Speaker wires - the marked cable is + or - ?

[hb]

We have some high mounted speakers - and when the amp went to the shop we
forgot to note which way round the wires were connected. They were
installed by a professional - so is there a common rule for which wire would
be +'ve or -'ve ? The speaker cable has one wire marked with writing - I
can't read what it says without buying a magnifying glass tho.

As I said I can't see the back of the speaker - and its above the height a
simple step ladder can reach.

TIA for any help.

[the-austrian]

I don't believe there is any common rule. I'd say you'd need to
contact the guy (or girl) who installed, or pull the speakers down.

[Barak]

"the-austrian" <the-austrian@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:1123031032.144714.150620@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>I don't believe there is any common rule. I'd say you'd need to
> contact the guy (or girl) who installed, or pull the speakers down.

The wire is only a piece of copper so it doesn't know which polarity it is.
The manufacturer will often put his name on one side so you can call that
one the positive (or negative if you like). Then when you go to the other
end of the cable you know what is what. Sometimes there is a stripe on one
core or even a raised edge to help you discern each core.

Bob

[Mike]

"Barak" <barak@hotmail.com> wrote
> The wire is only a piece of copper so it doesn't know which polarity it
> is.

Exactly. It's like the AM/PM indicator on your clock radio. Whether On
means AM or PM is entirely up to you. And both ways work!

[conradvr@yahoo.com]

If these are the only two speakers in the system, then connect them
using any polarity and just hope that who installed them was consistent
between the two.

If they are part of a multi speaker system then you don't want to
connect them up out of phase with the other speakers. If you can see
the cones it is easy to figure out using a small battery (1.5V). Just
connect the wires to the battery and use the direction of cone travel
to figure out what is connected to what. Else get a ladder.

[bassett]

Some cables have one core Copper coloured and the other Silver.

"Mike" <mike.n@nospam-westnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:42f16485$1@funnel.arach.net.au...
>
> "Barak" <barak@hotmail.com> wrote
>> The wire is only a piece of copper so it doesn't know which polarity it
>> is.
>
> Exactly. It's like the AM/PM indicator on your clock radio. Whether On
> means AM or PM is entirely up to you. And both ways work!
>
>
>

[Chopsus Maximus]

hb wrote:
> We have some high mounted speakers - and when the amp went to the shop we
> forgot to note which way round the wires were connected. They were
> installed by a professional - so is there a common rule for which wire would
> be +'ve or -'ve ? The speaker cable has one wire marked with writing - I
> can't read what it says without buying a magnifying glass tho.
>
> As I said I can't see the back of the speaker - and its above the height a
> simple step ladder can reach.
>
> TIA for any help.
>
>
Black is usually negative and I would guess in absence of a black the
one with writing would be the negative. The other way to go is hook em
up then run one of those audio phase tests from a THX cerified DVD ....
it will tell you by the sound if the wires are around the wrong way.

Chops