Speaker polarity ?

[Mfa88]

Hi
I finally got my Weber 10a125 for my champ build. How do I know which terminal goes for the jack tip and which goes for the sleeve?
On my Weber , one of the terminals is colored red.

 

[screefer]

Good question....subscribed

 

[VintageSG]

The terminal marked + connects to the tip.

If you aren't sure, use a PP3 9V battery ( they deliver three fifths of smeg all current ). Watch for the cone moving outward when the battery is touched to the terminals. Where the +ve connector is, err, connecting(?) is the +ve terminal on the speaker. If the cone moves inward, reverse the battery connections

 

[gmm52]

I've found just about any battery (e.g. AA) will move a speaker enough to know if it's working and to determine polarity, although sometimes you have to have your fingers lightly resting on the edge of the cone to determine direction of excursion. I hate the big pop and large excursion that comes with using a fresh 9V. A practically dead 9V (reading just a few volts) also works well.

 

[Collin D Plonker]

Use an ohm meter or some other device to check continuity between. The tip of the plug and the wire you hooked to positive.

 

[unclearty]

I found that using a C or D cell battery works just fine...and it's only 1.5 volts ..if new!

 

[Tom Kamphuys]

For a single speaker it does not matter. For more speakers, they only have to be the same.

 

[TwangerWannabe]

Does matter if it's one speaker. If you have 2 or more speakers just make sure you connect them all the same, otherwise you'll have phase issues.

 

[schmee]

Red is tip. As long as all speakers move the same direction on initial sound it doesn't really matter.

 

[Tom Kamphuys]

Does matter if it's one speaker.

Ok, I'll bite. Why does it matter if it's one speaker?

Or is it just a typo? Could be, reading between the lines...

 

[D'tar]

n't

Edited for punctuation errors

 

[tubegeek]

I've found just about any battery (e.g. AA) will move a speaker enough to know if it's working and to determine polarity, although sometimes you have to have your fingers lightly resting on the edge of the cone to determine direction of excursion. I hate the big pop and large excursion that comes with using a fresh 9V. A practically dead 9V (reading just a few volts) also works well.

Only reason to prefer a 9V is the convenience of the terminals being on one side. A lower voltage battery will easily give you the info you want, but they're harder to line up with the terminals. Mostly-dead 9V is perfect.

 

[chris m.]

It doesn't matter if it's a single speaker because the sound is a complex but symmetrical waveform that sounds the same whether the first oscillation is upwards or downwards. Reversing the polarity just creates a mirror image of what is a symmetrical sound wave. However, if you have two speakers wired out of phase-- (one has positive amp signal to positive speaker terminal while the other has positive amp signal to negative speaker terminal), then the two speakers will be out of phase. With a typical home stereo system the easiest way to know if you wired the speakers out of phase is if you make them directly face each other about a foot apart. The volume will dramatically drop because the negative mirror image wave from one speaker will literally cancel out the positive wave. In theory the net sound would actually drop to zero volume but it doesn't all quite go away due to leakage and spillage. With a multi-speaker guitar cabinet with the speakers not facing each other, the effect is not as dramatic, but it is still there. Your sound will be weak and thin compared to when you get all the speakers pumping together in unison rather than working at cross purposes.

 

[1300 E Valencia]

1) RED is "+".

2) "+" should be stamped somewhere near the RED terminal.

3) The tip, or "+" terminal on the PLUG* is (or should be, as per convention) connected to the RIBBED side of the two conductor speaker cable. (It actually doesn't matter as long as both ends connect to the same connection).

* "PLUG" is male. "JACK" is female. Don't get 'em mixed up -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[BelindasShadow]

Ok, I'll bite. Why does it matter if it's one speaker?

Or is it just a typo? Could be, reading between the lines...

With all the quibbling about 'tone' here I'm somewhat surprised people don't talk more about absolute polarity.

 

[elpico]

The truth is there's no standard and different speaker manufacturers mark their speakers in different ways. As many members said, if it's a one speaker amp it doesn't matter a bit which wire you connect to which terminal.

If it has two or more speakers you need to make sure they're all in phase, but that still doesn't mean "red has to go to positive". Use a battery to check a Jensen and a JBL and you'll see pretty quick how far rules like "black to ground, red to tip" will get you. (they move opposite directions when wired that way)

 

[TwangerWannabe]

Ok, I'll bite. Why does it matter if it's one speaker?

Or is it just a typo? Could be, reading between the lines...

Google phase cancellation.

If you have one speaker pushing while the other is pulling, you can get phase cancellation. That's the easiest way I can explain it. If you have stereo speakers at home just reverse the leads on one of the speakers and you'll hear it. It won't hurt the speakers in any way. You'll hear something (the stuff that is mixed in mono between both speakers) is "missing".

This is why it doesn't matter which terminal is connected to the positive or negative lead on the speaker, as long as it's consistent and connected the same way for each speaker in a cab with multiple speakers.

 

[tubegeek]

It doesn't matter if it's a single speaker because the sound is a complex but symmetrical waveform.

Very not true. (Yes: complex. No: symmetrical.)
Open a snare sample in a waveform editor for an extreme example.

 

[mrriggs]

Very not true. (Yes: complex. No: symmetrical.)
Open a snare sample in a waveform editor for an extreme example.

Sure, but play a recording of a snare through a speaker then reverse the wires and listen again. It won't sound like a tambourine. No, it'll sound exactly the same.

Our ears are just picking up the pressure differential. It doesn't matter if the pressure is going from high-to-low or low-to-high, if the rate of change is the same then it sounds the same.

 

[Lowerleftcoast]

I finally got my Weber 10a125 for my champ build. How do I know which terminal goes for the jack tip and which goes for the sleeve?
On my Weber , one of the terminals is colored red.

It is perfectly safe to use the red to the tip or sleeve. If you think you can hear a difference, use the one that sounds better to you.
As others have said when two speakers are used together then it is important to keep them in phase.