Speaker wire polarity

[HStanford1]

Hey guys, my Dv-84's finally came in. When I got my Stereo Receiver it came with some speaker wire. The casing is all clear, and one wire is silver color, while the other is copper. Anyone know which is which? Or a good guess? Will I mess anything up permanently if I get polarity wrong?

 

[markw]

It doesn't matter as long as the same wire goes to the same terminal on each end. Say copper to the "+" on the amp and the speaker and the silver to the "-"'s.

...or just the opposite. Just so the same goes to the same. The wire color simply makes it easier to identify which is which.

In any case, even if you get it wrong, nothing will be damaged.

 

[HStanford1]

Awesome thanks for the prompt reply! These speakers are my first Hi-Fis and I'm extremely impressed with their aesthetics Just gotta get em plugged in!

 

[runswithscisors]

I was told that the copper conductor (higher grade conductor) is the + and silver conductor (aluminum, a lower grade conductor) is the return or - conductor. This allegedly gives less signal degradation from the receiver to the speaker, and uses a cheaper conductor for the return path where signal degradation does not matter.

All this may or may not be hogwash, but that's what I've heard.

Personally, my experience is that the wire that comes with receivers in too small, and extremely poor quality. I would personally spring for a roll of solid copper 14g or 12g "lamp cord" speaker wire at wal-mart. BTW, look in automotive, not electronics, my wal-mart only stocks 16g in electronics.

 

[j_garcia]

I was told that the copper conductor (higher grade conductor) is the + and silver conductor (aluminum, a lower grade conductor) is the return or - conductor. This allegedly gives less signal degradation from the receiver to the speaker, and uses a cheaper conductor for the return path where signal degradation does not matter.

All this may or may not be hogwash, but that's what I've heard.

Personally, my experience is that the wire that comes with receivers in too small, and extremely poor quality. I would personally spring for a roll of solid copper 14g or 12g "lamp cord" speaker wire at wal-mart. BTW, look in automotive, not electronics, my wal-mart only stocks 16g in electronics.

It is hogwash; whomever told you that is FOS. There's no difference, just a way to visually tell which is which. The silver wire is tinned copper, not silver. Silver is technically a better conductor than copper as is gold, but they are not used because they are obviously far more expensive.

 

[runswithscisors]

It is hogwash; whomever told you that is FOS. There's no difference, just a way to visually tell which is which. The silver wire is tinned copper, not silver. Silver is technically a better conductor than copper as is gold, but they are not used because they are obviously far more expensive.

Good to get a second opinion on that one. Thanks.

 

[Haoleb]

Gold is actually a poorer conductor than copper, but it does not exhibit the same corrosion characteristics that copper does, which is why it is often used for contacts.

Silver is the best conductor you can get at room temperature, copper being second. The wire in question is most likely copper with a plating of something else so you can identify which is which. Hopefully it is not actually aluminum wire. Because you are creating a circuit (think a loop) with the speaker wire and the speakers you are limited to your weakest link. So lets say you have one conductor, a "positive" going to the speaker made of 100% pure silver and the other conductor that is your "negative" being something like... recycled beer cans... you're limited to the conductivity of those crunched up PBR cans.

I put the positive and negative in quotations because what we're dealing with when it comes to audio is AC signals, and the polarity is constantly changing with respect to what is positive and negative. Most people will argue that there is no absolute polarity with music anyway because the fact some equipment will invert the signal, different recordings are not always in the same polarity...etc...

As long as you have all your speakers wired the same, You're good However, the speaker wire that comes free with equipment is usually best sent straight to the trash since its most likely 18awg at best. Decent copper speaker wire 12-14awg is pretty cheap relatively speaking. You may or may not notice a difference in sound quality between the two. That's a whole different can of worms.

 

[Cp1024]

It is hogwash; whomever told you that is FOS. There's no difference, just a way to visually tell which is which. The silver wire is tinned copper, not silver. Silver is technically a better conductor than copper as is gold, but they are not used because they are obviously far more expensive.

