Does it sound like your speakers are putting out enough low end sound? Does your bass response seem weak?

It could be that your speaker wires are not correctly connected between your amplifier (or receiver) and the speakers. The most common mistake is reversing the polarity of the wires. While connecting the positive terminal on your amp to the negative terminal your speaker won't cause physical damage to your equipment, it will seriously degrade your sound quality. This is known as operating your speakers "out of phase."

Here's an easy way to check for this problem and fix it (for a 2-channel stereo).

1. Place both speakers facing each other about 2 inches apart.
2. Play some music through the speakers and listen to the sound.
3. Turn off your stereo. Disconnect the speaker wire from one of the speakers and reverse the connections.
4. Fire up your stereo and listen to your music again. Is the low end response better, or worse? If it improves, you had the polarity on one of your speakers reversed and will need to make sure the positive outputs from your amp and connected to the positive inputs on your speakers. You can actually just leave the connections the way they are if you don't plan on hooking up any more speakers. If it is worse, then put the wires back the way you originally had them because you did the job right the first time!