Question about inverting polarity

Sarah; Reversing polarity is not necessarily the same as being out of phase. You may be reversing polarity of the AC power, much like reversing the AC plug. This is not changing the phase of the output to the amp. I am not familiar with BAT preamps to know if that switch reverses the phase to the amplifier or just the AC polarity. You should consult with BAT on that (check the manual). Reversing the AC polarity to the wrong polarity will usually make it brighter as you describe.

Preamp makers make their preamps out of phase (going out the amp outputs) usually because less is more. Their designs are simple and clean (and out of phase), and would require an additional gain stage to bring them back in phase. The addition of another gain stage would degrade the signal.

Conrad Johnson preamps are out of phase. You could call them or drop by on your way around the beltway and have them explain it better than I can. They are behind the Home Depot at Route 50 and Route 29 in Fairfax.

Sometimes CDs are recorded with the polarity reversed (by mistake), but reversing wires won't help. It needs to be corrected at the DAC. Some CD players have a switch on the remote to reverse the polarity for these CDs.

sarah: my boulder 1012 also allows remote polarity inversion, which the (very handsome) manual explains nicely as being different from phase inversion. here’s what it says:

NOTE: Often polarity is mistakenly called phase. As phase indicates any angle between two channels from 0 to 360 degrees, the correct term of polarity is preferred to indicate the 180º phase change, or inversion, available on the 1012 DAC Preamplifier.

so, as I understand it, cd’s and even tracks on the same cd are frequently recorded, intentionally or not, with “positive” or “negative” polarity. By toggling between these settings on a polarity inverter of the same form employed on the boulder 1012, you can replicate the polarity of the original recording. my experimentation has also shown that “positive” polarity is the preferred setting for “normal” listening of cd’s or lp’s. this translates, i believe, to the pre being connected "in phase" or in "common polarity" with the amp.

-cfb

additional questions....does bridging an amp reverse phase and how does one go about bringing it back into phase if it does? also, how does one know if a cd is recorded out of phase?

I think you can only tell if a CD is recorded out of phase by guessing with your ears??

some recordings are quite intentionally produced "out-of-phase" to maximize soundstage width. the most recognizable of these are "q sound" products, including roger water's "amused to death" and madonna's "music." -cfb