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Speaker wire polarity

S

Sorak

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Hi Guys,

Just a quick question...

Most speaker wire comes with a stripe on one of the conductors. Is there a standard as to whether the stripe/trace is +ve or -ve? I've heard both from different people, just wondering if there is a standard, or is it just personal preference?

Cheers...
 
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black stripe ie. sony pioneer and so on= earth
colord stripe ie.kenwood = possitive
 

VZ-Rob

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All my life the cable core either striped (any color), rippled sheath, cotton thread inside etc, etc, has been the NEGATIVE wire :thumbsup:
Has nothing to do with amps
 

sganro

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yet another VS
Most of the time people associate the striped wire with -ve. Although the stripe is just an indicator so its easy to tell what wire is what. (if you hook up a wire from an amp/HU etc it saves you following the wire all the way along to tell the +ve from -ve). Check whether the stripe is connected to + or - on the amp/HU and just connect it to the same terminal at the speaker.
The stripe doesnt affect the performance of the wire, its just colouring on the cable insulation to make things easier. So no, it doesnt matter if the stripe is on + or - :thumbsup:
 
S

Sorak

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Thanks guys for your replies, much appreciated.

I realise it makes no difference either way, but if there is a standard and it is used consistently it makes life a lot easier...
 

kenwstr

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General convention is -neg stripe. Reality is it doesn't matter so long as your wiring is consistent. Keeping the speakers in phase with each other is all that matters. There is also no directionality in the cone displacement as amps put out AC, the cone will throw the same each way from rest. So it does not matter if they are the same polarity as the amp or reversed, just so long as they are all cones are wired the same as each other.

Ken
 
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