Who knows how to check speaker wire polarity?

[FIRE_UP]

Ladies and gents,
I'm in the middle of changing out TVs, both front and rear on our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT. Now, a small amount of history here. Winne and Itasca, in that era coach, utilized a dash toggle, to switch the make-believe surround sound system in the coach, get sound from the dash radio or, the TV. Well, I've taken that switch completely out of the loop.

The surround sound system, is now a true, 5.1 surround sound with a new, Home Theater/DVD system. I have installed two new, completely separate speakers, to be used for the dash radio only. However, I kept pretty good track of wires and colors for the TV section but, some how, I got goofed up on the wires for my new speakers for the radio.

What I'd like to know is, is there a way to check the ends of the wires, that attach to the speakers, for polarity? That is, which one is (+) and which is (-). On the radio end, they are buried in a loom and go into the back side of a 10 or 15 wire plug, that goes into the back of the radio. So, I cannot get access to that end to see which is a negative wire for each speaker and which is a positive.

So, what I have is, two wires, that are next to each new radio speaker. I have hooked them up to the speakers, and the radio sounds pretty good. I've been on Youtube and all over the net, trying to find a testing method for what I need. But, all I find out is, the use of a small battery to send a signal to the speaker to see if it pushes out or, pulls in, when the battery terminals are touched to the speaker terminals. This does not answer my question. I need to know which wire is positive and which is negative, coming from the radio?
Scott

[Bumpyroad]

byronlj wrote:
Use a 9v battery to touch your speaker wires. When you have it correct, the speaker cone will move outward. When reversed it will move inward. Observe the battery polarity when it moves outward.
Dave

I have done this but I think with a lesser battery.
bumpy

[georgelesley]

+1 on the cone movement test. Another way if you can access the ends of at least one wire is to run a long connector wire to a multimeter and the wire to be tested. When you figure out which one connects where, the second one must connect to the other speaker lead. I have used both methods depending on the situation, sometimes watching the cone on small speakers is hard to tell.

[SCVJeff]

X2 on the battery. If you can get the grille off you can see the,movement from across the room

[KMLsquared]

What I've always done is hook up the speaker, turn up the bass and every hit should move the cone of the speaker outward into the passenger compartment. You can hold your finger near the cone to feel which way it is moving. Hope that Helps or somebody has. Real answer.

[byronlj]

Use a 9v battery to touch your speaker wires. When you have it correct, the speaker cone will move outward. When reversed it will move inward. Observe the battery polarity when it moves outward.
Dave