Speaking of recordings being out of phase/polarity, at least 50% of CDs are out of polarity, you know, just by blind luck - there is no Standard for Polarity - and perhaps as much as 92%, if George Louis, the Polarity Pundit, is correct in his logic. Which begs the question, shouldn’t our systems be placed Out of Absolute Polarity for best overall performance? 😳
Why are the vocals on some records hidden behind the music on my system?
Help! I am new to this forum, but have been into audio for over 45 years and have never had this problem before. I was lucky enough to come into some money and decided to use some of it to up grade my system for the first time in almost 30 yrs. The system consists of McIntosh MC-402, McIntosh C-100, McIntosh MCD-500, VPI HW19 MKIII, Soundsmith Aida, Furutech Ag-12 phono cable, Furutech silver head shell wires, Furutech interconnects and Furutech speaker cables (yes I like Furutech) and Raidho XT-3 speakers. Now on some albums the vocals are buried behind the music and you have a really hard time hearing the singer? Not all albums are voiced in this manner but enough that it is bothersome. I have a large dedicated man room (24 x 27) with minimum treatment. CDs sound just fine so I feel that it is with the phono preamp in the C-100? I have moved the speakers 100s of times and have them at 5' 8" apart and 8' 1" to the focal point and the soundstage is good and the vocals are better, but you still have to really listen hard to hear certain vocals on some albums. Most of my albums are 30 to 50 years old and have been cleaned with a sonic cleaner (best thing ever imho). Even some of my new heavy vinyl has this problem.
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Once again I want to thank everyone who has chimed in to help fix this problem! Looks like I will have a lot of work ahead of me to find the real issue. I have already double and triple checked the head shell wiring to verify that they are correct (they are), so on to re-alignment, overhang, vta,etc. before investing in a separate phono stage. I did try reversing the speaker cables just as an experiment (didn't help). Hopefully one of these suggestions will be the one that works! |
Yogiboy and Geoffkait, I think you may be inadvertently confusing the OP. There is a difference between issues related to "system phase" (for want of a better word), which I use to refer to the phase in both channels simultaneously, and the issue of having one channel 180 degrees out of phase with the other. The latter wreaks havoc on imaging, for sure. The former has a subtle effect (if the channels are in phase with each other and you then switch the phase in BOTH channels by 180 degrees) heard by some but not by all listeners. I would say off the top of my bald head that it is impossible to cut an LP such that one channel would be reproduced 180 degrees out of phase with the other. That can happen at any downstream point in the circuit after transduction, but not a fault of the LP, just based on how a stereo signal is encoded on an LP. The cartridge itself could be internally miswired to create such a problem (which I don't think is happening here), but the LP cannot be at fault. (Please, anyone, if I am wrong in this belief, correct me. No problem.) Perhaps you guys are attributing the OP's dilemma to system phase (i.e., the two channels are in phase with each other but phase is opposite to what sounds best), which would be the easiest thing in the world to check; switch the leads from hot to ground and vice-versa on BOTH speakers. Scooby, You say above that you reversed the speaker cables, per my suggestion here. Did you do it at both speakers or only at one of the two speakers? |
As i said this is a first thing to do and if you only can buy this Test Record it will be easy http://www.cardas.com/music_frequency_sweep_lp.php to check In Phase / Out of Phase and Polarity (Both channels in positive polarity) / Out Of Polarity (Both channels in reversed or negative polarity Spiral). There is also 13 strikes on a high "B-flat" on a piano Note: The last of the 3 strings are brought into zero-beat, dead-on tuning. Listen for the impact of hammer on string, quickly followed by room reflections mingling with one another, followed by a keener sense of the piano sound itself, as the ring-out time of the string exceeds that of the reverb time of the room.
... and many more features on this test LP |
Just to clarify, what I’m talking about is the issue usually called Polarity which is when the system is hooked up correctly and all components are in correct polarity (non-inverting). Then, when a recording that is in reverse Polarity is played on the system the resulting sound will be in reverse Polarity. Conversely, if a recording that is in correct polarity is played on a system that for whatever reason is in inverted Polarity the resulting sound will have inverted Polarity. Incorrectly connected cables on one side of the system is a separate issue. |
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