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?

[Mike Bellis]

As an IASCA judge (International Auto Sound Challenge Assoc.) I can tell you it does matter which is positive and negative. Unless you are an audiophile, you may not hear the difference. It mostly comes into play for bass notes. I agree, if you keep consistant you will be OK but for the audiophile not so much. Your speakers also have a positive and negaive. If they are not marked, the smaller terminal is negative. If both terminals are the same, try this. Use a AA battery. connect the battery to the speaker terminals. when you see the speaker cone move out towards you and away from the housing, look at the battery terminals. Positive and negative will match the battery. If the cone moves away, flip the battery over.
Now in some cases it will sound better if the speakers are connected backwards. This is due to wave propgation between speakers. This can be good and bad. If the speakers face eachother, like in the doors. At certain frequencies you will have boith positive and negative wave propagation. Positive is when the two sound waves meet in the middle at the peak of the sine wave. This action causes that frequency to sound louder. Negative is just the opposite. When the sound waves hit eachother at the bottom of the sine wave. Depending on how far apart your speakers are from eachother, the frequency at which this takes place will be different. To try to avoid this, most speakers should be installed slightly off axis from eachother. Although due to refraction, this phenomena can still occur. It is at this point when you would want to try to reverse phasing and try to correct the sound. This can be done front to rear or side to side.
In my 914 I run door speakers and a woofer. I have to run the woofer out of phase with the door speakers because of negative propagation canceling the bass notes.

[underthetire]

As an IASCA judge (International Auto Sound Challenge Assoc.) I can tell you it does matter which is positive and negative. Unless you are an audiophile, you may not hear the difference. It mostly comes into play for bass notes. I agree, if you keep consistant you will be OK but for the audiophile not so much. Your speakers also have a positive and negaive. If they are not marked, the smaller terminal is negative. If both terminals are the same, try this. Use a AA battery. connect the battery to the speaker terminals. when you see the speaker cone move out towards you and away from the housing, look at the battery terminals. Positive and negative will match the battery. If the cone moves away, flip the battery over.
Now in some cases it will sound better if the speakers are connected backwards. This is due to wave propgation between speakers. This can be good and bad. If the speakers face eachother, like in the doors. At certain frequencies you will have boith positive and negative wave propagation. Positive is when the two sound waves meet in the middle at the peak of the sine wave. This action causes that frequency to sound louder. Negative is just the opposite. When the sound waves hit eachother at the bottom of the sine wave. Depending on how far apart your speakers are from eachother, the frequency at which this takes place will be different. To try to avoid this, most speakers should be installed slightly off axis from eachother. Although due to refraction, this phenomena can still occur. It is at this point when you would want to try to reverse phasing and try to correct the sound. This can be done front to rear or side to side.
In my 914 I run door speakers and a woofer. I have to run the woofer out of phase with the door speakers because of negative propagation canceling the bass notes.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
I might also add the caps are polarized on a lot of two and three way speakers, so you can loose highs and mids if wired wrong. This doesn't matter as much if you run separates.