If you connect up speakers the wrong way - what happens?

[Bump]

I have a component system in the front of my touring.

I have noticed the left hand mid and bass speaker doesn't sound as clear as the right hand side bass wise.

Could I have connected +ve to -ve by mistake to that speaker?

Would that account for the lesser sound quality?

If I try swapping the leads round whats the worst that could happen?

cheers, simon

[votivequagmire]

The only way you may do damage if the polarity is swapped for the speakers is if you have a high power system and have the volume up high.

If the polarity is switched then the speaker will work but the action will be reversed and you wont get stereo sound.

I'd certainly recommend you check the polarity and correct to eliminate it from the issue.

[Alex]

ive always found them to sound the same, although i make sure they are in the correct terminals

[mrLEE30]

on most cases there wil be no ill effects from connecting a speaker in reverse if you are the speaker, what it does is run in an opposite polarity thus the magnet pushes when it should pull. However most speakers are designed to push rather then pull and if connected in reverse they may damage the soft edgeing which is used to damp the speakers movement. Some subwoofers are ran in reverse on purpose where one speaker pushes and the second pulls, if the encloseure is correctly designed if makes one speaker push the other, thus doubeling the movement and thus sound pressure from the second speaker.

what all this means in real terms in your case is the sound waves will be in antiphase and thus effectively cancel each other out making the volume lower, this is more prominent in the lower frequencies thus in actual fact you loose most if not all bass. (it will not make you loose stereo sound, it will just mean that the one channel will run in antiphase and as most songs do not put the bassline in stereo then as i describe you will loose bass)

As you also state that the left and right side on their own are different then as i mention above speaker are designed to run in one direction and thus will sound worse if ran in reverse. best bet is to simply swap the leads and see if it improves.

[votivequagmire]

on most cases there wil be no ill effects from connecting a speaker in reverse if you are the speaker, what it does is run in an opposite polarity thus the magnet pushes when it should pull. However most speakers are designed to push rather then pull and if connected in reverse they may damage the soft edgeing which is used to damp the speakers movement. Some subwoofers are ran in reverse on purpose where one speaker pushes and the second pulls, if the encloseure is correctly designed if makes one speaker push the other, thus doubeling the movement and thus sound pressure from the second speaker.

what all this means in real terms in your case is the sound waves will be in antiphase and thus effectively cancel each other out making the volume lower, this is more prominent in the lower frequencies thus in actual fact you loose most if not all bass. (it will not make you loose stereo sound, it will just mean that the one channel will run in antiphase and as most songs do not put the bassline in stereo then as i describe you will loose bass)

As you also state that the left and right side on their own are different then as i mention above speaker are designed to run in one direction and thus will sound worse if ran in reverse. best bet is to simply swap the leads and see if it improves.

However if one of the channels is reversed and the other is correct you WILL lose stereo sound.

[Barx325i]

you get wave cancellation too, one speaker will appear a lot quieter, and as MrLee has pointed out, lower frequencies are more prominent, mainly as they are less directional.

[mrLEE30]

on most cases there wil be no ill effects from connecting a speaker in reverse if you are the speaker, what it does is run in an opposite polarity thus the magnet pushes when it should pull. However most speakers are designed to push rather then pull and if connected in reverse they may damage the soft edgeing which is used to damp the speakers movement. Some subwoofers are ran in reverse on purpose where one speaker pushes and the second pulls, if the encloseure is correctly designed if makes one speaker push the other, thus doubeling the movement and thus sound pressure from the second speaker.

what all this means in real terms in your case is the sound waves will be in antiphase and thus effectively cancel each other out making the volume lower, this is more prominent in the lower frequencies thus in actual fact you loose most if not all bass. (it will not make you loose stereo sound, it will just mean that the one channel will run in antiphase and as most songs do not put the bassline in stereo then as i describe you will loose bass)

As you also state that the left and right side on their own are different then as i mention above speaker are designed to run in one direction and thus will sound worse if ran in reverse. best bet is to simply swap the leads and see if it improves.

However if one of the channels is reversed and the other is correct you WILL lose stereo sound.

no, the left (or right) channel will still play the left (or right) channel, just in antiphase

[Barx325i]

thus losing the effect of stereo, the sound is still there

[votivequagmire]

exactly, thank you

[harry_p]

you don't loose stereo.

stereo symply means the speakers play different things. if you played a track where there is a sound that is only supposed to play out of the left speaker it will still play out of the left speaker no matter wich way round it's wires are connected. thus you will still have 'stereo'

however, as the phasing will be squiffy you won't get as much depth or stereo effect to the sound if a speaker is out of phase, it just wont sound quite right.

[Barx325i]

true, but in the same right, waves that were intented to be duplicated across both channels are now cancelling.. the result it is by definition a stereo sound. but not as intended

[mrLEE30]

as harry says the left and right channels of a stereo recording are completely seperate, what is generally shared is the bass lines and beat. thus as i first said the lower frequencies will cancel each other out quite a bit (but how it affects you at your ears depends mainly on the position of the speaker in relation to your ear)

lets assume a "worst case" of two rear parcel shelf speakers as they are approiximately equidistant from your ear. the common sounds such as bass and beat will cancel each other out, not entirely as the sepaker running correct will be more powerfull than the one in reverse, so the beat and bass will still be heard but not as loud. the stereo channels such as say an 80's synthisisier solo recored in two channels will still sound accross the two channels as the recording intended, thus you will still have stereo sound, but with lower frequency sounds and common channel sounds slightly cancelled out.

[minicooper172]

Actually, the above post isn't right. Both speakers will run at the same power, producing the same level of sound.

It doesn't matter if you wire both speakers the wrong way round - this is exactly the same as wiring them the "correct" way round. They are only labelled + and - so that you get both the same way round.

The overall effect will be that you lose volume and nothing more - no damage done.

[DHFiS]

By the time the sound waves reach your ear drum they will have bounced of so many surfaces they will be out of phase anyway so the difference will be minimal.