How to Test the Polarity of a Speaker and Wiring

How to test the polarity on a speaker and the speaker wiring. I’m slowly finalizing the audio system overhaul on my truck after dealing with a mess of wiring. To ensure all speakers are working correctly, I had to check the polarity on both the speakers and wiring. I was also able to reference a wiring diagram specific for this truck to determine which was positive and negative, this will be based on the color-coding of the wire’s insulation. Finding electrical polarity is used to determine which source is positive and which is negative, this is important on both the wiring and speaker sides. With speakers moving in the correct direction, the amplitude is increased. In simple terms, a higher audio output. If the polarity is mixed between speakers, so they’re not operating in the same direction, one will cancel out the other in opposite movements and you’ll be left with poor audio performance. #caraudio #electronics #music
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Tools/Supplies Needed:
-multimeter
-AA battery
-jumper cables
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:30 What is Polarity
00:40 Speaker Removal
00:57 Speaker Testing
02:07 Fault Symptoms
02:33 Testing the Speaker Wiring
03:58 Repairing the Wiring
Procedure:
There is spade terminals on the rear of the speaker, one is large, the other is smaller. I already know the large terminal is positive and the small terminal is negative. To double-check this, we can use a small amount of voltage. Only use a very small power source, such as a used AA battery which is rated at 1.5 volts. While there is still a risk here, a higher voltage battery can certainly damage the coil in the speaker.
Touch the wires on the battery terminals, one on negative and the other on positive, and watch the speaker movement. Only do this very briefly, while this is a small battery, holding the speaker movement can damage the coil too. Speakers use an electromagnet to push out the speaker. The correct movement of the speaker is to push out, at the moment the speaker is pulling in, so the polarity is wrong. Flipping the battery around, the speaker pushed out so the polarity is correct. Positive is connected to positive and negative is connected to negative.
Cleaning up the mess, I desoldered the wires on the rear, they were removed and the speakers will be connected using spade terminals instead.
There is a very low voltage output to the speakers, using a digital multimeter, set it to the 200 millivolt DC setting.
Ensure the wires do not make contact with each other or the body, otherwise, you’ll create a short. Now is turned on the radio and you’ll need to turn up the sound louder as well. I have music playing, however, to avoid any copyright issues, it’s been muted out.
Connect the positive probe to the one wire and the negative probe to the other, then watch the value. The value will vary based on the audio output, the only thing we’re looking for here is a positive or negative value.
As the value fluctuates, it stays positive, there’s the red probe is on the positive wire and the black probe is on the negative wires. Make notes of the wire casing color, here I’m working with one grey with a blue stripe and the other is a grey with a yellow stripe.
If the probes were reverse, in other words, the polarity is mixed up, you’ll see a negative value like this.
Another process of elimination is using a known ground source and only testing one speaker wire. This known ground can be a known ground wire, body bolt, or in this case, I’m using the steel structural frame under the dashboard. The black probe is used here, then using the red probe, check the wires. The one with the value will be the positive wire, leaving the other wire to be negative.
Unfortunately, the wires are too short to hook up the speakers, I cut them back to expose a clean conductor and soldered on extensions using the leftover wiring from the new amp. I purchased quality spade terminals, there are two sizes. So beyond the wires being color-coded, the spade terminals are also specific to the terminals on the speakers, so they can’t be mixed up. These crimp terminals not only clamp onto the conduction, but they clamp onto the wire’s insulation providing more of a reliable connection and have vinyl covers to protect the terminals.
Thank you to all those who watch my videos and support my content. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel for future tutorial videos and like my video if you found it helpful. New videos are always being uploaded every week!
© 4DIYers 2013
All Rights Reserved
No part of this video or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author.

[@ecesarchavez]

Been looking all over KZbin for how to test polarity on the speaker wires themselves from the stereo on an classic full size jeep. Every video shows how to test the speaker polarity but your video finally shows how to properly test identical wires from the stereo to know which is positive and which is negative. Thank you so much!!!!!!

[@4DIYers]

You're very welcome!

[@kristopherdetar4346]

Thank you Mister. I had forgotten how to do this because the last time was 40 years ago when putting in a sound system in my brand new 1983 El Camino.

[@alan36753]

Eureeka! A refreshingly nice clean and simple video for us numpties. Thank you from Birmingham England

[@4DIYers]

Thank you so much for the kind words!

[@damon323]

@@4DIYers My Amazon special multimeter seems to only do 400mV, in which I don’t get a reading. How much do I need to turn up the volume?

