Q&A for How to Wire Speakers

You only need to pull them far apart enough to be able to get each wire into speaker terminals. Make sure to insert each wire fully into the right terminal, and make sure both are secure. Also, don't let the strands from the red and black wires touch each other, or you might blow your receiver.

If the amp is too powerful for the speaker, the speaker could be damaged. If the speaker's impedance, measured in ohms, causes too great of a draw on the amp, the amp could be damaged. Check the markings on the back of the amp and speakers. If the power-handling capability, in watts, of the speakers is greater than the amp's max output, you are fine in the power department. Regarding impedance, make sure the speaker impedance is greater than what the amp expects.

E stands for Earth, a British term for what people in the US call Ground. It's good that there are two input poles, as you would connect the back wire to earth (E) and the other red wire to IN. For the woofer, midrange and tweeter speakers, connect all three of their black wires to the output E, and then the woofer red to W, midrage red to M, and the tweeter red to T.

Touching a nine volt battery to the speaker terminals will let you know which is positive. If you hook the positive side of your 9 volt battery to what you think is the positive terminal on your speaker, and hook the negative side of your battery to the other terminal on your speaker, you will see for a brief second the paper cone move. If your first attempt moves the paper cone outwards towards the front of the speaker, then you have located the positive terminal correctly. If instead the speaker moves inwards towards the magnet just reverse your connections. The speaker cone will move outwards when the positive on the battery is connected to the positive on the speaker.

The speaker is capable of what is known as bi-amp or bi-wiring if it has to terminal pairs. Doing either of the those is optional (improvement is debatable) the red (+) and black (-) are generally connected with a jumper so you only need one speaker wire to power them. You need to know if your receiver supports bi-amping, and may need to set something in the configuration to get maximum benefit. Bi-amping is generally only available in a receiver that supports 7.1 or higher.

No! Do not put them on the same side. Attach them to the red and black terminals respectively. If you put the red and black wires on the same side, you might blow your receiver, your speakers, or both.

This is mostly likely caused by overusing the speaker, causing it to overheat. Try to limit your time using them. If this is not the problem, it might be a defective model. Call the retailer or manufacturer for a replacement immediately.

This can depend on the quality and source of the music; vinyl, for example, will always sound much richer than digital. An amp can help; an amp that uses vacuum tubes (a "tube amp") will produce the richest sound, but can be quite expensive. Your receiver may also have an equalizer or different sound processor effects; experiment with these until you find what best suits you.

Yes. As long as you remain consistent, any extra wire can be used to extend.