Stereo Wiring, poitive/Negative? Options

[Cambo]

Yes, I'm not a stereo expert. Car has a Sony Explod deck and Explod speakers. Wiring harness has 2 wires for each speaker. One plain, one with black stripe. Which one is positve/negative?

Also, speaker has pins, one large with red wire going into the speaker, one small pin with black wire and a weird blue curcuit thingy inline? What's positve/negative on the speaker?

Thanks, all was already in car when I bought it but it was wired hillbilly style, lots of splices, crappy wiring etc. Replaceing wire, less spices, better connections etc. Can't afford new stereo/speakers right now so I'm trying to resurect the old stuff.

Oh, also found a two channel Alpine amp tucked up under the dash with a whopping 18 watts per channel, thing looks pretty old and it's tiny. Think it was a dealer install?

[Black22]

Yes, I'm not a stereo expert. Car has a Sony Explod deck and Explod speakers. Wiring harness has 2 wires for each speaker. One plain, one with black stripe. Which one is positve/negative?

Also, speaker has pins, one large with red wire going into the speaker, one small pin with black wire and a weird blue curcuit thingy inline? What's positve/negative on the speaker?

Thanks, all was already in car when I bought it but it was wired hillbilly style, lots of splices, crappy wiring etc. Replaceing wire, less spices, better connections etc. Can't afford new stereo/speakers right now so I'm trying to resurect the old stuff.

Oh, also found a two channel Alpine amp tucked up under the dash with a whopping 18 watts per channel, thing looks pretty old and it's tiny. Think it was a dealer install?

There is no pos/neg with modern stereos. Stereos use a balanced approach where one wire goes positive and one goes negative to effectively double the amplitude of the music wave.

Either wire will work on either speaker terminal. Just don't ground either wire; they need to float with respect to ground.

The answer to your question will best be found in the manual for the devices. The wires do make a difference for several reasons. If they are reversed the speaker performs differently. I speak from 15 yrs. experience in the audio field. Check the manual for both the deck and speakers to determine which on is + and -. The "weird blue curcuit thingy inline" is most likely a capacitor of some value like 150uf for example. That is used to lower/block frequencies the speaker could fail when trying to reproduce. It does not help in determining + or - because it can be used on either.
I reference to Spokes comment. Yeah you can reverse the wires but this will affect the starting direction of the sound wave reproduced. Plainly speaking when the bass hits, hooking it up one wave the speaker will extend outward. When the wires are reversed the speaker cone will travel inward on the same hits.
And to all the other comments about out of phase...that is correct and he will hear the difference. you don't need to be a pro to notice notes that are canceling out.
Hope that helps