Although some speaker cables are sold with color-coded insulation to distinguish positive and negative, the wires themselves are identical. If this is the situation, normally the silver cable is going to be the positive polarity and the aluminum wire will be unfavorable. Speaker cable terminates at the end in leads, two separate wires to be connected to positive and negative terminals on the back of a speaker and its corresponding connection to a receiver or amplifier. When this is the case, usually the silver wire will be the positive polarity and the copper wire will be negative… Each speaker cable is going to get an index to tell them apart, for example, shade. Every speaker wire will have an indicator to tell them apart, such as color. I have to connect a ac adapter to a battery operated game system. There is wiring for both of them. You can get DVMs (digital volt meters) for $3 on aliexpress, or Harbor Freight. Technically, a wire really isn't positive or negative, it's about what the wire is connected to. The right and left speakers have 2 wires each. How do I tell which wire is positive and which is negative? To tell what wire you're gonna use for each positive or negative, refer back to the factory plug that was on the factory speakers. So, the idea behind filling something up, is to make sure the from of it is in one specific direction. If you're trying to figure out if a wire in something built in a factory or something is postive or negative, then yes, it'll have the strip on it to indicate it's negative. In certain high-end speaker cables, the insulating material is transparent see-through, sufficient to observe that the bare wires. In some high-end speaker wires, the insulation is transparent, or see-through, enough to see the bare wires. I'm trying to hook them up to my amp but I have no idea which wire is positive or negative. A “charger” is ment to charge some thing so probably a conteiner or a vessel of some sort, like an electric battery or a capasitor. I have an adapter that is the right voltage (6v) and I know I will have to cut off the end of the adapter power cord and splice/connect the wires to the game, but I don't know how to tell which of the two wires coming from the adapter is positive and which is negative. My house came with 2 wall speakers. Some terminals are also color coded; a common color code that is used is black for negative and red for positive. Decide what wire you want to use from one of the plugs and use that same wire on all of the plugs for either positive or negative on the speakers.-----Kathy- Speaker wire does carry electricity. Positive speaker wires have a positive (+) symbol or a negative (-) symbol to indicate the corresponding connector on the wires. That's how it functions.