Model Railway Forum

When attaching a speaker to a sound decoder, does it matter which way round the wires are attached?

No, not if there is only one.

Can't speak for sure regarding speakers designed for DCC decoders, but generally speaker polarity only becomes an issue in a multi speaker configuration such as a stereo hi-fi system. In this scenario if one is connected the wrong way round it gives a strange hollow sound as while one is pushing the air out the other is pulling it in. In multi speaker systems it doesn't so much matter as to which way they are connected so long as they are all the connected the same way.

Its far more important to ensure the speakers Ohm value matches that of the amplifiers requirement on the decoder. Too low and the amplifier will be overloaded and probably fail. Too high and you may struggle get any sounds of consequence!

Many thanks. It's only a one speaker set-up and 8 ohms and could be either 1w or 2w - I have two speakers to choose from. Barry