Tips to identify positive/negative speaker cable ends buried in walls

[Racingsnake13]

I was recently flooded out of my house resulting in my whole house being gutted. Unfortunately the plasterers managed to lose the marker labels I had left on my speaker cables buried in the walls to identify corresponding ends.

Now I am back in and hooked back up my system, I cannot tell with confidence how to wire everything back up correctly. I don't think there is the potential to damage my system (is there?) but I know suboptimal sounds will result if done incorrectly.

Is there a simple trick or tool to help me identify corresponding ends of a cable?

Thanks

 

[RobinKidderminster]

a cheap continuity tester or battery & bulb I suggest

 

[CnoEvil]

I am very sorry to hear about your flooding.

There is a simple way to determine this:

- Get a simple AA or AAA battery.

- With the cable connected to the speaker, connect the other end to the +ve & -ve sides of the battery.

- If the speaker cone moves outward, then the wire connected to the +ve of the battery, is the positive connection. If the cone moves inwards, it is the other way round.

 

[Racingsnake13]

Perfect. Thanks for the answer!

 

[Racingsnake13]

Thank you CnoEvil. Really interesting solution. I'll be giving that one a crack!

 

[MajorFubar]

9V battery on one end of the cable and a multimeter on the other. There are people who go their whole lives without owning or needing a mulimeter. How they manage this is beyond me. It's right there in my top five list of things you need in life beneath 1) food/drink, 2) shelter, 3) warmth, and 4) somewhere to pee and poop.

 

[nads]

most quality cable has different profiles for the wires casing. have a look or a feel.