That is strange because most of the speaker wire I've seen back in the day were copper and aluminum. Have tons of it in the garage now.

 

[lovinthehd]

That is strange because most of the speaker wire I've seen back in the day were copper and aluminum. Have tons of it in the garage now.

Scrape off the tinning or cut the wire to test....but probably simply tinned.

 

[Cp1024]

I am truly shocked real gear nuts have not seen or are familiar with run of the mill copper / aluminum split speaker wire.

 

[lovinthehd]

I am truly shocked real gear nuts have not seen or are familiar with run of the mill copper / aluminum split speaker wire.

Never ran into it myself nor heard of it. CCA, sure, but not this. Got pics or something to show?

 

[Cp1024]

Scrape off the tinning or cut the wire to test....but probably simply tinned.

That's incredible! I can hardly believe it. I guess I really do need new glasses. After all these years I thought they were subpar because it looks and feels like aluminum. It even bends and crumples differently than the copper side, or do I just think it does lol. Thank you for setting me strait.

 

[lovinthehd]

That's incredible! I can hardly believe it. I guess I really do need new glasses. After all these years I thought they were subpar because it looks and feels like aluminum. It even bends and crumples differently than the copper side, or do I just think it does lol. Thank you for setting me strait.

It's just one way to distinguish polarity....but you're welcome

 

[j_garcia]

I have encountered it as well. This may actually be wire for some sort of power transmission rather than signal wire. I do believe it is used in some power transmission, mainly because it is light and is much cheaper than copper. It is possible in older homes that you might find this type of wire in walls, though due to the fact that it will fail faster than copper, I don't think it is used much, if at all, for this anymore. These wires that have one copper and one "silver" wire, are more likely tinned copper as mentioned, most likely not aluminum. When speaking specifically about speaker wire, aluminum is unlikely to be used simply because it has other issues, such as requiring a larger AWG for the same capacity because of the difference in conductivity and it is much easier to oxidize.

 

[PENG]

I have encountered it as well. This may actually be wire for some sort of power transmission rather than signal wire. I do believe it is used in some power transmission, mainly because it is light and is much cheaper than copper. It is possible in older homes that you might find this type of wire in walls, though due to the fact that it will fail faster than copper, I don't think it is used much, if at all, for this anymore. These wires that have one copper and one "silver" wire, are more likely tinned copper as mentioned, most likely not aluminum. When speaking specifically about speaker wire, aluminum is unlikely to be used simply because it has other issues, such as requiring a larger AWG for the same capacity because of the difference in conductivity and it is much easier to oxidize.

Right on! I think it may be possible that AL wires were used in very cheap audio systems (or cheap wires sold in stores such as the dollarrma's, just guessing though.

 

[3db]

8

I was told that the copper conductor (higher grade conductor) is the + and silver conductor (aluminum, a lower grade conductor) is the return or - conductor. This allegedly gives less signal degradation from the receiver to the speaker, and uses a cheaper conductor for the return path where signal degradation does not matter.

All this may or may not be hogwash, but that's what I've heard.

Personally, my experience is that the wire that comes with receivers in too small, and extremely poor quality. I would personally spring for a roll of solid copper 14g or 12g "lamp cord" speaker wire at wal-mart. BTW, look in automotive, not electronics, my wal-mart only stocks 16g in electronics.

Its good your not following what you been told and kudos to you for using lamp cord instead of that high price esoteric bs wire.

 

[MTVhike]

Building wiring convention for devices (receptacles, etc.) is that the neutral (white) wire goes to the silver-colored screw and the hot wire goes to the brass screw. For speakers, it doesn't make any difference, but if one of the speaker terminals in the amplifier is grounded, then make that the silver-colored wire. Doesn't affect sound or safety, but it's a useful tool for remembering. In this post, that would be the "-" wire or terminal.