[Laxpimp6903]

so i installed new speakers in my car and they sounds good i just want to make sure i didnt get the positive and negetive wires to each speaker mixed up. i think i wired the red lined wire to the positive terminal and the brown lined wire to the negative terminal. i know red is usually negative but they sounded ok and figured they wouldnt really work if it was the wrong way. ANYONE KNOW IF THIS IS RIGHT.

[SiBradbury]

Quote: Originally Posted by Laxpimp6903 (original)

so i installed new speakers in my car and they sounds good i just want to make sure i didnt get the positive and negetive wires to each speaker mixed up. i think i wired the red lined wire to the positive terminal and the brown lined wire to the negative terminal. i know red is usually negative but they sounded ok and figured they wouldnt really work if it was the wrong way. ANYONE KNOW IF THIS IS RIGHT.

I'm not sure which colour is which but there's a handy way to work it out using your standard speakers.

Get one of those little square 9 volt batteries (probably any low voltage batt is ok) and connect its + and - terminals to your original speakers.

If the speaker cone moves outwards, then the + and - are connected correctly, if it moves inwards they're back to front.

You'll now know which is the positive and which is the negative terminal on your speaker.

Armed with this knowledge you'll be able to look at the bmw connector and work out which wire was originally connected to which terminal and therefore which one was positive and which was negative.

Tadaaaaa!

[Laxpimp6903]

thanks alot sibradbury.... i should have gone with my gut that red is always negative because i have them wired incorrectly... hopefully when i fix that they will sound even better.

[sjrainsford]

Yep, speakers will work whichever way you have them connected. however they will operate in the wrong direction which can cause damage.

Red generally always means positive. However, this is a colour code for the cable and not the polarity code.