Missinformation on wiring AR speakers

[Guest]

This URL contains information that is incorrect.

http://www.arsenal.net/speakers/ar/hookup.txt

Audio is AC. There is no polarity. It does not matter which way you hook up your speakers as long as both speakers are hooked up the same way.

Who is Mr. Tidwell?

[Guest]

All the components in a standard audio crossover are electrically non-polarized, but the individual drivers are polarized physically [acoustically]. In anything above a simple one-way speaker system you most certainly do need to pay attention to inter-driver phasing.

Basic electronic tinkerers to EE professors often fail to realize the difference between electrical and acoustical phasing. Even though they appear electrically as a non-polarized LCR circuit, speakers are transducers, converting electrical energy into physical sound energy. It is here that many people used to electrical engineering concepts fail to recognize the leap from one form of energy to another, and that a whole new set of rules begin to apply.

Anyone new to speaker building/ design/ repair should PLEASE pick up a copy of "The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook" by Vance Dickason, an older 3rd or 4th edition copy if possible. It breaks down all the nuts and bolts concepts of speaker design and performance into [reasonably] easy to understand language without making the information uselessly generalized. Even those with a fair amount of general speaker knowledge would do good to read through it many, many times. You'll be introduced to performance issues and concepts you have never even thought of.