An encounter and lesson in speaker prices ...

There's no shortage of guys with way too much money and way, WAY too many dealers who find educating them too much work when its far easier to simply take their money.

One of the best things that happened to me was the dealers who happily let me alone to just listen. One of them even made a few suggestions, not components but what to listen for. At the time I couldn't hear any difference between DACs and CDPs. Or rather I could hear the differences, but only just barely, and with no idea what I was hearing.

Almost everyone listens to a stereo about the same way they look at an x-ray: they see the picture quite clearly, but with no idea what it means. Pretty much everyone's vision is plenty good enough to read an x-ray, but unless they have a pretty darn good knowledge of anatomy their odds of having a clue what they're looking at is slim to none. Even then its gonna take some practice. I mean, I can read pneumonia on a chest x-ray better than most of the docs where I work. Most people (and I mean most people everywhere, hint, hint) have no clue that just as you can't read an x-ray without a killer knowledge of anatomy and a lot of practice you can't evaluate components without a similarly specialized knowledge base and vocabulary.

Eric for example knows very well the importance of speakers being in-phase and what can happen when they aren't. Most high end customers couldn't pass that test. They are in effect looking to get into college with a grade school education. And not little house on the prairie grade school either, but modern public can't do maths can't spel either.

Its a shame that dealers are so happy to just take your money. Too many find its just too much work trying to educate their customers. In an age where everyone's ego's been inflated along with their (and I hate this word) self-esteem, I can see where they'd be afraid any more to take the risk. Just sell the guy his blue speakers. 

But it means Eric is right on. In a world where so much crap is fobbed off on people with more money than brains you can indeed score some killer deals and build a really musically satisfying system if only you take the time to develop the listening skills and knowledge base. 

Shopping for speakers can be a very challenging exercise. Our "acoustic memories" are relatively short making A to B comparisons difficult.  At the REVEL speaker facility in North Ridge California they have developed a system for blind listening tests when evaluating their products against those of other manufacturers.  Within a few seconds speaker A can be replaced by speaker B in an identical configuration. They invite dealers in for training on how to listen void of expectation.  Ultimately spending as much time as possible in an live environment with instruments and vocals unaided by external amplification can be beneficial. I once observed a blind evaluation where a pair of Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers were preferred over a pair of Linn counterparts by several "experienced" listeners from within AV industry.  Removing the expectancy of performance based upon price can often be very enlightening.   

Removing the expectancy of performance based upon price can often be very enlightening.  

And money saving. :)

Lets recap on an important part of the OP. First there may be a component that inverts the phase (for this discussion, lets just use this term and not polarity) of the music. That is something that should be stated in the manufacturers spec sheet. That is NOT what is being discussed here. Secondly, it is possible to connect one or both speakers out of phase, either with the amplifier or each other, but not both. Think in terms of a car battery. Red to positive, black to negative. Same thinking goes with your amp and speakers, but in 'stereo'. So then, if just one of the speakers is wired out of phase in relationship with the other speaker (think red to black, and black to red at the connections on one end OR the other), this is what the OP was describing. It results in a loss of bass, and a wider than 'right' soundstage, where there are poor positions recognized for the musicians.