Speaker Polarity?

[KCF]

Replacing a driver in monitor 7s. There's a white and black wire, but no indications on the driver connects themselves to indicate polarity. Do it matter? Also, there's a big hunk 'o mattress stuffing kind of flopping around inside the cab. Is it intended to go in the top section (looks like) and does it get anchored or just hang loose?

Thanks,

Kevin

[dorokusai]

Black/Blue = +

White/Green = -

[KCF]

Uh..., the old speak had a red dot on the metal under the post(+). The replacement has no marking of any kind that I can detect....
Hmmm, makes it fifty fifty but I'd hate to blow up a brand new one...

K.

[dorokusai]

There should be a marking or one post will be smaller/larger than the other.

[Airplay355]

i didnt think it mattered as long as u were consitsant with how you have it hooked up to the amp....and i didnt think you could blow up a pair by wiring them wrong, i thought theyd just be out of phase....am i wrong?

[amulford]

You're right. You might not blow them, but they'll sure sound funny...

[KCF]

I called Polk, and the guy was surprised the speakers weren't marked with a red dot... He then suggested I hook up the speaker and listen for phasing.
From my best reckoning, after switching the leads, I believe I have it right, given that the "stereo effect" seems to be in place. Could have been simpler with marking, but hey... they gave me the "club" price shipping included.
Thanks,
K.

[patwhite]

the best way to check to see if the driver is correct is to take a battery like a d cell...connect a wire to the negative side and one to the positive side of the battery and then connect the wires to the speaker terminals...correct plus and minus will make the speaker cone move forward..incorrect will make the speaker cone move backwards.

[Polkapops]

Wow! That's cool -
I knew you could test a speaker w/a battery but I never knew about the cone movement.......Thanks Pat!

.........learn sump'n new everyday.....

[PolkFreak]

Hello, I'd like to speak of my own experience with the old and new drivers. When you lay the speaker on the magnet with the driver pointing toward the (SKY) if you will, the positive terminal is to the left and the negative to the right on the old original drivers.
All of the replacement drivers I have bought from Polk have had the red dot on the right side instead of the left which is incorrectly marked. So the black wire being positive belongs on the left, again just as long as you are thinking of the driver sitting
on it's magnet with the cone pointing toward the sky. The white
wire being negative belongs on the right. You could think of the new drivers that have the red dot on the right (which is wrong) as an indicator to have the lighter colored wire connected to the bright (RED) indicator. I've tried the wires both ways and having them the same as the original wires were is proper and you will notice more bass.

[RuSsMaN]

NEVER USE A BATTERY on a tweeter.

Triple a (AAA) at most, and only for very brief touches on midwoofs.

[patwhite]

russmann....you'll never find out the polarity of a tweeter using a battery... the method works for cone drivers other than tweeters.

[PolkFreak]

Patwhite, RussMan was speaking out AGAINST the use of a battery on a tweeter. So that would mean you guys are on the same page:D

[egp823]

confused? my old sl 2000 had the white wire connected to the terminal with the red dot. now if what you say is that the balck wire goes to the positive , should i follow this or should i solder the white wire to the terminal with the red dot on my RDO 194 rplacement? Pls advise

[egp823]

dorokusai,

got this message from ken re my query on wiring for tweeters (CRS+) but am not sure if wiring for drivers are different

Hello Edwin,
The white wire would go with the red terminal and the black to the negative terminal.
Regards, Ken, Polk Audio

If this is the case then the black wire would not go to all the positive terminals of polk speakers. tks

[F1nut]

I hate to second quess Ken, but on all the SDA's I've seen the Black or Blue leads are positve and the White or Green leads are negative as Doro stated.

[egp823]

What happens to sound quality if polarity is reversed? What should I look out for to check that wires are correctly connected? tks

[F1nut]

No idea, never did it.

Check the leads from the crossover to the tweeter with a VOM and that way you'll be 100% sure.

[dorokusai]

I have two pairs of SDA's wired just as I stated, so that's my given.

The schematics I have specifically address this same color code for multiple models.

The schematic for the SDA CRS and SDA CRS+ states Blue/Black = Positive, Green/White = Negative.