This is the most basic question that can be asked-imo-.If I don't use speaker wire adapters and I choose to cut the speaker plug ends--how can I tell which is the positive and which is the negative sides of the wires? Does it really matter if I put a pos on the neg side of an aftermarket speaker? When I bought a sub there was a red dot on one of the leads--is that the pos or neg? Would it sound like crap if I crossed them?

 

Swaping + & - wont hurt the speaker, but it will put it 180º out of phase. Red dot should be +. Goto www.installdr.com and it'll give you the color code and polarity.

 

what does out of phase mean? Make it sound like crap?
Will that site give color codes for specific cars?

 

usually negs have stripes going down them.

Nate

 

Depends, but generally if more then 1 speaker is playing the same fq and 1 is out of phase 180º then it will cause cancellation and sq will suffer.

 

one speaker will move inward while the other moves out if the wiring is not the same on each speaker it will sound much better when you get both speakers connected the same just play with it and listen

 

when one driver is out of phase with the rest, that drivers output will cancel the low frequency output of the rest, making it sound like a$$

factory vehicle wiring is NOT red-dotted or striped for negative. And no, power and ground aren't red/black. For a beginner, I'd spend the $12 on a Metra harness and BE SURE too many things to get wrong if ur not sure....

bmoney