2. analog
  3. 185612-108781

Riddle me this....

It was recently suggested to me that by reversing the polarity of two stereo

speakers it will readjust  the depth of field in your soundstage.

 

In case that is unclear- If a voice was perceived as being one foot behind the

speakers and you swapped the positive to negative on the terminals of both

speakers it would make that voice move to being perceived as 

one foot in front of the plane of two stereo speakers.

 

Has anyone heard of this experiment and what can you

share about it?

 

128x128jeffseight
jea48
4,310 posts
 

Correct absolute polarity at speakers. Positive signal pushing speaker cone outward. Not negative inverted polarity sucking cone inward. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axXrs55X9kE

antigrunge2
1,343 posts
 

@mahgister @lewm 

On this one I have to unfortunately disagree with you both. In my experience somewhere around half of all recordings are polarity inverted. While that means, that it doesn‘t matter which way you connect your speakers, the actual playback will be out of polarity about half of the time. That‘s why having a polarity switch in the digital domain is so highly desirable. It is actually an advantage of digital over analogue to be able to correct this, and: yes, the differences on a decent system are very audible.

BTW: @mahgister‘s explanation as to why is by a country mile the most lucid I have encountered on the subject.

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,754 posts
 

I think the same as you... It is a big mess... No need to disagree with me on this... 😉

 

And i want a digital switch for polarity in the digital domain too...

 

That‘s why having a polarity switch in the digital domain is so highly desirable.

On this one I have to unfortunately disagree with you both. In my experience somewhere around half of all recordings are polarity inverted. While that means, that it doesn‘t matter which way you connect your speakers, the actual playback will be out of polarity about half of the time.

 

jea48
4,310 posts
 

@antigrunge2 ,

Agree...

 

Standouts where a definite difference could be heard?

Etta James, "Love Songs".
Track #1, "At Last".
Change? Etta’s Voice. Polarity inverted her voice was thin. Correct polarity her voice was full, a more moving presentation.

Chris Rea, "Auberge".
Track #11, "The Mention Of Your Name".
Again the voice of the singer stood out.

Buddy Holly, "From The Original Master Tapes".
Track #20, "True Love Ways.
Difference? Not only Holly’s voice, the saxophone as well. Definitely the saxophone....

FourPlay, "Between the Sheets".
Track #1, "Chant"
Difference? The bass drum.

Jenifer Warnes, "The Hunter"
Track #8, "Way Down Deep"
The drum, which I believe, is an African Djembe Drum.

Diana Krall
Pretty much any early CDs. Piano solo passages.

 

Use good CD recordings. Best solo passage instruments to listen to:

Horns. Trumpet and saxophone.

Percussion :
Bass drum, Kick pedal drum, African Djembe Drum.

stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,372 posts
 

how bout this riddle.....what stays in the corner and travels the world

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