[@roynorw]

well its about time best video by far on wire polarity everybody else focused only on speaker thank u brother

[@tomsayen9295]

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! I replaced the 3.5 inch dash speakers in my classic 1989 Dodge Aries and the wire color code did not agree with the shop manual. I tried reversing connections and listening by ear but your tip to use the multimeter to determine the positive speaker wire for each channel was marvelous! I am now a subscriber!

[@4DIYers]

No problem, happy I could help and thank you so much for the feedback and support. Greatly appreciated.

[@jasonbauer7016]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I spent an hour looking through wiring diagrams for my 2011 Nissan Altima while replacing the rear speakers. They ALL show wire colors that do not exist in my car.

[@4DIYers]

No problem, happy I could help!

[@jordanhess2061]

Same here for a 96 civic LOL

[@trev815]

Love this ! just fit an amplified sub and the sound was crap ! This came up this morning on my feed and low and behold , a little prod with the multimeter and the aftermarket t harness speaker wires were back to front so polarity was wrong ! Pain in the arse to pull dash apart again so swapped pins in the molex plug and now she kicks 👌 thanks

[@marcus51112]

Im so grateful for this video, i just found out half of my speakers was connected wrong and it didn't sound well in my car but now after i watched your video, it all make sense and the speakers are pushing out the bass i was missing and it sound beautiful! Thanks mate, really a helpful video for a noobie like me 😄

[@4DIYers]

I’m so happy I was able to help and thank you for the kind words!

[@jahcousteauu_STAYinSHAPE]

Very helpful and informative… excellent video, thanks a bunch

[@AndysDogHouse]

Hey 4DI. Thanks for the info and for sharing it with all of us. 🍁👍👍

[@4DIYers]

No problem, always happy to help!

[@tarikouba]

Thank you exactly what I was looking for over one hour!

[@LykeArgy]

2h here

[@erictownsend8711]

Very helpful and well demonstrated. I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@4DIYers]

You're very welcome and thank you for the kind words.

[@hittz8331]

I also learned..... easily, didnt have to rewind 100 times because of music or slured speech. Excellent video. Thanks much 4DIYers.

[@barrybebenek8691]

Good info in this vid. Like closeup of the speaker function with minimal applied voltage.🇨🇦👍🏼

[@greenatlantis1]

Many thanks for sharing, easy to follow and helped me out.

[@oyajiblues]

such a simple thing that had me stumped. Thank you so much. I am wiring an old fender guitar amp. I know the pos. vs.neg on the wires coming from the amp, but the speakers had no specific markings. So this will be an easy test.

[@4DIYers]

You're very welcome!

[@onlylexus]

After searching KZbin for hour after hour all I could find was how to identify the positive side of a speaker only, using the old battery trick, there are hundreds of those. However, I could not find anything on how to identify the polarity of the actual speaker cables... well until now that is! I now have a sense of great relief as I now know how to fit some Pyramid tweeters, which I did work out which was the positive terminal side, but not the cable coming from the windscreen where the old tweeters were mounted, there were no speakers there at all anymore, but I wanted to refit some. The problem had me stumped how to figure which cable was the positive side coming from the head, and I couldn't get the unit out to look at the back of the alpine stereo as that was going to be a huge job. So, I tried what you suggested here and hey presto I hade my problem solved! thanks to you. I am so very grateful and can't thank you enough. I am pushing it I know, but one question... the Pyramid tweeters I bought have a capacitor (or is it a condenser?) already fitted and soldered from the red side and the instructions say that I need to connect the other end to the positive side coming from the stereo (now that I have at last identified it, with your help) do I need to use this capacitor or can I do away with it and just do a normal 2 way wiring to the tabs? I dont think my stereo has a cross over, because of that maybe I do need to use the capacitor. Any ideas. Happy to subscribe to your wonderful helpful channel now.

[@4DIYers]

Thank you so much for the support! How many speakers are installed and are the tweeters connecting to wires which already have speakers connected to them?

[@StupidEarthlings]

Nice vid. Clear and no fluff. Annd.. good video..😊

[@jonathantenorio8829]

Thanks for your video. Very straight forward and helpful 👌

[@4DIYers]

You're very welcome and thank you for the kind words!

[@charldhechter]

Thank you! Was looking for a way to check the output polarity from the amp and this worked great with my multimeter!

[@4DIYers]

Glad I could help!

[@majeedkhan8234]

Thanks mate for a very simple and straight forward explaination

[@4DIYers]

No problem, happy to help!

