How do I know which is + & - ends of a speaker cable?

[timbo999]

I have moved into a new house and the previous owner kindly routed speaker cables into the corners of the room. Problem is, I don’t know which is positive and which is negative. How do I found out which is which?

I'm guessing that I won’t damage the amp or speakers by connecting them the wrong way round? They’ll just be out of phase? So they’ll be pulling the speaker instead of pushing it? can I tell that way? “sounds” tricky to tell the difference though, surely?

Cheers,

Tim

 

[sta99y]

If you play pink noise through each speaker with you in you're listening position the sound should be localised in phase ( correct way wired) out of phase will give a dispersed sound which sounds all around ( incorrect way wired)

Hope this helps

Also if you have auto setup on you're av amp this should detect the wiring phase.

 

[toyota man]

I use a AAA 1.5 v battery connect speakers one end out battery the other take note which wire you connect to the + and the- watch the speaker cone they ( l/h r/h ) both need to pull in or both need to push out so they are both in phase or if you have a test meter you could do a continuity test which you would set the meter to ohms or continuity and then connect one meter lead to one end of speaker and the other meter to the other end of speaker cable and whe correct cable is selected the meter woul read a low resitance or it would beep I hope this is a help to you good luck

 

[toyota man]

sorry about missing word it should read connect one meter lead to one end of speaker cable and connect the other meter lead to the other end of speaker cable you shoul have a low ohms reading or the meter will beep

 

[chebby]

Most speaker cables have a slight 'ridge' (on the side of one conductor only), running the whole length of the cable - on the PVC insulating jacket.

If yours have the same kind of ridge then you can just decide that is positive at all the ends and connect accordingly.

 

[nads]

Most speaker cables have a slight 'ridge' (on the side of one conductor only), running the whole length of the cable - on the PVC insulating jacket.

If yours have the same kind of ridge then you can just decide that is positive at all the ends and connect accordingly.

or the text is on one side only.