scripted13
New Member
why does the speaker has a positive and negative input? what would happen if i mistakenly reverse the inputs? thanks good guys
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Nothing, unless you have multiple speakers; then they are driven out-of-phase. It is particularly important to drive left and right stereo speakers with the correct phasing.
If the drum "kicks" in or out does not matter since our hearing does not identify the "in or out" phase of a pulse. Our hearing responds only to AC frequencies (not DC pulses) at 20Hz and higher.when you are playing music that has a pronounced kick-drum, the effect of having the woofers moving IN when the kick drum is hit, makes the music sound like it's missing something. you hear the kick drum, but it doesn't sound right.
the polarity marking (i'm surprised nobody else mentioned this) means that if the + terminal is positive (i.e. on the positive half of the waveform), the cone moves out. this is most important with woofers or multi driver cabinets, since the cancellation effect you would get using two stereo speakers out of phase would be most noticeable for bass, or in the case of a speaker cabinet with two woofers, two mids, and two or more tweeters. also with woofers (and especially subwoofers), when you are playing music that has a pronounced kick-drum, the effect of having the woofers moving IN when the kick drum is hit, makes the music sound like it's missing something. you hear the kick drum, but it doesn't sound right. there are people who take the whole "absolute phase" thing and blow it completely out of proportion, but it isn't really that important except at low frequencies.
Most of the time the term phase is mistakenly applied to the direction a speaker moves when driven by an input signal. This is really a description of polarity. The polarity of a speaker may vary from one brand of speaker to another. Some cones move forward and away from the magnet when a positive voltage is applied to their coil terminals. Other speaker cones move backwards and into the magnet when a positive voltage is applied to their terminals. There are even some manufacturers that label tweeters differently than woofers.
Monster Cable doesn't agree with that. One cannot predict the direction of the cone from that label.
I wouldn't pay any attention to anything the crooks at Monster Cable say
Speakers are marked +/- so you can connect them correctly easily - and making the +ve terminal positive always moves the cone forwards - there would be no point in marking if it wasn't a firm standard.
Has a nightmare at a gig once - the two sides of the stage were reversed, and individual cabinets on each side were.
Needless to say - no tools or test gear - but managed to borrow a PP3 out of a guitar effects pedal!
Monster Cable is a successful company that has been in business 35 years and has well over 400 employees (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Cable_Products). Regardless of what you may personally think of its customer service or even its products, I see no point in such name calling here.
The point you make regarding the direction of cone movement is simply not supported by the facts. While that may be the preferred definition, there is inconsistency in the market with respect to labeling. Here are some other links that report that inconsistency:
http://www.bcae1.com/speaker.htm
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2013/03/SMARTSYSTEM2000.pdf
What can you provide in support of your position that such marking is a "firm standard?"
Every speaker I've seen and used over MANY years.
Have you EVER seen a speaker wired differently? (assuming it wasn't a manufacturing error of course).
I saw a speaker once that was made and shipped without a magnet. I betcha the manufacturer did not test it.
It's good to know you agree it is not a "firm standard," but rather based on your personal experience. I was hoping you or someone would find the aforementioned standard for all of our benefit.
As I tried to point out before this discussion got diverted, what may be common practice is not necessarily universal.