Which is the live wire in the front and back speakers as im fitting new speakers

[fozworth]

I have just got a set of front and back vibe slick spaekers to replace the stock ones.I noticed that the rear stock speaker wires are on one side yellow with a brown stripe and yellow with a blue stripe.And on the other side they are black with a brown stripe and black with a blue stripe.The fronts are both yellow but one of the wires has a thicker red stripe than the other.
So my question is which ones are live.and which are negative as the speakers dont sound right.

[SteveM3]

What year is your car and does it have the HK option?
The speaker wiring in my car (2003 Cooper S, non-HK) matched the Bentley and Haynes
manuals as follows:-
Front Right yellow/red +ve yellow/brown -ve
Front Left yellow/red +ve yellow/brown -ve
Rear Right blue/violet +ve blue/grey -ve
Rear Left yellow/black +ve yellow/grey -ve
These are the colours at the speakers. When the wires leave the head unit they are the
same colour except
Front Left brown/black +ve blue/brown -ve
Neither manual has wiring for the HK option.

[fozworth]

my car is a november 02 ,The rears on mine are yellow and brown and yellow and black one side and blue and brown and blue and black the other side.On the fronts there both yellow with a red stripe but one of the wires each side has a thicker red stripe.Basicaly when i turn up the sound you get a sort of clicking /farting noise comeing from the rear speakers but they should handle loads.

[SiBradbury]

I know this is an old thread but i thought i'd post this tip:

If you're ever unsure on which is the positve and negative on a speaker, get a small battery (i've used those square 9v fire alarm ones in the past) and connect the + and - of the batt to the terminals on the speaker.

If the speaker moves outwards, the + and - are connected to the correct terminals and if it moves inwards, they're the wrong way round.

Using your new found knowledge you can then see which wires went to which terminal and therefore which is positive and negative!