# How to check speaker wire polarity



## jschwa

How do you check polarity of the speaker wires coming out of an amp?  I'm not looking to check the polarity of the speaker, I know how to do that.  I want to know the polarity of the wires coming out of the amp.
  
 What I've been doing:
 I turn my digital multimeter to DC
  
 I attach a red cable to the red terminal on the amp
 I attach the red terminal on my multimeter to the red cable
  
 I attach a black cable to the black terminal on the amp
 I attach the black terminal on my multimeter to the black cable.
  
 When I do this I get a negative reading
 If I reverse the terminals I get a positive reading
  
 My conclusion was that the polarity of the amp is reversed.  
  
  Is this correct?  Am I using the multimeter properly to determine polarity?  If not, please provide step by step instructions for using a multimeter to determine polarity.  Thanks you!


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## Steve Eddy

You're doing this with nothing feeding the input of the amp? If so, you're likely to just be measuring the amp's output offset voltage, which may be positive or negative regardless of how the speaker terminals are wired.

se


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## jschwa

I am feeding the input of the amp with music from my DAC


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## Steve Eddy

But music is AC and you're trying to read the voltage with the DC setting on your meter. That isn't going to work.

Do you happen to have a digital recorder? 

se


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## jschwa

I have an iPhone which can record audio.  What would you use it for?  There is no way to test for this with a multimeter?


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## Steve Eddy

Not unless the multimeter has a built in oscilloscope. 

Can your iPhone record electronically? In other words, not using the microphone?

The idea is to send a bit of audio (something digitally sourced so you have a waveform to compare it to) to the amp, record it electronically at the speaker terminals and then compare the waveforms to see if the output from the amp matches it or it's inverted.

What amp exactly are we talking about and why do you suspect it's inverting polarity?

se


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## brhfl

Can't you just... hook up some speakers, play a test tone, and verify phase by ear? Would there ever really be a situation in which polarity would matter vs. merely ensuring the speakers are in phase?


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## jschwa

I have a Yamaha htr-5240 amp.  Speakers sound significantly in the mid-bass frequencies when I "invert the polarity".  I was wondering if the amp wasn't wired properly.


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## Steve Eddy

And this is when you flip both speakers and not just one? 

se


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## jschwa

Yes, both are flipped.  Not just one.  I've tried this on two different speakers and both sound better better.


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## Steve Eddy

Then why not just go with what sounds better? I mean, trying to preserve absolute polarity in the electronics is a bit of a fool's errand as absolute polarity is not always preserved in the recording and many recordings can include mixed polarities. 

se


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## jschwa

I am.  I just wanted to know if there was a way to test for it.


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## Steve Eddy

There is, just not with a simple multimeter.

se


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