How do you wire a Hi-Fi?

Tommy B · 24 Jul 2006 at 21:39

I recently accidenly pulled out the cable connecting my speakers to my AMP. On reconnecting them, I've found that the sound has lost almost all bass and it is honestly quite awful.

I thought that the BLACK terminal (Negative) connets to the BLACK terminal on the speaker. And same with the red. Both + and - have two wires each, they both twine togethor at the amp, but each speaker has 4 inputs (2 for positive and 2 for negative)

So

L :
Black (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X Black (Speakers)
Red (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X Red (Speakers)

R :
Black (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X Black (Speakers)
Red (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X Red (Speakers)

What have I done?

Tommy B · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:12

The bass cones are working fine it's just they're quiet.

I have one amplifier with a + and a - terminal for each of L and R outputs. The speakers however have 2+ inputs and 2- inputs EACH. So I've got a 4-wire cable for each speaker, with 2 of the wires tied togethor at the amp end.

Tommy B · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:15

squiffy said:
yes I know, that's why I said bi-wiring, as you have a total of 8 wires on the speaker side, and 4 or 8 on the amplifier side.

Check you haven't knocked the bass tone controls.

Tried that.

As I'm a bit of a Hi-Fi noob, do you mind explaning what happens if you get the connections the wrong way round?

Am I right in conneting Black to Black, Red to Red etc?

Many thanks

Tommy B · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:28

Is there any other way to check whether the sound is inverted. I guess I could play a mono signal out of each and compare.

Tommy B · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:46

Are you sure RED is positive.

I wired it up so the RED terminals on the amp goto the BLACK terminals on the speakers, and now the bass is back just as it used to be.

Tommy B · 25 Jul 2006 at 19:19

I'm really confused now.

When I had BLACK > BLACK and RED > RED for both L and R it sounded crap. However, when I switched the BLACK and RED terminal wires (on the amp) around for the L speaker it suddenly sounded a LOT better.

Tommy B · 25 Jul 2006 at 19:30

Abyss said:
If you try having the following

L :
Black (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X BLACK (Speakers)
Red (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X RED (Speakers)

R :
Black (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X BLACK (Speakers)
Red (Amp) >>>>>>>>>>> 2 X RED (Speakers)

you will notice a complete lack of bass, and find it very hard to pinpoint where the sound is. This is because the speakers are out of phase.

I thought that was what you were MEANT to do...

Tommy B · 25 Jul 2006 at 19:37

FFS this is annoying.

I think it might be the X-fi that is messing everything up. It has some "Polarity" option. On one setting the bass is crap, but if I change it the bass suddenly BOOMS into place. What's that about?

Tommy B · 25 Jul 2006 at 20:18

That's what I've done and it's great now.

Why didn't the Hi-Fi people make it impossible to connect the speakers incorrectly in the first place?

That was confusing and I thought I knew a fair bit about Hi-Fis.

Tommy B · 26 Jul 2006 at 18:29

jbloggs said:
squiffy:

Thanks for the info.

EDIT:

Found This

That confirms my setup is OK.

Cheers