danregs
Member
Registered: 29th Jun 01
Location: Exeter, Devon
User status: Offline
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a sound wave oscillates high and low. high = when the speaker cone is pushed out, low = when the speaker cone is pulled in.
if you wire a speaker with the terminals the wrong way round, also known as "switching the polarity", (whether this be intentional or not) then the highs and lows of the sound wave get reversed so when the speaker cone WOULD have been going OUT, it will now be getting pulled IN and vice versa.
this means if you wire two front speakers or two rear speakers at opposite polarities (i.e. switch the polarity of ONE speaker) then you will find that you will lose a lot of your bass and have a slightly quiter overall output. this is because when one cone is pushing out, the other will be pulling in - therefore (almost) cancelling each other out - we then say the speakers are "OUT OF PHASE".
you can sometimes use this to your advantage....
for example if you have 6x9's in your rear shelf and a sub in your boot then you can switch the polarity of your sub/s and the 6x9's will be pushing against your sub on bass notes, preserving your sharp bass. this is rather than the sub driving the 6x9 cones further forward on bass notes possibly causing distortion
hope this helps!
dan 
[Edited on 23-03-2004 by danregs]
[Edited on 24-03-2004 by danregs]
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