[EADGBE]

OK, here is the deal.

I have never run across this situation before, and I really don't know
what to do about it.

A friend of mine has a Philips HTS6500 home theater DVD system. This
system includes two front satellite speaker enclosures. Each speaker
enclosure has three small full-range speakers inside of it. Each
enclosure connects to the main amplifier unit with a unique 6-wire
plug.

Somewhere along the way, BOTH of the front satellite speakers had most
of their wires (including the plug) cut off and thrown away. (Don't
ask...it's a long story.)

So I have two satellite speaker enclosures, with six (6) wires coming
out of each enclosure, and no plugs. NOTE: All six wires coming out
of the enclosures are different colors.

I have some replacement wire, and I have even found some replacement 6-
wire plugs (male & female socket pairs) that I can use. But I am
having trouble determining how to wire the speakers...READ ON...

I CANNOT open up the enclosures. They appear to be glued shut. I
would have to severely damage or even destroy the integrity of the
enclosures to be able to get inside of them to see which wires go to
which speaker. I cannot even remove the front speaker cloth to be
able to unscrew the speakers.

HERE IS MY QUESTION: Although I can determine, through process of
elimination, which wires are paired with which speaker, I still don't
know how I can prevent wiring one or more speakers in each enclosure
out of phase. I can get each of the three speakers in each enclosure
to start "making some noise", but I don't know how to observe the
proper "polarity" of each speaker so that all speakers in both of the
enclosures will be in phase.

Is there some method to "blindly" connect speakers in order to get the
phase correct?

I don't know if I am willing to trust one of these manual download
sites, and I don't even know if the service manual would have the
speaker wire hookup information I need in the first place, so I'm
stuck.

I told you this was a strange question....

As always, any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Chris Hornbeck]

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:24:37 -0700 (PDT), EADGBE
wrote:

Is there some method to "blindly" connect speakers in order to get the
phase correct?

Your question is really properly called one of "polarity",
rather than "phase", which is an almost unrelated issue.
(almost...)

Polarity can be tested by observing, with a microphone,
the speaker's output from an asymmetrical signal, or
physically, with a finger on the diaphragm, (the speaker's
movement with a small DV voltage (a 1.5V cell is usually
enough).

By convention, a positive voltage gives a positive room air
pressure, that is, the cone moves "outwards".

The larger issue of which polarity (_NOT_ "phase") is correct
for a particular crossing-over is left for a much, much
larger discussion.

Much thanks, as always,

Chris Hornbeck

[Richard Crowley]

"EADGBE" wrote ...
HERE IS MY QUESTION: Although I can determine, through process of
elimination, which wires are paired with which speaker, I still don't
know how I can prevent wiring one or more speakers in each enclosure
out of phase. I can get each of the three speakers in each enclosure
to start "making some noise", but I don't know how to observe the
proper "polarity" of each speaker so that all speakers in both of the
enclosures will be in phase.

Is there some method to "blindly" connect speakers in order to get the
phase correct?

You didn't mention whether you could *see* the speaker
cones. If you can, using a 1.5v cell will easily tell you
which wires are speaker pairs, and what the polarity is.

If you can't see the speakers, you can try pairs of them
one way and then the other to *hear* the effect of in
vs. out of phase. It should be pretty obvious with
some audio signals.

[EADGBE]

Thanks for all of the valuable info so far.

Yes, I can see the actual speaker cones. Just barely, through the
grille cloth.....

[Thomas Tornblom]

You could also test by connecting two of the speakers in parallel and
feeding some music to it. Switch one of the speakers. The connection
that gives the loudest sound and most bass is the setting where the
two speakers have the same polarity. Repeat for the third speaker.

[jakdedert]

EADGBE wrote:
Thanks for all of the valuable info so far.

Yes, I can see the actual speaker cones. Just barely, through the
grille cloth.....

If you can, obviously the '+' terminal is the one which gives you
outward movement of the cone, when connected to the '+' terminal on the
battery. However, if you can't make it out from direct observation, try
laying the speaker on it's back and lay something very light--like a
wisp of lint or a piece of tissue paper on top.

Connecting/disconnecting the battery might cause enough movement to
determine polarity, by whether the waste jumps or appears to be
momentarily attracted to the box.

jak

[Arny Krueger]

"EADGBE" wrote in message


HERE IS MY QUESTION: Although I can determine, through
process of elimination, which wires are paired with which
speaker, I still don't know how I can prevent wiring one
or more speakers in each enclosure out of phase. I can
get each of the three speakers in each enclosure to start
"making some noise", but I don't know how to observe the
proper "polarity" of each speaker so that all speakers in
both of the enclosures will be in phase.

Is there some method to "blindly" connect speakers in
order to get the phase correct?

I looked up the Philips HTS6500 system and I have good news for you.

All three drivers in each enclosure are full-range drivers.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/cons...37_US_CONSUMER

It also says that the three drivers in each statellite a

"3 x 3" full range woofer"

I'm guessing that each driver has its own amplifier, and that the speakers
are all hooked up to a full-range amplifier, and with the same polarity.

You should be able to figure out when you have two full-range drivers hooked
up with the same polarity, doing so will maximize low frequency response.

So play a mono source with some bass. Hook up one driver in one speaker.
Hook up another, and try each of the two possible polarities and use the one
with the most bass. Do the same with the third driver. Then with the other
speaker box in close proximity to the first, hook up the addtional 3 drivers
using the same method of picking the alternative with the most bass.

Also, when you hook up two similar drivers to the same source, the
in-polarity connection will make the sound appear to be more focussed, and
the out-of-polarity connection will make the sound appear to be more
diffused.

[Bob Woodward]

Arny Krueger wrote:
"EADGBE" wrote in message


HERE IS MY QUESTION:

It makes no sense connecting the speaker with 6-wires when there
is no special use for this. So there is and it is called:
" SonoWave Surround Sound "
Meaning the sound to all separate drivers in one enclosure is
processed in order to achieve this surround sound while placing
only front speakers.

Therefore it is not enough to know the phase of the separate
speakers, you also have to know which of the 3 speakers is the
outer, middle and inner.

So knowing the phase gets you started and you could maybe find
the correct phase of the 3 separate power-amps per side on the
outlets by turning off the surround effect and connect the 3
marked pairs.

After that you should be experimenting with "surround on"
to hear more ore less of that (fake) surround.

Better have someone with the same system finding out the pinning
for you.

Robert

[EADGBE]

Robert:

DARN! Just when I thought I was seeing light at the end of the
tunnel, you had to go and make a very good point about the possibility
of "fake" surround sound making a difference in the pinning of the
connectors. I would say you ruined my day, but you really did make a
good point that I had never considered until now.

I will assume that the middle two pins are for the middle speaker, at
least. I'll go with that assumption until and unless I discover
conflicting evidence....

Thanks for your input!