[@DJSickey]

This is actually really good tutorial bro... I have digital multimeter/unimeter like yours, and you explained nicely how to use it to detect positive and negative wire.

[@4DIYers]

Thank you so much for the kind words!

[@ashrafwolf]

thanks for the valuable information , keep up the good work .

[@4DIYers]

Thank you so much for the kind words, much appreciated!

[@lesb7679]

Thank you mate, exactly what I was looking for.

[@4DIYers]

Happy to help!

[@scottym3]

Thank you for this video. I'm changing out a speaker in my car and the wires are set into a plug from the factory. No idea which is + or -. Old speaker had no markings. Thanks to you I can now check which is the hot and neg coming from my cars wiring.

[@4DIYers]

No problem, happy to help!

[@elillo11]

Thank you this is exactly what I've been looking for.

[@4DIYers]

Glad I could help!

[@blueovalOdell]

Great video. Keep up the hard work.

[@Rene_Christensen]

Also note that for the frequency range of interest, the cone will move inwards for a positive voltage. The battery test is a DC voltage and so the movement is in the opposite direction of the actual operation.

[@mohnnadbshara]

very helpful and well demonstrated. I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.:)

[@4DIYers]

You’re welcome and thank you for the kind words!

[@EDREdr-zh6nk]

Thank you very much, Sir. Your video helped me enormously. It's very well explained.

[@4DIYers]

Awesome to hear and happy to help. Thank you!

[@curiosity2314]

Very good explanation.

[@4DIYers]

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[@limamantapachitas]

great information, thanks for the video

[@4DIYers]

You’re welcome!

[@lourias]

Thank you for showing me how to make sure my speaker polarity is correct. For some super strange reason, my vehicle had 3 different connector types! Two of those three had pins that were identical on the positive and negative. Oy!

[@nilubiswas058]

So easy to understand, ❤❤❤ thank you bro 😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤

[@4DIYers]

You’re very welcome!

[@pinzguy4937]

Great video! My manual didn't define the positive or negative speaker wires, now I know.

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@lorenzoleonor990]

ur the best man so easy to understand

[@4DIYers]

Thank you so much!

[@glennpetsin5865]

Thanks this helps out a lot!

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@bencerise984]

Thanks for this video!

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@jot7625]

crystal clear information

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@senalweerasekara]

this is really useful.

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@mattwarrensocal]

3 of 4 of my speaks were off including factory wiring. Now all in phase. Thank you!

[@4DIYers]

Happy I could help!

[@supernintendo7579]

YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@daljitsingh2143]

brilliant!!! every wiring tip helps. Information is correct! good recap for me..:-)

[@4DIYers]

Thank you so much for the feedback!

[@Sochack]

Hey thank you so much for this I did not know on my multimeter which setting to put it on, that way I could figure out in my truck which wires which because it doesn't say. I have also tried with the speaker a 9 volt battery and that seemed to work okay. Regardless thank you very much.

[@SunshineAndBass]

amazing! thank you!

[@4DIYers]

Thank you so much!

[@Wally17Feb]

Thank you man. 👍

[@4DIYers]

You're welcome!

[@christophertiredofbs8514]

VERY NICE!

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@rexzsx3850]

Thank you brother

[@4DIYers]

No problem!

[@sophiarodriguez1861]

Thank you so much!!!

[@4DIYers]

No problem!

[@Swimfinz]

You 'dah man! Thank you!

[@4DIYers]

Glad to help and thank you for the feedback!

[@jepphilip1759]

Thanks you!!

[@4DIYers]

You're welcome!

[@jjc327]

Thank You!!!!

[@4DIYers]

You're welcome!

[@ELEDUCADITO1]

Thank you

[@4DIYers]

You're welcome!

[@loadinglevelone]

How to you do this for tweeter?

[@officialWWM]

Thanks bro. You sound like a computer but at least you we’re very clear :)

[@ilhamdjs]

I’ve checked with test light the speakers wiring in my car, both positive & negative have current, but the speakers sound normal

[@brianwatson5022]

Hi sir, great video. I tested my wires following instructions and both wires have positive readings. I know this seems impossible but it's true. Any thoughts? Thanks.

[@LykeArgy]

3:24 How accurate is this - reading? Can that be faulty? Cause i can't tell by the sound too much but it feels a bit worse if i connect it your way by measuring with multimeter

[@shuff1111]

Can i test speaker wire polarity with meter while speaker is still connected?

