Wiring a Cab question

[mightywarlock]

So tonight on Craigslist I picked up a pretty cheap cab (and no, I have absolutely no need of yet another cab), but it was unloaded.
When I got there to pick it up, the guy actually gave me 4 speakers that go in it, and said it needed to be re-wired.
I popped the back tonight, and re-installed the speakers.
The back panel of the cab has the jack and 2 wires coming off of it (Red and Black, I think) with speaker connects for the tabs.
No other wiring was included.

I looked up a wiring guideline, but I am a little confused as to how to actually wire this up, and what kind of wire to actually go buy.
Also, how short should all the wiring be when I get the wire?
And it's a 16 ohm cab, 4 - 16 ohm speakers, single jack.

Do I - Connect the 2 wires from the Jackplate to one speaker, then with new wire go from speaker to speaker? I seem to remember criss-crossing positive and negative...but it's been awhile since I wired up a cab.

Who's a wiring expert here?

Since there is only a Red and a Black, do I want to use Parallel/Series, as apposed to Series/Parallel?
I found this...
four 16-ohm speakers wired in parallel/series=16ohms

 

[racerevlon]

That diagram will work and yield a 16-ohm load if your jack plate has a single input and no mono/stereo switch. Go to Radio Shack and get a spool of Monster XP speaker wire. Relatively inexpensive and you'll hear the difference, to the point you'll upgrade any cabinet that has higher gauge (thinner) wire.