cfb: for these purposes, "phase" and "polarity" could be considered equivalent terms, since when it comes to an electronic component like a preamp, the only question is of either 0deg. total shift (maintain correct absolute phase) or 180deg. (what Boulder rightly calls an "inversion"). Their needlessly confusing explanation implies the possibility of some degree of electrical phase differential between the two channels - not an issue here. Gunbei: what you are thinking of is wiring the two speakers 180deg. out of phase with each other (reversing the leads for one speaker only). This would indeed cause the woofers to work "against" one another, but this is also not the issue at hand when referring to a preamp or DAC "phase" switch. For those preamps, like my own c-j unit, that do invert absolute signal phase, changing both the left and right speaker leads (at either the amp end or the speaker end, but not at both ends) will change the system to correct absolute electrical phase (assuming no other selected component also inverts phase), with no electrical phase difference between the two speakers themselves. Sugar: Sarah could not be reversing AC polarity from the remote control - this would indeed be for signal phase inversion. (As for why this would make the sound "brighter", I haven't any idea.) Nick, Sugar, cfb: for most non-audiophile recordings, talking about "in" or "out of" phase is a moot point. For music that is not minimally mic'ed and produced, and is not performed acoustically and recorded in "live" performance, there is likely to be an unknowable number of different phase inversions between the many "tracks" of separately recorded and processed instruments and vocals, let alone synthesized sounds where the concept doesn't really apply at all. And all that comes before any question of whether a CD itself is mastered in "correct" phase. This is why I believe that phase switches are largely useless - either the recording will be from an audiophile label, where we should be able to assume correct phase has been carefully maintained through the production chain, or the whole question is pointless, because there will be no absolutely "correct" phase to choose from on a typical recording. (That, plus I can never hear much of a difference anyway, even where one might theoretically apply.) Sugar, Sarah: you guys are within visiting distance of c-j too?
