Speaker Question (Alt. Title: This is going to sound stupid, but...)

[Weaver]

Hi, all.

I just received all my "guts" in the mail today and, as I was looking over everything, I noticed that neither the speaker output pads on the PC-U nor the speaker inputs on the speaker itself have any polarity markings on them. I have always thought of polarity when considering electronic devices, and was pretty certain that even a speaker would have a positive and negative wire association.

My question becomes: Which one is which? Does it just not matter for this type of device? I've searched with at least a dozen different combinations of keywords in the forum search engine, but so far the topic hasn't been mentioned in any of the threads I've found. I would tend to doubt that speakers are immune to polarity, but I suppose anything's possible.

[Skottsaber]

Speakers do have polarity, but in this case it doesn't actually matter which you use. All you're doing is powering an electromagnet, which is going back and forth, and if you reverse the polarity it just inverts the direction, but you hear the same sound.
The polarity on the regal speakers is usually marked with a red dot for the positive, if you're wondering.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

For speakers this small it doesn't matter. If you are dealing with large sound systems then it does matter. Also you will not have a positive and negative for switches either. A switch is just a set of contacts that is either open or closed.

[Sunrider]

Speakers do have a polarity of sorts. The positive terminal usually has a red mark near it. It does not matter how it is connected to the PC though. The use of the polarity is only needed when a speaker is used in conjunction with another speaker. ;)

[Weaver]

Good answers, thank you. I have dabbled in electromagnetics as well, and recalled that it did no harm to reverse polarity on the type I was studying. Speakers are, if nothing else, a slightly more elaborate and specifically purposed electromagnet.

I look forward to linking these components when I have them all under the same roof.