which speaker wire is + and which is - in dash?

[jkufen]

My 86 I am trying to correct the previous owners crappy stereo system and the kid that did it didn't have any idea what he was doing. Now I have never do door or dash speakers so I'm trying to learn as I go. On my 86 the driver side has two wires a white and an orange one that went to the factory speakers. On the passenger side there's a white and black wire that went to the speaker. Now before I blow my new speakers using trial and error I was hoping someone here could help. On my new speakers there is a + and - where the wires go. I tried to figure out which was + and - with a volt meter but they both have a current so that idea was shot down. Any idea which is which. I can't determine since both sides have a white that that one is power or since they both have white its the ground. I haven't done any kind of sound system in probably 5-6 years so I'm a little rusty.

 

[jkufen]

Well after reading this wiring diagram I got from lmc for the last 7 hours I have finally traced out all the wires and for anyone else that may do this the front left (+) is the orange/green wire the front left (-) is the black/ white wire. The front right (+) is the white/green wire and the front right (-) is the black/white wire. I still got to trace the back speakers out but that will be a headache for another day. The guide they sent me didn't specify the colors of each wire so that was the fun part.

 

[hende]

Been looking in my haynes and cant find it try google bet it pops up

 

[PetesPonies]

Couple basic things here to learn.
First, if you have a black and white wire going to both speakers, that is obviously your negative wire. On most speaker systems, negative is common .

Secondly, if even in doubt, hook it up. You will not blow the speaker if it is backwards. What will happen is the cone will move in rather than out, noticeable on a bass note. So by watching the speaker, you can tell if it is connected correctly.

If you don't know which is positive and negative on the speaker, hook up a 9V battery to the speaker. Again watch which way it moves ( the cone ) and you can determine which connection is positive and which is negative.

 

[Shran]

You can always get out the multimeter too... connect it to both speaker wires, if it reads a negative number, your negative lead on the multimeter is connected to the positive speaker wire