Speaker Polarity?

I know the speakers have to be hooked up with the correct polarity. + to +, and - to -, but I dont have the box or instructions that came with my pioneer speakers, and I'm just wondering if anybody knows for sure what terminal is +, and what is - on my speakers? Is the smaller terminal +? Thanks

No the correct polarity does not have to be hooked up.... if its DVC you gotta get the coil to coil connections right but as far as hooking up to your power source polarity doesn't matter.

No the correct polarity does not have to be hooked up.... if its DVC you gotta get the coil to coil connections right but as far as hooking up to your power source polarity doesn't matter.

If you are talking abouts subs, probably not ........ if you're talking about mid/tweet speakers, you definitely wanna get the polarity correct.

Take a 9V battery and stick it to the sub's terminals. If the cone moves out, then the batt's + is on the coil's +, if the cone moves in then you have it backwards.

I'm talking about 3way 220W max pioneer 6x9's. I dont have the box, nor instructions, and all I know is that one connecting tab on the back of each is smaller than the other. I have a pioneer amp powering them right now, and it seems as though, they are slowly destorting in sound quality. I hope I didnt hook them up wrong, because a week or so ago when I put them amp in, they sounded pretty damn good. I havnt messed with the gains or the deck, and now they seem like they are ready to blow. The amp is an old school amp. Probably 30W x2 rms, and the speakers are 40W nominal, 220W max each. Shouldnt this work? I know there must be a reason we pay attention to speaker polarity. I was just curious to see if you guys knew if the small terminal was + or -, thanks.

Take a 9V battery and stick it to the sub's terminals. If the cone moves out, then the batt's + is on the coil's +, if the cone moves in then you have it backwards.

ok, yeah, cause I did notice that my 6x9's did suck in when the bass hit, does that mean the polarity is mixed up?

what you're describing isn't related to the polarity. Wiring them up backwards won't hurt the speakers in the least, in fact if you hooked all of the speakers up backwards it would be almost impossible (if not completely impossible) to tell that anything was wrong. If you wire 1 or 2 speakers out of phase then you'll just get some weird cancellation in your car and it might make the sound a little strange, but the speakers themselves would be playing just fine.

If it sounds like the speakers are ready to blow then they probably are, changing the polarity wouldn't change anything.

crap, I was afraid you would say that. Well, another question b4 you go, how does an old school pioneer amp, were talking 80's old, I think, (pioneer gm-h50 to be exact) blow 220W max 6x9's?

crap, I was afraid you would say that. Well, another question b4 you go, how does an old school pioneer amp, were talking 80's old, I think, (pioneer gm-h50 to be exact) blow 220W max 6x9's?

read my first post in this thread:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=378934

so, your saying I should turn the high pass filter on on my deck? So it blocks out some of the lower frequencies?

it's always a good idea, unless your speakers are actually good enough where they can handle a full range signal

they are already blow, so it doesnt matter anymore. Thanks for all the useful info. It will not happen again.