The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Easy wiring question, I hope

Hey guys. I'm in the process of rewiring some things in my car, and I couldn't find whether this speaker was positive or negative. All it had was a dark green and a light green wire going to it. I just need to know if anyone knows which is the + and which is the -.

At last option I'll do the 9V battery test, but it's a hassle, so if anyone knows, I appreciate it. Thanks

If no one here knows, any car stereo joint should be able to tell you. Maybe move this to the Radio Forum?

jay

well the first thing ya need to know is speakers do not use "voltage" and you don't wanna hook a battery to it, they don't have a "+" and "-"

both leads should go to the radio audio output, tho depending on the particular year and radio, one may just hook to ground - look at the radio, it may have a more or less standard audio jack where the body of the plug is ground, the pin is the audio, or it may have 2 connection points

Bill

Dude, if you hook the speakers up backwards, they will suck the sound out of the car!!

I wonder what those wires are for? Maybe the music travels down them and jumps out of the speaker.


Stuart

[snickers at smartassed comments]

Speakers are a non-polarity item.

The head unit drives the magnets in the speakers with what basically amounts to miniscule amounts of A/C Electricity. Granted, it's not EXACTLY the same, but it's the same general idea.

Since the signal is a waveform (like A/C) it really doesn't matter which wire goes where, just so long as you have the speakers in the correct jacks.

I have only installed a few speakers. They have all had notations on them for a + connection and a - connection. I have read about speakers that use their case as a ground and only have a + tab for a connection.

I don't know what else a wire would be for unless it were to carry "electricity". Maybe its the kind of "electricity" that has no voltage.

I don't know if I should snicker, or weep!


Stuart

Stoo - snicker and weep both if ya want, but don't blow yer cone and notice that with audio "ground" is actually "common"

I don't know about "all" speakers, but I do know that Hardy's are differentiated by wire color, as most I've seen [usually red and black or copper and silver] - apply yer 12V battery to that + and - and see what ya hear from the radio - an audio signal is not "voltage" in the sense that Hardy suggests, to be checked with a battery

Bill

I guess I am confused. I have searched for info on this topic and everything I find indicates the voltage that drives the speakers is pure DC.

Every reference to speaker connections implies they are polarity sensitive. The wires are usually marked or the speaker tabs themselves are marked.

The "Stoo" reference indicates the start of the yearly ******* contest. I don't want to join, I just want factual information in these topics.

Either I am misunderstanding the information that has been posted, or that information is not accurate.


Stuart

I ain't about to get into this one. I had enough trouble with 10w30 oil.

Do the 9v test it ain't that tuff to do. Just hook it up and look for which direction the cone pulls or pushes to. Lets see here if it jumps up that is the correct connection. Is that correct?
I don't know what differing info is out there but speakers require voltage to work. Don't beleive me? Hook up a volt meter to the wire.

There is a polarity on the speakers but it only changes the stereo sound quality. Iv,e put in a lot of them & just hooed em up which everway they fall in & can,t tell the difference.

ya just gotta love a man who thinks like some of us do
like my dark sucker......

R.R. http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002227#000017

these truck radios ain't hi fi home stereos

audio is an AC signal of varying phase or "polarity", not DC - a truck speaker has 2 connections, one [either one] goes to a jack or terminal on the radio, one [the 'other' one] goes to the radio case or "common", usually using a "ground" near the speaker if the radio is mounted to the metal cab - as wrenchbender sez, "polarity" will have an effect with respect to stereo sound .... if you have multiple speakers they should all be hooked up the same or the "out of phase" condition created makes for dull sound .... OTOH, the original speakers in these trucks were not marked + and - as it made no difference whatever for the simple non-stereo system - the cone pulls in when the audio waveform signal tells it to, pushes out for the same reason, and you want multiple speakers pushing and pulling at the same time

Bill

HardyRestoration,

In your initial post, you mention wiring your "car". No where in your profile does it indicate what kind of car that might be.


What kind of "car" is it?

Stuart

If all else fails, do it the redneck way as I have many times in the past-turn radio "on", temporarily hook the speaker up both ways(I usually put a finger on the back of the cone), you can usually tell one way sounds better & the speaker deflects backward on the bass notes & if you can't tell, it makes no real difference anyway. Brian

red58 & Brendan,


I have seen the audio "A/C" light and apologies are in order...you were both correct, and I was wrong. :o :o

If you want to 'kill' the speaker, evidently DC will do it in short order.

Stuart

understood - accepted - we're "in phase" now
I see I misspoke too - didn't attend to Hardy dealing w/ a car, maybe a newer one, which may indeed have multiple speakers which might be marked somehow other than the wire color .... tho the new AM/FM/CD unit I just put in a buddies panel has provision for 4 speakers, and the speakers aren't marked in any way, just wires color coded for front/back and left/right

Bill