Speakers and testing

[ltwt1981]

Is there an easy way to test speakers and wiring.

I can bell out continuity easily enough, but what about which pair of wires go to which speaker.

Do I just connect a radio and try each pair in turn or is there a piece of kit to do the job.

Also without removing the speaker can I check for pos or neg on the speakers.

Any help would be great.

[rtbarton]

Connect the radio and use the balance control to see which speaker is which. Some radios may be damaged being run with a speaker disconnected.

I can't think of a way of testing for polarity, but I guess in a car you couldn't tell the difference anyway, it won't do any harm having them connected the wrong way round.

[vinny]

Not much good with ice but Im sure putting a 1.5v battery across the speaker terminals will show which should be + and -. One direction will push the centre of the speaker out .... the other pull the centre in.... I THINK???? when its pushing out that the + on the battery = + on the speaker .

That just about sums up my meager knowledge on ice!!

[ltwt1981]

As I thought not a simple exercise, I may try it with a transistor radio.

[geoffbeaumont]

I can't think of a way of testing for polarity, but I guess in a car you couldn't tell the difference anyway, it won't do any harm having them connected the wrong way round.

It isn't that important with speakers which way round you connect them provided you are consistent. If you have a pair of speakers and wire one each way then the sound waves will be roughly the inverse of each other and will cancel out. In a perfect system this would result in no sound at all - in practice it tends to result in a flat wooly sound.

[FridgeFreezer]

I used the stereo balance controls as suggested, as long as you are consistent over the +/- connections you can work the rest out in one go by changing he left/right/front/rear balance and noting which speaker works on which setting.

Failing that, an AA or PP3 battery works, just touch the wire on it briefly to hear it "click" from the speaker.

[jameslwt]

Having been through this before, there is a difference in the sound depending if you have the polarity correct. You should be able to use a voltmeter if it goes low enough to work out which wire is which. As a general rule for ice, if if's a factory/industry install, the wire with the trace in it is positive. Also the larger of the 2 connections is the positive.

You won't seriously damage them if its wired the wrong way round, but it won't do them any good either. The bass is the easiest tone/notes to detect - if it's crisp and clean its correct. If it doesn't sound brilliant - try swopping them. (obviously this depends on the quality of the speakers as well - some sound awful no matter what you do to them!)

As for fade/balance - try it - it won't take long! Be aware some head units will NOT work if you only connect up, say, the left one out of the front pair, as it will eventually damage the head unit if you do not run in pairs (front pairs and rear pairs). Ie if one speaker became disconnected, the other one in the pair will stop as well. Just connevt them all up and play with the fade/balance and work it out!

HTH

James