[zybar]

Here is a very interesting article on polarity over at 6moons.com (nice job Srajan):

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/polarity/polarity.html

So it might be much ado about nothing

OR

Something you need to adjust on a song by song or cd by cd basis.

So which camp are you in?

Cast your vote...

George

[Daygloworange]

FWIW, After getting my SB 3 back from Wayne, he said I might want to try flipping the polarity of my speakers and see if it sounded different. I tried it quickly, and didn't hear a difference.

I will try it again sometime and give it a more critical listen, but as of now, no difference that I heard.

Cheers

[macrojack]

I don't hear it and I don't want to. It's one of those deals where you can train yourself to hear something that makes you unhappy. I think we have here a good illustration for the expression, "Ignorance is bliss".

[konut]

Does polarity matter?

Only if you're bipolar. 

[Russell Dawkins]

I think that what hinders consideration of this thorny question is the extreme inconvenience of experimenting with it.

For most people the only way to flip the polarity is at speaker level which means either:
1. building a suitable switching system, usually involving solenoids, and putting up with the slight degradation of the signal in going through this device (which need to be left in place), or
2: re-connecting wires at the speaker terminals which has got to be an amusement which wears thin in short order, especially when associated with the knowledge that the difference that hangs in the balance is so subtle (to anyone other than Clark Johnson) that you might well be fooling yourself after sweating behind the speakers for 4 minutes, so the whole exercise might well be a complete waste of time.

In spite of all this, in light of the knowledge that certain instruments produce highly assymetric waveforms (trumpets, for example) I do wonder whether there might be something to it, as a result I am considering buying the Lavry DA-10 DAC simply because it sounds about as good as the Benchmark (better, some say) and it has that so-very-hard-to-find polarity switch, not to speak of a mono switch.

The final frontier in all this is said to be the speakers and if what is said is true, the OB B200s without BSC would seem to be among the ideal candidates, with complex, steep order filtered 4-ways, the worst for hearing absolute polarity.

[Mike B.]

I think it is important but only after hearing the difference. I implemented a preamp with a remote phase switch and the sound stage and focus is much better when you select the correct phase. I have read and heard that approximately 50% of all recordings are out of phase. Perhaps just another thing to be obsessed with I suppose.

[BradJudy]

I have an Audio Alchemy DDE 3.0 DAC that has a phase switch on it.  Does it sound different when you switch it?  Yes.  Does one sound 'better' than the other?  Not that I could tell consistently. 

[Doublej]

It matters and sometimes it's not so subtle. I once was at a friend's house. He had moved his $150 Sony boom box style system and it sounded bad, unlike the last time I had heard it.  It turns out one speaker had the leads reversed.

I believe Clark's book says polarity will be inaudible on speakers with crossovers that impart large phase shifts over the speakers frequency response.

[Daygloworange]

DoubleJ,

What you are talking about is one speaker being 180 deg. out of phase with the other speaker. BIG difference! One speaker pushing, the other one pulling
When you do that, things not only sound strange, things can actually disappear entirely.

What they are refering here is both speakers with the positive and negative leads flipped around. They are still both in phase, but reverse polarity. Both speakers pushing, or flipped polarity and both speakers pulling.

Cheers

[PaulFolbrecht]

I believe Clark's book says polarity will be inaudible on speakers with crossovers that impart large phase shifts over the speakers frequency response.

Exactly.  That is the key.  And that means almost all speakers, except the few brands that consider phase coherence a worthy goal to pursue.

I'd go flip the leads on my Green Mountain speakers right now, but I'm too f---ing lazy to get up.

[PaulFolbrecht]

Actually - I have done it, and on my phase-correct Zu Druids too, and on some music at least there is a definite difference - but I'm not sure which one is right.

[zybar]

If Srajan is correct, your system polarity doesn't really matter unless you have a way of swithcing polarity, since polarity is so random on each recording.

George

[Daygloworange]

Yes there can be quite a bit of polarity reversal in recordings. Balanced connectors (XLR's) can be wired reverse polarity, so mic cables can get mixed up, different mixers, outboard processors, etc...can be wired reverse polarity.
So yeah, you could get a mismatch of correct and reverse polarities residing in the same mix.......and different combinations from song to song, artist to artist.....trying to chase which sounds best on each and every track in your collection and cataloging it......pffttt!!! Forget about it!!

Cheers

[ted_b]

I can clearly hear a difference when absolute polarity is reversed.  I look forward to my next preamp which will have a remote-controlled invert polarity feature.  As discussed ad nauseum, on multi-track recordings it's difficult to debate since many microphones in the multitrack could be reversed/inverted.  But on simple jazz and other recordings it's plain as day for me.  The feeling of the recording being out of synch or breathing in when it should breathe out...that kind of thing.  It's obvious to me...I'm not proud of it...just sensitive.

[Daygloworange]

But on simple jazz and other recordings it's plain as day for me.

In instances like that, yes. For example a classical recording done with just a few mic's placed to capture a hall ambience, if there is a difference that is audible in reversing polarity, then it would be most noticeable in that instance.

Agreed.

Cheers

[ted_b]

But on simple jazz and other recordings it's plain as day for me.

In instances like that, yes. For example a classical recording done with just a few mic's placed to capture a hall ambience, if there is a difference that is audible in reversing polarity, then it would be most noticeable in that instance.

Agreed.

Cheers

Right, so why discount those recordings?     Why say it ain't worth it, if you hear what I hear?  BTW, I listen to a lot of acoustic jazz and minimally mic'd stuff.  It's not the vast majority, but it's a lot.

[Daygloworange]

Actually, I'm agreeing with you. In those minimalist recordings, it's probably worth investigating. I just meant for the vast majority of multi-tracked recordings, it's futile.

Cheers

[SET Man]

Hey!

   Yes, I could difference. And as a Single driver speaker user without any xover. This make it easier to hear compared to when I used to have 2 way speaker.

   I do and highly recommend everyone set up their system with the correct polarity. Of cause this is a little problematic... since not all of the recording (CD and LP) are not recorded with correct polarity. So, to set up the system it is best to use a good tester CD of which likely to have correct polarity. I use those from Stereophile CD.

   The first thing I notice when the polarity is correct is the bass is much fuller and than everything else sound clearer and doesn't seem to get stuck in the speaker box

    I don't have luxury of switching polarity on the fry with my system but once I set up my system right with the test CD I think it is enough

Take care,
Buddy

[Doublej]

Daygloworange

I agree with your assessment of my description but what I failed to mention is that the setup was outdoors on a deck with the speakers about 15 feet apart so there wasn't any interaction between the two. Discounting the difference in content between the left and right channels it was listening to one speaker with polarity X and the other with polarity Y. When we moved from being in front of one speaker to the other it was clearly discernible difference. We both honed in on the left speaker as sounding wrong. This was the one with the leads reversed.

[ted_b]

Daygloworange

I agree with your assessment of my description but what I failed to mention is that the setup was outdoors on a deck with the speakers about 15 feet apart so there wasn't any interaction between the two. Discounting the difference in content between the left and right channels it was listening to one speaker with polarity X and the other with polarity Y. When we moved from being in front of one speaker to the other it was clearly discernible difference. We both honed in on the left speaker as sounding wrong. This was the one with the leads reversed.

This topic, like most regarding absolute polarity, has somehow reverted to talking about speakers being out of phase with one another.  That is a completely diferrent topic, and does not require debate.  Out of phase speakers (where a mono signal sounds ethereal with no real center image) is a problem with one speaker having it's leads reversed.  It is not a debate about absolute polarity in recordings, polarity switches or the like.  Two different animals all together.