will a speaker work hooking wires backwards?

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 14 Aug 2000 9:32 pm

just curious....got a new 1501 basket from peavey which was fuzzing out at first. when i switched the leads it now is appearing to function correctly. wondered if i'm hallucinating or if i had other amp problems.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 Aug 2000 2:15 am

On a single speaker application, the polarity is not an issue. You should be able to hook it up with the plus and minus leads either way.

Try reversing the leads again. You may have had a bad connection the first time. Or one lead from the amp may be bad and reversing them moved it enough that it is making better contact at the amp end.

If you have an older Nashville 400 with a molex connector on the speaker output, remove the molex connector and solder the speaker wires directly to the male chassis pins. On newer Nashville 400's it is done this way from the factory.

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 15 Aug 2000 5:03 am

Chris...

It may be that you still have a speaker problem,

1) If you hook the wires one way,the speaker cone is pushed outward when a signal is applied,

2) If you hook the wires the other way,the speaker cone is pulled inward when a signal is applied,

Now, with this in mind, should the voice coil be out of round, the speaker may work O.K. in one mode but NOT in the other due to a rubbing problem, (hence the "fuzzing" problem you stated.) I have seen this problem before as a Electronics tech with G.E.

Which-ever way it works for you, that is the way I would connect it up. Like Jack mentioned, "On a single speaker application, the polarity (if the voice coil isn't rubbin') is not an issue."

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 15 Aug 2000 5:16 am

Interesting, Bill.
And of course, Chris, with multiple speakers polarity does matter in that two speakers with mismatched polarity will create phase cancellation of certain (low primarily) freqs. (I bet you knew that).

Rich Paton · Post by **Rich Paton** » 15 Aug 2000 7:12 pm

I believe that "absolute phase" should be a viable issue, that is when the initial attack portion of an audio signal is applied to a speaker, the cone should move outwards.

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 15 Aug 2000 10:39 pm

Thanx Bill 4 tellin' it like it is .
i was about to reply the same.
Part 1+2 are the base 4 proper speaker connection.
Keep on doin' it...

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 16 Aug 2000 3:37 am

One other thing on Peavey BW speakers that have some slight distortion. Peavey calls it "cleaning the gap", which simply is taking the magnet off, cleaning the inside of the magnet and the basket magnet contact area of any foreign material and then reinstalling the basket. Also make sure the three mounting bolts are tight and approximately the same tightness.

I had one of my new 1203's start slightly distorting, after about 3 months, and "cleaning the gap" fixed it.

Terry Downs · Post by **Terry Downs** » 16 Aug 2000 9:57 pm

A clarification to Mr. Crooks post

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>It may be that you still have a speaker problem,

1) If you hook the wires one way,the speaker cone is pushed outward when a signal is
applied,

2) If you hook the wires the other way,the speaker cone is pulled inward when a signal is
applied,<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The audio from the output of a power amplifier will be an AC signal. The positive signal voltages will be about the same amplitude as the negative. If the amplifier is defective and contains a DC offset, the average position of the cone will be offset from its resting position. It makes no difference if a single speaker has correct polarity.

If you connect a DC source to a speaker (like a 9V battery) the cone will jump in one direction. Reversal of the polarity will make it jump in the opposite direction. Music program audio is well centered around positive and negative swings. Musical transients will displace the cone to a maximum extent, but a predominant outward excursion vs. an inward excursion can only occur when an amplifier is defective and is outputting a DC offset.

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Terry Downs
http://nightshift.net
terry@nightshift.net

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 17 Aug 2000 6:17 am

Peavey calls it "cleaning the gap", which simply is taking the magnet off, cleaning the inside of the magnet and the basket magnet contact area of any foreign material....

Use a piece of masking tape folded sticky side out into a triangular shape. You can swab the gap with this and pull out all the little pieces of dirt and crud. Peavey recommends this procedure any time you change a basket assembly as well.

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bterry.home.netcom.com

Bob Metzger · Post by **Bob Metzger** » 17 Aug 2000 1:54 pm

I prefer it when all my amplifiers play "forward". That way, when I combine them in various configurations (sometimes stereo) with various instruments, mixing and matching, phase cancellation is not an issue. Electric guitarists sometimes feel that forward playing amps help induce feedback. Gerald Weber has an excellent discussion of this.

Bob

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 18 Aug 2000 3:51 am

All the phasing, etc. is nice and I try to follow polarity, but if you only have one amp and one speaker it doesn't matter.