[BrandonB]

This maybe kind of funny to some of you guys.  What test do you perform on a speaker to make sure that everything is wired correct other than making sure the speakers are working and sound is coming out of the driver?  This could be a video for Danny.

[tremrej65]

I'm no expert, but I would use the software REW and look at the frequency response. I use REW to check the acoustic of the room and to tune the sub-woofer with the main speaker. I use the USB measurement microphone from HifiBerry.

[toocool4]

Listen to it, does it sound good to you. Play music that you know, does it sound like you know and expect it to?

[Huskerbryce]

I assume by test a new speaker, you mean a diy home built speaker that you want to play for the first time.  The first thing I always do is perform a basic set of tests with a multi-meter.  Check the crossover for resistance and continuity.  Then, hook it up to a cheap low wattage amp and play a really basic low volume song.  Make sure there is sound from all the drivers.  Then once I am satisfied everything is working properly, I hook them up the big system.  Would be sad to blow a $100 mis wired tweeter.  Would be awful to destroy a $50,000 setup of speakers, preamps and amplifiers.  To be honest, I quadruple check everything everyday while building, so by the time the final product is ready for testing, I am 99.99% sure it wont be wired wrong.  The rest is all done with ears, and room eq wizard.

[richidoo]

DATS tool from Dayton Audio (no affliliation) measures impedance curve, which shows the technical health of a speakers, especially if you have the nominal expected curve published by the designer to check against. If you mess something up, or broken driver it will show on the impedance sweep.

[bimmerlover]

My first step is to listen to it and ensure that 1) it's not faulty and 2) it has a sound/voicing that appeals to you.

Ideally, you would not have purchased the speaker (unless you have it on loan) unless you had done your research and figured out, by reading and ideally by listening to it at a friend's place or at a dealer, that how it's voiced appeals to you and is suitable for your type of music and preferred sound levels.

If all that checks out, I would pull out REW and do measurements, both in my main listening position but also at another couple of places, to better understand the horizontal dispersion and how appealing the speakers may work in a social setting where people may be spread across the room and not just in the main listening position sweet spot.