Speaker trouble - Help

[1stormcat]

I was just putting a new speaker into a cab and now that I unsoldered the old speaker I can't remember if white or black was connected to the Positive terminal.

I know I should have taken a picture of the speaker before I changed anything.

 

[rockon1]

Dont worry its not going to hurt anything if you get them reversed. I would ass-u-me the white goes to positive and black to negative but Im not "positive" about that-pun intended. If your not using an extention cab with the amp it wont even matter. Do the speaker wires plug into the amp with a 1/4 in jack? If so you can touch the tip of the plug to the positive side of a 9 volt battery and the sleeve to the negative side- briefly and watch the speaker cone move. If its wired "correctly" it will move outward when you try this. Bob

 

[1stormcat]

Unfortunately it is in a 1x12 cab that will be used together with another 1x12 cab. So it will make a difference.

 

[rockon1]

Do the speaker wires plug into the amp with a 1/4 in jack? If so you can touch the tip of the plug to the positive side of a 9 volt battery and the sleeve to the negative side- briefly and watch the speaker cone move. If its wired "correctly" it will move outward when you try this.


Also if you tell us what make the amp is perhaps someone here is familiar with it and can just tell you the proper set up. Bob

 

[SatelliteAmps]

If you do test it with a 9v, tap the battery but do not let the battery just sit on the connections. You can fry the voice coil. This will only tell you which way one speaker is. You may have to test both speakers to get this figured out. Not a big deal.

If it is a 2x12, the wiring depends on whether it is wired in series or parallel. Here's the breakdown of possibilities:

Two speakers wired in series. Of the two loose wires, one would be going to the jack, and the other to the other speaker. In which case, see which connection is hooked up to the jack, wire that to the correct speaker terminal (tip to +, or sleeve to -). The other wire goes to the other speaker terminal on the unknown connected speaker.

Two speakers wired in parallel. The loose wires will be either two wires coming directly off the jack, or two coming directly off the other speaker. If it's off the jack, put the tip to the +, and the sleeve to the -. If it's off the other speaker, then you will have to test both speakers to figure out which is hot on both speakers. (most brands have either a red dot, or a + to mark the hot connection). Then hook both hots to each other, and both negatives to each other. (It the speakers are the same brand and make, then the hot and negative terminals are almost always the same spot.)

 

[1stormcat]

Good idea! I'll give it a try

 

[ohmslaw]

Why don't you just use a multimeter to see which of the two leads is connected to the tip of the jack? That would be your positive lead and the sleeve would of course be ground. Unplug the jack from the amp and test it. I know it's sort of a simple answer but it's the right one and I should have thought perhaps the obvious one...
:BEER

BTW, it DOES make a difference...if you are recording or using a second amp and you are out of phase it will cause all kinds of sonic havoc. If you are only using the one amp then no, it makes no difference as long as both speakers are seeing the same phase but it's just bad form to slap a speaker wire back on not even bothering to care if it's done right.

 

[rockon1]

Why don't you just use a multimeter to see which of the two leads is connected to the tip of the jack? That would be your positive lead and the sleeve would of course be ground. Unplug the jack from the amp and test it. I know it's sort of a simple answer but it's the right one and I should have thought perhaps the obvious one...
:BEER

.

Im surprised I didnt think of that myself. Then again many dont have a meter or even know how to use one. The battery test is simple-sort of... Bob

 

[SatelliteAmps]

Because using a multimeter won't tell you which lead is positive on the speaker itself, only on the jack, which isn't the problem.

 

[ohmslaw]

Because using a multimeter won't tell you which lead is positive on the speaker itself, only on the jack, which isn't the problem.

From his question, I gathered he could not remember whether the white or black lead from the speaker connecting cable went to the positive or negative terminal on the speaker. He didn't say the speaker wasn't marked (which would be very unusual, can't remember seeing that before, unless it's some junk speaker that should be replaced anyway), but that he could not remember which way to hook up the wires.

"I was just putting a new speaker into a cab and now that I unsoldered the old speaker I can't remember if white or black was connected to the Positive terminal."

If the speaker isn't marked that's a different question.

 

[SatelliteAmps]

Either way, there is enough info here to solve it.

 

[ohmslaw]

Either way, there is enough info here to solve it.

Yes, and thanks for the tip on figuring the polarity on the unmarked speaker.

 

[ohmslaw]

Either way, there is enough info here to solve it.

Those are some sweet-looking amps on your site.

 

[Stu Blue]

Very simple way of checking speakers are in phase, just place the extention cab front of your combo with speakers directly facing each other, turn up bass on amp, try wires each way round with one speaker, if it's in phase lots of bass, out phase markedly less bass. Always worth checking any extension cab is in phase this way... I know folks who carry a reversed wired speaker lead just for this purpose...