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Home audio & video forum: Determing polarity on speaker

by: sviatapolk June 6, 2012 5:12 PM PDT

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Determing polarity on speaker

by sviatapolk - 6/6/12 5:12 PM

I was just given a classic stereo receiver and some old fashioned Polk 7 speakers.

The speaker terminals are not, however, marked either by color (red/black) or polarity (+,-) whereas the stereo receiver is. The speaker terminals are marked 1 and 2. How can I know if 1 is the red/+ or if 1 is the black/-?

I've tried them both ways and I can't hear a difference.


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It really doesn't matter whether you call 1 is + or -

by ahtoi - 6/6/12 9:12 PM

In Reply to: Determing polarity on speaker by sviatapolk

The important thing you are consistent. If 1 is red then all 1 is red on all speakers.


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Ahtoi, are you sure about this?

by Lee Koo (ADMIN) ModeratorCNET staff - 6/7/12 10:19 AM

In Reply to: It really doesn't matter whether you call 1 is + or - by ahtoi

I think it does make a difference--if the polarity is reversed the speaker woofer/cone will play inverted rather that pushing out.

On tweeters and smaller mid range speakers you may not hear the difference at low volumes when the polarity is reversed, but if you have woofers and mid ranges that are playing at higher volumes with more bass, you should be able to hear the speakers distort and it sounds horrible.

Maybe OP got lucky when hooking it up, but I still think it makes a difference, but I could be wrong as I haven't tinkered with speakers in a long time. When I use to install car audio 20 years ago, when the polarity was wrong, we new immediately as the woofer would sound horrible and the speaker would play inverted rather than pushing out.

-Lee


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I am betting my 2 cents worth.

by ahtoi - 6/7/12 12:19 PM

In Reply to: Ahtoi, are you sure about this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN) Moderator CNET staff

The signal going into the speakers are AC. The polarity changes every 1/2 cycle. But if we are consistent in our connections then the phasing would be ok (unless some one marked the speaker incorrectly).


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Proper phasing.

by mjd420nova - 6/7/12 4:50 PM

In Reply to: It really doesn't matter whether you call 1 is + or - by ahtoi

The polarization needs to be consistant to get the music in phase and all speaker elements moving in the same direction at the same time. Yes, the signal is AC up to 18,000 cycles (hertz to the newbies) Kilocycles is more appropriate. Most all speaker cables you'll run across are paired, one silver (actually nickel) plated copper and the other just copper. This can help to keep things right. In larger systems, intermixing gives some terrible effects that sound garbled. Single tone testing reveal which one is swapped. I have seen some reputed speakers to have one of the elements (midrange 5 inch) was swapped and it almost made me sick. A $700. speaker no less.


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