How to Find the Positive Wire on a Speaker

Speaker wire has positive and negative polarity.

Speakers are connected to the stereo receiver with two wires of opposite polarity -- one is negative and one is positive. To install or modify an existing sound system correctly, it is important to determine the polarity of each speaker wire and use it accordingly. Once you've identified the positive and negative wires, you can correctly work on your sound system.

Things You'll Need

• Masking tape
• Permanent marker

Instructions

1. Examine the two halves of the speaker wire. The positive wire is typically identified on the casing of the wire. It will be marked with a long ridge that runs the wire's length or by a series of small plus signs.

2. Examine the two terminals to which the speaker wire is connected on the rear of the speaker. One terminal will be noticeably larger than the other. The larger terminal is positive, meaning the wire attached to it must also be positive.

3. Determine if the wires or tips of the wires are different colors. If this is the case, the red wire is the positive one.

4. Label the positive wire by marking "Positive" or "+" on a piece of masking tape with a permanent marker, and wrap the tape around the wire. This will make future identification easy.

References

• Tech Guys: Determining Speaker Polarity
• Practical Home Theatre Guide: A Short Guide to Speaker Wires and Speaker Connectors