Apparently this Altec speaker (I am not familiar with) is very sensitive to applied DC voltage so proceed cautionsly.
A safe approach involves use an ohmmeter set on the low [R X 1] scale, which was a nominal 1.5 vdc output. The output impedance of the meter helps reduce the applied voltage/current surge to the voicecoil. A 1.5V battery with a flashlight bulb connected in series should also be a safe current limiter if you have no meter, but do buy a at least an inexpensive DVM which is pretty much mandatory for speaker work anyway. Limit the time duration of the applied dc source voltage to only as short a time as necessary.
The aforementioned regarding polarity behavior is accurate.
A safe approach involves use an ohmmeter set on the low [R X 1] scale, which was a nominal 1.5 vdc output. The output impedance of the meter helps reduce the applied voltage/current surge to the voicecoil. A 1.5V battery with a flashlight bulb connected in series should also be a safe current limiter if you have no meter, but do buy a at least an inexpensive DVM which is pretty much mandatory for speaker work anyway. Limit the time duration of the applied dc source voltage to only as short a time as necessary.
The aforementioned regarding polarity behavior is accurate.