatic loss of bass response. Harm done....:-)

When setting up systems at hif shows etc, we (the hifi industry) all use the very sophisticated 9V battery test as Roy described . . .

Ian

Be carefull with 9V.............This can damage a car speaker (and many home speakers also). Use a 1.5 volt battery to be safe.

Our speakers are tough, they can handle it. ;) You're right, a smaller voltage will work fine too.

Ian

Everything stated above is true..but in my anal retentive world I would rip out the old spliced wire and replace with a new piece of the proper guage and length. Who knows what you will find when you dig it out.

I just put Infinity Kappa 6.5 inch speakers in my doors with no cutting. There was even room for a speaker baffle as well. They sound really good running through an amp.

They were these speakers.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_4295.html

I understand what you are saying, but the polarisation of the speakers was not the question. I have done the test mentioned on non-labeled speakers before, however these are labeled, not to mention the positive terminal has the larger conector.

The question is how do you test the "WIRE" for phasing assuming there are no identification and both wires are black in color.

fast and dirty...hook them up..50/50 chance they will be correct. Then reverse the wires on one speaker. If there is less bass then you had it right to begin with. If there is more bass then now it is right. Helps if you can rig it up so you can flip back and forth quickly...also you might want to turn the treble down some to help you hear the bottom. The right thing to do is to replace the wires..who knows what cluster f**k is between your new speakers and the amp. lol, you would have been done by now.

I was going to replace the wires but they are tight in there, not to mention it looks pretty tough to route the wires the same way.

How about checking current flow between the wire and ground?

That you would do with the ohm meter setting on your multimeter.

Do the battery test at the radio end of the wires.

I apreciate the attempts in helping me but here it is -

I don't have a meter

Wires go via RCA from radio to AMP the go from amp in all black wires to speaker, this is where phasing is in question.

The 1.5 Volt battery test will be your answer: We'll assume that wires from radio to AMP are correctly polarized (RCA). From the AMP, disconnect wires to Left speaker and do the battery test: If the speaker cone pushes out you have the positive wire on the positive terminal and the negative wire on the negative terminal, so hook it up to your amp accordingly. Now do the same with the Right speaker.

Speakers are almost never wired to ground. And with an amplifier in the loop you certainly don't want them to ground. All kinds of noise could result, plus the fact that most , if not all, modern car amplifiers are not common ground units.