I am trying to set up my speakers and subwoofer to my reciever... how do you know which plugs are the positive

Question

and which ones are the negative for the sound????

Answer 1

I would like to say IT MATTERS WITCH WIRE GOES WERE!!!

Wiring your Speaker Matters because of Phase.

Phase is the pattern the sound wave starts at your speaker.

By making sure the Positive wire is to the Positive terminal of your speaker,This will keep you speakers in phase.

Let say you wired your system and the Neg out of the Amp is going to the pos to all speakers. Now we have a problem with your sub woofer. If you don't have a phase switch on it no it is out of phase.

Most speaker wires have some way of letting you see the Pos and Neg.

On most Black speaker wire one side is Ribbed... I use this side as pos.

On solid colored speaker wire (all white,tan,Grey,ETC...) you'll see writing on one side... I use this side as Pos.

Some Speaker wire come with four conductors (red,black,white, and green) I use the Red and Black for Right... Red +, Black - /and the White and Green for Left... White +, Green -.

I hope this helps

Answer 2

PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO sirbobx. Your question asked about the Pos/Neg of the "Plugs". Generally, the plugs on speakers and receivers are colored Red and Black. Red is Positive and should always be positive. Black is Negative/ground and should always be used as negative. The wire should not matter as long as you use at least 18guage wire. Larger guage should be used for more powerful systems. If the speaker plugs are not color-coded you can check which is positive. Make sure you can see the speaker cone (remove the grill). Connect a speaker wire to the unit and get a AA battery. Hold the one stripped wire to the bottom of the battery then touch the other stripped wire to the top of the battery. If the cone moves -out-, the stripped wire from the top of the battery is connected to the positive terminal of the speaker. If the cone moves -in-, the stripped wire from the top of the battery is connected to the negative terminal of the speaker. DO NOT HOLD THE WIRES TO THE BATTERY FOR VERY LONG. This will damage the speaker. Only -touch- the top of the battery with the wire.

Answer 3

Some speaker wires are marked with a a stripe on the outside of the wire, another way to tell is looking at the speaker wire more closely. One wire is a gold color and the other is silver . It does not matter what wire is used for + or - .
As you use the same side of the wire to all the speakers and the receiver.

Answer 4

In truth - it does not matter as long as all speakers are hooked up the same way.

Generally the "+" and "Red" are considered positive.

The "-" and "Black" are considered negative.

A lot of speaker wire has one part with writing, or a white stripe or a different color. Use this for red/+/Positive. That leaves the other wire for the other connection.

You wont damage anything if you flip things around. But then you will have 1 speaker pushing out while the other speaker pulling in. This can sometimes create a subtle shift in the sound.

Pick a convention and use it for all the speakers.