While soldering in the connection for my new head unit I noticed that the wireing for my front speakers has its polarity switched. After inspecting the speakers in the front doors i noticed that one of them also has its polarity switched perhaps to compensate for the wireing blunder near the head unit. After checking the wireing Im fairly certain that the two front speakers are in phase with each other but Im not sure if they are in phase with the rear. Its hard to check because the wireing dissapears into the dash and changes somewhere along the line. Is there a way I can check this without unsoldering and switching the wires around? Id like to be sure before I bring out the iron again.

The wireing is not the only audio thing done shoddily on my car... Clearly whoever installed this system (it came with the car) was a moron. Fairly certain it was a proffesional job too...

I guess you could just listen!

haha, i thought if bass response was dodgey, it was likely the polarity was wrong.

The best possible way is probably tap the speakers with a ltitle battery and see which way the cone moves. If its correct, then the cone should move out(away from magnet)

Yes, I believe it will require you to unsolder a bit of wiring.

Might have to get out the multimeter and check which cable goes where....

Switching the phase 180 degrees is not always a bad thing. It can sometimes increase bass response. Or disguise the location of a sub.

Get the multimeter out would be the best bet...

Switching the phase 180 degrees is not always a bad thing. It can sometimes increase bass response. Or disguise the location of a sub. care to explain?

care to explain?

Tim is correct. When tuning systems, installers often wire subs out of phase to get better sound quality. This article on subwoofer aiming is from our website. (http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp/fhrxstudios/faq.asp#24). :D