One of the most common mistakes made when connecting speaker wires to receivers (or amplifiers) is incorrect phase. All receivers and speakers have a positive (+) and a negative (-) terminal (or connector) and the speaker wires must be connected the same way on both components. For example, the positive terminal on the receiver must be connected to the positive terminal on the speaker for both left and right channels and the negative terminals on the receiver connected to the negative terminals on the speaker. Typically the positive terminal is red and the negative terminal is black, but not always. Look for the (+) and (-) symbols to be sure. Incorrect connection is ‘out of phase’ and the result is often a noticeable lack of bass in the music. Remember: positive-to-positive (+ to +) and negative-to-negative (- to -) on both receiver and speakers.
Good listening!
How to Properly Connect Speakers
From Gary Altunian, About.com GuideMay 15, 2007
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Comments
Wow, this was very helpful. I’ve never cared if the hookup was “out of phase” because the speakers still worked. Now I know the con to hooking up speakers “any ol’ kinda way.”
Thanks
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good luck
Which one is positive the red terminal of the black terminal
when connecting my amp to my factory radio using a splitter two of the wires touched and now my rear speakers won’t work ,, what burnt or where is the fuse is there diferent fuses for front and rear, how do i ?? fix this problem???? HELP!!!!
I run a 100 ft 18 Gage speaker wire, for outdoor 600 watt speakers and I have no sound, however I check for sound with a small speaker, and the sound is very weak, help please
@jesus,
Problem #1 is 18 ga wire is too thin to run 100 feet… You MUST use 12 ga or better.
Problem #2 is your amplifier may not have enough power to drive 600 Watt speakers… A speaker with that max power level needs at least 300 Watts to make them work.
Most likely, you have no sound due to a combination of too small wire and too little power.
I recently bought a pair of speakers that are labeled 1 and 2 on the poles of the hook-ups. The intructions say to hook up the “8-ohm” lead to 1 and the “C” lead to 2. It doesn’t help any that the wires inside are yellow and green not red and black, and I’m using and amplifier with RCA jacks instead of labeled wire hook-ups.