speaker polarity, does it REALLY matter?

DannyW

DannyW

DannyW

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hi guys, as title really i've tryed both ways and can't tell no difference, what do you guys think?

cheers
 
Think I might have to have a play around with this.

Was pondering it earlier when I was re-connecting everything after moving back to uni.
 
daz said:
As long as both speakers are wired the same, it doesn't make a difference.
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Not sure I agree with that...

It may be that you can't easily discern much difference - that can depend on your equipment and of course the actual sound source playing - but out of phase speakers means your system will lack presence, and sometimes that's the difference between a good setup and a great one.

Many DVDs which bear the THX mark (no relation ;) ) have a good test for checking your speakers for this - especially useful if your speaker wire isn't clearly marked.

Bearing in mind that it won't cost you a penny to observe correct polarity, there's no reason to disregard it in my opinion...
 
If one is out of phase it'll sound weird, like one ear is clogged up, basically one speaker will disappear. You also shouldn't have both reversed phase, something to do with "absolute phase" although that is what the distance setting does, after so many feet the phase is inverted. So having absolute phase will knacker up correct distance setting.
 
badbob said:
If one is out of phase it'll sound weird, like one ear is clogged up...
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Yeah, I had that once. I just couldn't put my finger on what was wrong - the test tone volume levels seemed consistent, speaker alignment was okay, and I was sitting in the usual sweet spot...



Turned out one of my ears was clogged up. Several Earex(TM) drops and a good night's sleep and all was well... :)
 
DolbyDigitalTHX said:
Not sure I agree with that...

It may be that you can't easily discern much difference - that can depend on your equipment and of course the actual sound source playing - but out of phase speakers means your system will lack presence, and sometimes that's the difference between a good setup and a great one.
Click to expand...

I don't think you understand.

If you're sitting equidistant from the speakers (as you should be in any half decent setup ;)) it doesn't matter how you've wired the speakers up as long as both speakers are wired up the same.

When you wire up each speaker the same what you're effectively doing is making sure that when your left speaker is pushing outwards, your right speaker is also pushing outwards, and when your right speaker goes in, the left speaker is going in at the same time. If you have reversed the polarity on one speaker, then as one goes in the other will be going out. This will lead to out of phase waves combining at your ear and - you'll get constructive and destructive interference... which as you say, doesn't sound "right".
 
DannyW said:
hi guys, as title really i've tryed both ways and can't tell no difference, what do you guys think?

cheers
Click to expand...
Double negative, does that mean you can tell the difference? :p

Speaker phase matters...

In a 2.1 system, the sub is often wired out of phase, as it can sound better, especially around the crossover frequency. This is because the sub is rarely the same distance from you compared to the mains.

If your system is 2.0, they should be wired in phase.

Some DSP's allow you to invert the polarity in the menu's, allowing you to experiment much faster.
 
daz said:
I don't think you understand...
Click to expand...

No, I had understood - but re-reading my post I think I mistakenly typed 'out of phase speakers' when I meant '(absolute) reversed polarity speakers'.

I only say this from experience, where one speaker is definitely hollow/muffled sounding in comparison (and disconnecting the other/s to test). It's not just an issue of timing or sound placement, it can also affect the nature of the sound.

As has already been said, this issue is equipment dependent - I'm just suggesting to the OP that he observes correct polarity because that's the way the equipment is designed and it won't cost him anything to do so...
 
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