Hi,

I feel very smart to ask this, but how do you tell if your
speakers are hooked up correctly?

I built shelves to liberate my B&W 201s from the bookshelf. I
also bought proper 14 gauge wire to replace the 18. One speaker uses
about 30', the other 12 or 13. Near as I can tell, the wire's
symmetrical, no writing on one side, both strands mixed copper and
brass. I already buried much of the longer wire, and I have trouble
separating strands on even a much shorter length.

I turned the balance to one side, played that speaker, then
switched polarity as it played.

Sorry .... but both ways sounded fine.

They're playing now and they sound excellent, liberated from
the contraints of squeezing into a bookshelf. Maybe I oughtn't to
worry, but odds are that at least one is hooked up with incorrect
polarity. What are the consequences of that, and what should I listen
for?

TIA

Andy Katz
************************************************** *************
Being lied to so billionaires can wage war for profits
while indebting taxpayers for generations to come, now
that's just a tad bit bigger than not admitting you like
the big moist-moist lips of chunky trollops on your pecker.

Paghat, the Rat Girl

In article ,
says...

Hi,

I feel very smart to ask this, but how do you tell if your
speakers are hooked up correctly?

I built shelves to liberate my B&W 201s from the bookshelf. I
also bought proper 14 gauge wire to replace the 18. One speaker uses
about 30', the other 12 or 13. Near as I can tell, the wire's
symmetrical, no writing on one side, both strands mixed copper and
brass. I already buried much of the longer wire, and I have trouble
separating strands on even a much shorter length.

I turned the balance to one side, played that speaker, then
switched polarity as it played.

Sorry .... but both ways sounded fine.

They're playing now and they sound excellent, liberated from
the contraints of squeezing into a bookshelf. Maybe I oughtn't to
worry, but odds are that at least one is hooked up with incorrect
polarity. What are the consequences of that, and what should I listen
for?

TIA

Andy Katz


Hi Andy Set your amplifier or receiver to monaural (mono) and play
a recording (voice works well), otherwise play a mono recording. When
you are positioned midway between the speakers, the voice or sound should
appear to come precisely from midway between the speakers with a clearly
defined image, when the polarity is correct. Otherwise the sound will be
diffuse and somewhat odd sounding, with no clear image. Switch polarity
to ONE speaker - you will hear the difference.
Absolute polarity is another subject. This is also dependent on the
absolute phase of the recording and is somewhat controversial.

Hammingaway

Your speaker terminals should be marked. Use an ohmmeter to determine
which wire is which and mark them with a magic marker. The amplifier
should also have its terminals marked.

Now what was your question??

jclause wrote:

Hi Andy Set your amplifier or receiver to monaural
(mono) and play
a recording (voice works well), otherwise play a mono
recording. When
you are positioned midway between the speakers, the voice
or sound
should appear to come precisely from midway between the
speakers with
a clearly defined image, when the polarity is correct.
Otherwise the
sound will be diffuse and somewhat odd sounding, with no
clear image.
Switch polarity to ONE speaker - you will hear the
difference.
Absolute polarity is another subject. This is also
dependent on the
absolute phase of the recording and is somewhat
controversial.

Good advice. I've never seen a speaker that was damaged by
hooking up to a single "AA" battery. If you can see the
woofer cone, a AA battery should cause it to pop foreward,
if your wires are hooke up right.

In article ,
says...

Hi,
I feel very smart to ask this, but how do you tell if your
speakers are hooked up correctly?

I follow the wire. Most speaker wire has a mark to differentiate the wire.
Some have ribs on one side, others print on the wire insulation. Once you
do that, just be cinsistent and you should have no problems.
----------------
Alex

On 11 May 2005 19:59:21 -0700, wrote:

Your speaker terminals should be marked. Use an ohmmeter to determine
which wire is which and mark them with a magic marker. The amplifier
should also have its terminals marked.

Now what was your question??

I have an ohmmeter, but how does that determine polarity?

My speaker wires are, so far as I can tell, symmetrical.

Andy Katz
************************************************** *************
Being lied to so billionaires can wage war for profits
while indebting taxpayers for generations to come, now
that's just a tad bit bigger than not admitting you like
the big moist-moist lips of chunky trollops on your pecker.

Paghat, the Rat Girl

On Thu, 12 May 2005 06:27:58 -0400, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:

jclause wrote:

Hi Andy Set your amplifier or receiver to monaural
(mono) and play
a recording (voice works well), otherwise play a mono
recording. When
you are positioned midway between the speakers, the voice
or sound
should appear to come precisely from midway between the
speakers with
a clearly defined image, when the polarity is correct.
Otherwise the
sound will be diffuse and somewhat odd sounding, with no
clear image.
Switch polarity to ONE speaker - you will hear the
difference.
Absolute polarity is another subject. This is also
dependent on the
absolute phase of the recording and is somewhat
controversial.

Good advice. I've never seen a speaker that was damaged by
hooking up to a single "AA" battery. If you can see the
woofer cone, a AA battery should cause it to pop foreward,
if your wires are hooke up right.

Thanks to both of you. I did try setting fm to monaural and listened.
The sound was clear, though I can't guarantee that I heard a clearly
defined image. Perhaps by sheer luck of the draw they're set
correctly.

I'll try the battery test.

Andy Katz
************************************************** *************
Being lied to so billionaires can wage war for profits
while indebting taxpayers for generations to come, now
that's just a tad bit bigger than not admitting you like
the big moist-moist lips of chunky trollops on your pecker.

Paghat, the Rat Girl

On Thu, 12 May 2005 12:23:48 -0400, Alex Rodriguez
wrote:

In article ,
says...

Hi,
I feel very smart to ask this, but how do you tell if your
speakers are hooked up correctly?

I follow the wire. Most speaker wire has a mark to differentiate the wire.
Some have ribs on one side, others print on the wire insulation. Once you
do that, just be cinsistent and you should have no problems.

That's what I usually do. In fact I would have been more careful in
rolling out the wire if I'd realized it wasn't marked, the sides, so
far as I can tell, undifferentiated in any way. As it stands, I may
have to go back and follow the wire, it's just easy to lose track with
lengths such as this.

Andy Katz
************************************************** *************
Being lied to so billionaires can wage war for profits
while indebting taxpayers for generations to come, now
that's just a tad bit bigger than not admitting you like
the big moist-moist lips of chunky trollops on your pecker.

Paghat, the Rat Girl

I've never seen any wire where it was not possible to tell that one
side was different than the other. Either the color of the wire itself
is different, there is a maring of + or -, or there are some sort of
ridges on one of the insulators.