How to Connect Wires to Speakers & to a Stereo

Examine your speaker wire. Notice that the cable is in fact two differently-colored wires stuck together. Most commonly, they are black and red, but can be almost any color combination. Choose one color to become the positive and one to be the negative. You will need to stick with your choices to properly set up your stereo.

Connect the positive half of the speaker cable to either the left or right speaker connection on the back of the stereo. The positive connection is red. You will need to push and hold down a button beneath the connection before you can slide in the end of the speaker wire. Once the cable is inside, release the button. Repeat this step to attach the negative and positive sides of each wire to the back of the stereo.

Take the cable connected to the right speaker outputs on the stereo. Choose a speaker to be your right speaker and match the positive and negative connections on the back of the stereo. You will need to connect the cable to the speaker by pushing and holding down a button beneath the connection in the same way as Step 2.

Repeat Step 3 with your left speaker. Pull very lightly on the speaker cable to double-check the connections. The connections should be clipped firmly in place. Turn on the stereo and test the connections with your favorite CD.