Hate to burst your bubble, Robert, but an audio signal is alternating
current.  There is no positive or negative about it, it cycles equally
between both polls so that if you hook it up in reverse you end up with
exactly the same signal, only offset by 180 degrees.  Picture a sine wave.
Picture a wave in the ocean.  The previous poster (from whom you "snipped"
had it exactly correct.  The positive and negative symbols are misnomers and
are only of value in allowing you to get all speakers synchronized so that
the top of the wave is pushing the speaker cone in the same direction on all
speakers at the same time so that one speaker's output doesn't cancel out
that of another by being out of phase.

Hope I've been able to draw this picture clearly enough.

Scott

**********SNIP***********
Date:    Fri, 29 Mar 2002 22:35:23 +0100
From:    Robert Steven Fish <fish@SALZBURG.CO.AT>
Subject: Re: Speaker Wire Polarity?

snipped-------
As far as which one is + and - it really doesn't matter except that all the
speakers should be wired the same, or else the sound will be off.
end snipped----------

I would beg to differ here... There is a reason for the polarity in sound
system speaker wires. If you have the speakers hooked up correctly, meaning
the (+) from the stereo actually ends in the (+) from the speaker, then you
will have a legitimate sound system. The LARGER connector is the (+), and
the smaller one is the (-).

If the (+) from the radio is plugged into the (-) of the speaker, the bass
will actually end up going IN to the speaker, instead of being thrown OUT to
your ears.  It sounds awful, although granted, under normal listening
conditions you may not notice.... but with lots of power in a high end
system, you would notice.

I have also been told that it ruins the speakers, as it forces then to
"pump" in the opposite direction to what they were built.... although the
speaker materials these days can probably deal with most anything... maybe
the old cardboard ones were more sensitive to this.

snipped------
take a 9 v. battery and wire it up so you can touch the speaker leads and
observe the cone's movement
end snipped------

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