# Question about speaker wire



## slimer

I should already know this, but I'm having a brain cramp right now. On most speaker wire one of the strands usually has a white line going through it. Does this white line mean negative or positive? I'm pretty sure it's negative, but I just wanted to verify it is.

 Thanks


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## ooheadsoo

Negative, but it doesn't matter, you just need to be consistent.


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## slimer

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *ooheadsoo* 
_Negative, but it doesn't matter, you just need to be consistent._

 

I understand the consistency part but sometimes there are situations where one of the ends is terminated so that you can't tell. So in those cases I assume the strand with the white line is negative right?


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## ooheadsoo

IIRC, typically, the one with the line (any color) is negative. This, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to hold true for case switch and light leads, but other than those cases...


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## audiomortis

I've been making the lined or marked wire my + My logic is that on speakers, the + terminal is normally marked with a red dot or something.


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## Oink1

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *audiomortis* 
_I've been making the lined or marked wire my + My logic is that on speakers, the + terminal is normally marked with a red dot or something._

 

Me too - as long as it's the same @ speaker and amp though it doesn't matter afaik (all the cables i have bought pre terminated were + tracer - no tracer)


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## sr20dem0n

I always treat the wire that has markings or has the most vibrant color as + (green and grey, green is +; striped and non-striped, striped is +; red and black, red is +). It doesn't matter at all what you do as long as you do the same thing at the speaker end as you do at the amp end.


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## Wimmig

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *sr20dem0n* 
_I always treat the wire that has markings or has the most vibrant color as + (green and grey, green is +; striped and non-striped, striped is +; red and black, red is +). It doesn't matter at all what you do as long as you do the same thing at the speaker end as you do at the amp end._

 

Correct.


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