Can a DMM test speaker polarity

[joeboxer5876 10+ year member]

just tried the battery trick. i like that:thumbupw:

 

[AllStar1500bd 5,000+ posts]

My favorite battery trick is touching both terminals of a 9v battery to my tongue.

 

[bds0688 10+ year member]

My favorite battery trick is touching both terminals of a 9v battery to my tongue.

That's a **** good time.

 

[ArrizX 10+ year member]

Incorrect.
A DMM, when set to read resistance (ohms), does NOT show polarity.

And to be sure of this I went outside and took my DMM to a sub. Sure enough, no matter what side the postive lead was on, it read 1 ohm. No negative number.

A voicecoil is simply a piece of wire, no negative and positive sides. The DMM is showing the resistance of that wire. A voice coil only becomes positive and negative when there is a power source attached to it telling it what to be. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

so what if I were to put a load on the speakers, you know just play them.

then could I use the dmm, or is the battery trick going to be my best bet?

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

My favorite battery trick is touching both terminals of a 9v battery to my tongue.

oh yeah been there done that

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

so what if I were to put a load on the speakers, you know just play them.
then could I use the dmm, or is the battery trick going to be my best bet?

Battery trick is going to be your best bet.

It's hard to tell if speakers are out of phase when they are moving back and forth 50+ times a second. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

a 9v battery is DC current and will make the speaker move only one direction.

 

[Fiercetimbo17 10+ year member]

You could buy a phase tester //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

But seriously battery trick is the best way. AA, 9v AAA drill battery anything will work, some just more noticeable than others.

But if any bass playing speaker is out of phase with another you will be able to tell, or at least i can

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

You could buy a phase tester //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
But seriously battery trick is the best way. AA, 9v AAA drill battery anything will work, some just more noticeable than others.

But if any bass playing speaker is out of phase with another you will be able to tell, or at least i can

2 subs is easy because there will be little to no bass. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

However, the OP is testing a home theater setup with speakers all over the place. That's gonna be a little tougher.

 

[ArrizX 10+ year member]

Battery trick is going to be your best bet.
It's hard to tell if speakers are out of phase when they are moving back and forth 50+ times a second. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

a 9v battery is DC current and will make the speaker move only one direction.

Yeah, I guess so. Perfect, thanks.

2 subs is easy because there will be little to no bass. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
However, the OP is testing a home theater setup with speakers all over the place. That's gonna be a little tougher.

Yeah.. hah

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]