[@YT-glockstreamer]

Need help so I used my multi meter but when I turned it on wire jumped up then went to negative why is that it keeps jumping from postive to negative reading

[@theaustinfamily555]

FYI to everyone I checked my Ford Expedition and the positive terminal on the subwoofer is the small terminal and the negative is the large. I think this is opposite most applications!

[@4DIYers]

Great tip, thank you for sharing!

[@paulhunter123]

i get a reading from both wires saying the same reading? how do i know which is positive which is negative bruv

[@Cig4ras]

xdd U have one positive multimeter wire ( Red ) and the other is negative , right ? So let's say you try to read a battery, when you are touching positive multimeter wire (red) with a positive battery clamp and negative wire to negative battery clamp ( + + ; - -) the reading will be let's say 12.7 V ( tho you need to select 20V setting on multimeter ) , and when paired otherwise ( + - ; - + a.k.a positive multimeter wire with battery negative clamp and negative multimeter wire with positive battery clamp ) the reading will be -12.7 V. I don't even know how more detailed this could get xd hope you understood

[@reel_images]

Great video, when using my multimeter setting to 200mv DC I found the voltage fluctuates way too much and goes between neg and pos with im seconds, very inconsistent. I tested this method on a 3.5" line out of my cell phone with volume turned up all the way with the 3.5" cut to open wire used the left pole and ground. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here.

[@ab2112ba]

same problem

[@nebtwins505]

I have a multimeter and I did not know how to perform this thank you you saved me $30 from ordering a polarity checker from Amazon

[@4DIYers]

You’re welcome!

[@SwegMastah]

This is gonna be helpful as my speaker wires are blue and green small wonder why they don't just use red and black universally lol

[@strawberryhill4307]

I have an issue. I wired my new speakers polarity using the multimeter method on checking the car side wiring polarity. The problem is the labels on the radio harness are suggesting it's actually the opposite. So if I put the positive terminal on the positive labeled wire and negative on negative, I get a negative reading on the multimeter. Is my harbor freight multimeter wrong?

[@ab2112ba]

same here, problem !

[@chriscoulthard4947]

Turn the bass to full, treble to minimum. Reasonable volume and adjust the balance to bring speakers into pairs. If the volume drops they are out of phase. Easy check before you start disconnecting.

[@yxinquisitive6001]

mine get significantly quiter when i make it so just the left or the right are playing, is that what you mean?

[@chriscoulthard4947]

@@yxinquisitive6001 if you imagine the speakers are facing eachother the cones need to move out together to create the sound. If one moves out and the other moves in, they cancel eachother out.

[@yxinquisitive6001]

@@chriscoulthard4947 so should they sound loudest when they are both equal?

[@chriscoulthard4947]

Yes, loudest means they are working together.

[@bigcsfamily7277]

I had to turning the sound down completely, before it gave me a positive and negative reading is this ok?

[@4DIYers]

Yep, that should be fine.

[@crustyjox]

Hi. Love the video. I tried this method to determine positive and negative from headunit to speakers but don't get a plus or negative just the value. Should I turn the sound right down? Thanks

[@cobar5334]

WEll done

[@4DIYers]

Thank you!

[@LykeArgy]

3:25 isn't speaker power converted to AC from the battery , therefore the multimeter shouldn't be able to tell you the positive or negative, i'm no electrician so i might be missing something tho.

[@Petrolhead66]

Isn't the voltage coming from the amp AC and not DC?

[@thelegendarywasdgamer9724]

Bro lol that's what I thought 😭😭😭 everything is so fucking confusing. Audio flows through AC not DC sooooo

[@download1832]

he means just to make sure the polarity of the amp is correct. if multimeter selected to ac, positive and negative can be seen

[@ethanchiasson]

I was also confused on this lol

[@noxious89123]

Identifying the wires based on the colour of your multimeter probes only works if you've got the correct colour probe plugged into the correct socket on the multimeter! if you've got your probes plugged in the wrong way around, you're going to have the same problem X)

[@4DIYers]

That is true and then it would be user error.

[@Nobody-hk1kz]

Ive been using 9v battery for last 30 years to determine polarity . Never damaged any speaker

[@olamijuabdulwahab5297]

3:09

[@c762x39]

Sigh, I wish I watched this video before I installed my speakers and guessed which was (+) and (-) ! ;)

[@reginaserrambana4335]

Star Trek new online game ad

[@TIN_ENCH_DIG_BICK]

pls help .how do I tell which speaker wire is positive and negative on car DOOR AND REAR!?!

[@TIN_ENCH_DIG_BICK]

why is mine backwards??? when connect black probe to negative wire and red to positive wire it reads negative numbers ?? what am I doing wrong