Speaker cable positve or negative?

open the jack and have a look, positive will be attached to the tip.

 

As long as it's only one speaker and one amp, + and - doesn't matter from amp output to speaker.

If it's more than one speaker or more than one amp in your rig, + and - matters in the way of keeping speakers in phase and avoiding phase cancellation.

 

If you have a multimeter,you can check for continuity between the tip of the jack and each of the two spade lugs.

 

Also, other than printed, you will notice that split wire like that
will have one that has a raised rail alongside. Usually the
grooved or ribbed side is hot in many elec applications.

 

Get a cheap multimeter. It will come in handy.

 

OH. Someone taught me that the ribbed one was negative. Darn.

 

Actually in AC the ribbed side is neutral. I'm pretty sure in DC the printed side is hot, but a DMM continuity test to the jack tip as someone suggested will confirm.

 

This post is 100% correct.

The difference between connecting one speaker -+ and +- is which direction the cone moves on which part of the signal's waveform (which is why wiring 2 speakers "out of phase" sounds so bad & quiet, one cone is moving in while the other moves out). You can check this yourself by playing through the amp, turning it off, swapping the spade connections, turning it back on and playing through it again (don't disconnect speakers from a tube amp while it's on, it creates the possibility of a real big repair bill). This is but one of the simple, empirical ways to understand how absurd "directional" speaker cable is.

 

i use a multimeter to confirm that I connect cable + (tip) to the speaker +. Then I check the phase with the "match" test. Light a match and hold it in front of the speaker and apply a signal. If the match flame flickers AWAY from the speaker, I'm done. If the flame draws in toward the speaker, I'll reverse the connection.