Does it matter to have a speakers polarity(+ -) correct?

Question

I have played speakers with the polarity correct (+ to +/ - to -)
and than i tried it backwards (+ to - / - to +)

and it sounded exactly the same. it didnt sound any louder or clearer. the speakers still played both ways.
i've done this with a couple of different quality speakers.
and i've also done it with my new high power component 6 1/2" speakers and it didnt make a difference.

whats the bad thing about having it backwards?
does it damage the speakers in the long run?

Answer 1

A speaker is nothing more than a type of motor. When it is wired in phase ( + to + and - to - ) it travels with inward and outward movements. If you wire a speaker up backwards this still does occur however it will move opposite to the rest of the speakers. (If the others are wired correctly) This can create a hollow effect known as cancellation. When one speaker is creating a compression movement the other is creating a depression movement. Hence, an outward and inward speaker cone movements are occuring at the same relative time on 2 different speakers cancelling each other out. All of the speakers must be In phase for correct sound.



There used to be an article about this on the Lucas Films THX website but I couldn't find it. All speakers must be wired in phase (correct polarity) for proper sound.

Answer 2

.It won't hurt anything., THEORETICALLY on paper if you connect one speaker one way and the other speaker the other way it can distort the sound you hear. It does this by makeing the sounds from each speaker out of phase.

Speaker reproduce sound by moving in and out.

By connectingf the polarity different on two speakers one is going in while the other one is going out on the same note of music being played, this cancels out some of the sound.



So even if you do connect the + to the - then do it on BOTH speakers, not just one.

To be accurate speakers are being fed sine waves which are AC current and is not polarity concous.



Raven

Electronics instructor and technician for the past 26 years.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

Does it matter to have a speakers polarity(+ -) correct?

I have played speakers with the polarity correct (+ to +/ - to -)

and than i tried it backwards (+ to - / - to +)



and it sounded exactly the same. it didnt sound any louder or clearer. the speakers still played both ways.

i've done this with a couple of different quality speakers.

and...

Answer 4

I am actually listening to music right now through a powered speaker to which my input has only one polarity connected which well huh defies all the basics I have learned about electricity, how is this possible? and no Im not touching the other polarity thus creating the link myself and the wires are not wet , both ends of the other polarity are sitting about one inch away from each other and arent touching any conducting material, what the heck???

Answer 5

Theoretically it shouldn't matter to the speakers since they are receiving and AC current and would sound pretty close to the same, but they would be out of phase.



If you hook up one speaker right and one backwards, the sounds would cancel each other out, (it would sound like crap). If you hooked up a sub or something with an RCA where the polarity can't be reversed, this creates the same problem. I suppose if you hooked everything up backwards it would work ok but why create extra work and confuse yourself.

Answer 6

reversing the polarity on small speakers doesnt matter much,it does make a small difference but you wont notice it,what happens is the speakers now bounce outward to the correct polarity but when reversed they pull inward,if you listen really close you can tell the bass is not as defined,this is called out of phase,and if you do this to lets say a pair of 12 inch subs it would completely destroy the bass because the subs are fighting against each other just to be safe i would wire them correctly as to not cause any future problems

Answer 7

I've personally experienced a form of cancellation with a dual voice coil subwoofer, and having one set of terminals hooked up in reverse polarity

Answer 8

The speaker will work and you'll hardly notice any difference, but it's better to connect it the right way.

When it switched incorrectly the diaphragm pulls in in the moment when it should push out and visa versa.

Answer 9

Yes.............the bass will be more accurate and the phasing will be correct.



Always use correct speaker polarity.

Answer 10

it only matter on a high power system and how the its configured...some times its better+to+some times-to-and some rare times its better crossed+to-speker feed,all in all it dosnt matter unless your competing in a car audio sound off.