Speaker Polarity?

[kawa]

[kawa]

[kawa]

Polarity of drivers
Copyright 2011 © Troels Gravesen

How do we find the polarity of a driver not having any + or - ingraved on the chassis or any red dot at the plus terminal? Vintage drivers, despite markings, may require an extra check, e.g. JBL drivers, where we sometimes can find red for both PLUS or MINUS depending on driver (JBL L100).

International standard these days require that when you apply a positive voltage to the PLUS terminal, the cone should move out.TEST

Fix two test wires to driver terminals and connect a 1.5 V battery as seen on picture above. Hold the minus wire to the battery minus and connect shortly the red wire to battery PLUS. If the driver cone moves out you have found the PLUS terminal being the one connected to plus on the battery. Ad a piece of red tape to the plus terminal or mark it somehow to make sure you get it right when you solder the crossover wires to the driver terminals.Connecting the drivers correctly is all or nothing in getting the crossover working properly. For a two-way speaker crossed at e.g. 3 kHz it can sometimes be really hard to hear what is correct, where measurements - if drivers are not connected correctly - will display a deep suck-out at point of crossover. The higher in frequency we get, the harder it is to hear phase problems.Swapping gear all too often I regularly have to check phase issues and I use this CD all the time ( - when not using the CLIO system):

"SOUND CHECK is the definitive stereo audio test disc. It contains 92 tracks of practical material compiled as a result of careful research and investigation into the needs of studio engineers, audio technicians, serious audiophiles, record producers and musicians. The disc has been designed not only to help assess the technical performance of a wide range of sound recording and reproduction equipment, but also to offer the very best available musical, vocal and effects sources for experimentation and demonstration."

[lawson-stone]

After all this, the speaker appears to be graveyard dead. Hooked it up, nothing. Zip.

But I've learned a lot. Thanks All!

[John A.]

[QUOTE=lawson-stone;926364]After all this, the speaker appears to be graveyard dead. Hooked it up, nothing. Zip.

But I've learned a lot. Thanks All![/QUOTEl]

No, it's just paralyzed with polarity anxiety. A Xanax in input 2 should do the trick.

John

[lawson-stone]

[QUOTE=John A.;926370]

After all this, the speaker appears to be graveyard dead. Hooked it up, nothing. Zip.

But I've learned a lot. Thanks All![/QUOTEl]

No, it's just paralyzed with polarity anxiety. A Xanax in input 2 should do the trick.

John

Main lesson from this is that before I get all involved with a speaker project, test it for continuity! I think some wire somewhere must be broken. It looks physically fine, but there is a disconnect somewhere. Too bad, too, because these Yamaha speakers are really nice speakers.

[sgosnell]

What resistance do you measure between the terminals? Any at all? It should be 8 ohms, of course.

[Danny W.]

What resistance do you measure between the terminals? Any at all? It should be 8 ohms, of course.

Not necessarily. 8 ohms is the impedance, but the meter will read resistance, which could be 5-8 ohms.

Danny W.

[lawson-stone]

What resistance do you measure between the terminals? Any at all? It should be 8 ohms, of course.

I get nothing, and continuity check fails. That's why I said I think there is some kind of broken connection within the speaker.

[BBGuitar]

After all this, the speaker appears to be graveyard dead. Hooked it up, nothing. Zip.

But I've learned a lot. Thanks All!

Have it reconed.

I had a couple 60's Jenson cast frame done a few years ago. Stamped frame may not be worth it.

[sgosnell]

8 ohms is the impedance, but the meter will read resistance, which could be 5-8 ohms.

Yes, it will almost never read exactly 8 ohms, but not zero, and not thousands nor millions of ohms. Somewhere in the 8 ohm ballpark. Lawson says it's open, so the point is moot here.

[kawa]

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