OT: does positive and negitive really matter...?

[marrstians]

when it comes to hooking up the speakers on your amp? if so how would you tell which lead is positive and which is negitive? if you have more than one speaker and they're run in series you connect +to+, +to-, then -to- right?

[puretube]

mostly there`s a red dot somewhere on the chassis near the solder-lugs, that`s plus;
if not: take a 1.5 to 9 volt battery, and touch the poles to the lugs for a short moment:
if the spk-cone moves forward, the lug you touched with the pos bat.-pole, is your positive spk-pole;
series-connect the spkrs, so that opposite signed lugs are connected together.
(parallell: equally signed lugs together).

[Transmogrifox]

The main issue is phase.  If you are hooking up only one speaker, do it any way you like.

However, if your speakers are hooked up as left(-+ +-)  and right(+- +-), then the sound coming out of the two speakers will be reverse phase, and some of the sound will be cancelled, resulting in significant volume loss and frequency shaping.  If you have both speakers hooked up as either ++ ++  or -+ -+, then there is no problem.  If you hook one speaker up in one polarity, just be sure that the other speaker(s) is (are) connected according to the same polarity.  Keeping the positive with positive, negative with negative, is just a good convention to keep things consistent.

For series connections, just think about which direction the current is going through the speaker, and be sure it is the same direction for both speakers.

Amp output lug+--->+speaker1- ----> +speaker2- ---->Amp lug-

[Nasse]

if you have more than one speaker and they're run in series you connect +to+, +to-, then -to- right?

Its getting late and I need sleep but if can follow if you connect like this the speakers work in opposite phase. It might cause phase cancellations and level loss/attenuation, maybe in closed box speakers can overload (dunno really) you need to connect them so that speakers + terminals point to the same direction (did you mean just that?). But maybe im wrong. Or there sure is a clear picture how to connect 4x12" or 2x12" combo

But  I believe some manufacturers have different standard for + and - markings or just have a red dot and if the speakers are different make th e cones might move at opposite direction. But there is easy and safe way tho test it, just take a 1,5 volts or 4,5 or 9 volts battery (dont use power supply because it gives too much amperes and can burn the voice coil) and apply some DC (for a short time only, it heats the voice coil) across the speaker terminals, and look carefully in which direction the speaker cone moves. I have used this method when testing stereo and surround speakers. Drawback is you must be able to see the speaker cones, ie you must be able to take the drill cloth off. It is not easy to see small movement of a stiff coned instrument speaker in dark. I sometimes used a self made "ortoperspekta" surround extra speakers with my small "DJ" setup, and I never remember which way I must connect the surround speakers (they are in opposite phase, but is it left or right?) to the amp, but I usually listen some Jimi Hendrix Electric ladyland tracks, when the stereo effect sounds great I know they are right.

[petemoore]

The enclosure can limit cone travel.
 If both speakers cones are trying to go foreward, in a sealed enclosure the air pressure inside the cab becomes less by enough to 'pull' and limit the cone throw range.
 If in the same cabinet the same speakers are wired out of phase, the one cone going in helps push the other one out...if the cone tries to exceed the range of it's fhrow, this can instantly change the condidtion of the structure for the worse.
 Imagine two identical rocks, thrown into a still pond. as the waves come out in perfect phase they will merge and re-form into one well defined wave...this analogy uses rocks for speakers and water for air to explain movement.
 take the same two rocks, drop them in with the second one delayed precisely the time it takes for a wave of that frequency to go from top to bottom of the peak [this is analogous to the out of phase speakers]...now instead of a well defined waveform you have 'chaos'...
  Other than in closed back cabinets where the design assumes in phase wiring [I think it is generally a mistake to out of phase wire coils in a sealed enclosure], and long speaker life depends on it, in phase wiring is best for me, but the difference is not all that fantastic at low volume...sometimes it may be found to be preferable, quite the mirror of phasing pickups on a guitar in 'unconventional' ways, positioning, amplitude, other effects etc. all play a part also.
 This is a big part of what gives  the 'wall of stax' sound the tightness and power it is known for.