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I'm almost too embarrassed to ask, but.....

I would have never given this a thought but, I was recently watching the DVD concert, "Sting: Live from the Universal Amphitheater" and noticed that the trumpet was coming through the speaker on my left but, the trumpet player was standing to my right of the TV screen. Note that this is strictly two channel. I thought that perhaps my speaker wires needed to be switched on my amp. What I found was the right output on my amp corresponds to the speaker that sits to my right as I face the speakers. So my dumb question is, should the right channel speaker sit to the right as you face it, or to the right as you look from the speakers' perspective??? Call me crazy!
Hopefully, I'm not dense and the recording was not mixed properly.

Thanks again.

2chnlben
2chnlben
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Okay, now for the big addmission. I've got what, six or seven cartridge test LP's? Not a single one gets left and right channel to agree with my simple wiring which I know is correct. I eventually looked at a photograph of an orchestra and have hooked it up appropriately ever since. That means that my RCA's are reversed at the phono stage input. Every once in awhile I ponder this but leave well enough alone. I feel better now. What are the other eleven steps?
mdomnick
332 posts
 
The Phase Invert feature on many preamps was designed for what your hearing. The phase was backwards when recorded.
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
Not embarrassing at all! Technically, there is no reference standard for left and right! When dealing with a car, we refer to driver's side and passenger's side. In boating, channel markers that indicate right (starboard) are colored red, and left (port) are colored green and should be off of that respective side of the boat, when you are heading INBOUND. These two standards eliminate ANY confusion due to the observer's reference point. Kind of scary that surgeons still refer to body parts as left and right!
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
2chl- I would have to bet that its l and r as viewed from the listener's perspective.
2chnlben OP
595 posts
 
Mdomnick, the phase invert on my preamp was set on reverse (for a reason). Sure enough, when I switched back to normal, the trumpet player on the Sting DVD, as mentioned above, came through the right speaker (which is correct). The reason I switched the Invert to reverse in the first place is because an audio dealer told me that the preamp I am using (a modded Musical Design SP1) was designed such that the signal is inverted and for best results I should wire my speakers out of phase. Rather than wire the speakers out of phase, I simply inverted the switch on the preamp. The dealer told me that in order to make the gain path as simple as possible, the design of the SP1 eliminated a stage that causes the signal to become inverted. I have not done any follow up to see if this is actually the case. I simply took his word.
Who would have thought this silly question would have generated such a dilemma??!! 2chnlben
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