Does the Meridian 508.24 invert absolute phase?

This is pretty silly. He asked a question, which was answered. The meridian manuals say "you can use the remote to change the absolute phase of the analogue output signal. . . ." That's the same as reversing the speaker cables. The first pulse will make the woofer go backward instead of forward if the preamp and amp are non-inverting. Whether or not it's of any value is another issue. May or may not be audible. But it is fun to play with and sometimes it seems like an occasional cd sounds better reversed. But I wouldnt want anyone to test my ability to tell one way from the other.

I emailed someone at Meridian for a definitive answer. I honestly don't what that switch does. I just know that absolute phase is not always what you assume. The Rotel manual clearly stated that their phase switch only affected the polarity of the recording. It did not affect the phase of the overall system.

A system that really is out of phase is usually very noticeable, because certain frequencies will cancel out with the sounds created by the resonance of the listening room.

Reverse the speaker cables on only one speaker while playing something in mono. Then put the speakers right together (touching) with the grills facing each other. If the phase of each speaker is perfectly out of phase with the other there will be little or no sound. (Perfect cancelation).

I received a response from David Hall of Meridian Audio.
Dave.Hall@meridian.co.uk
The phase switch only changes the phase of the CD player. It does not affect the whole system. Therefore, this is the same as the Rotel I mentioned.
I am not Silly after all.

This makes sense. Preamps like Conrad Johnson and Blue Circle are out of phase and require you to reverse the speaker wires. Their literature states that they would have to add another gain stage to those preamps to make them phase correct. They don't because it would only degrade the sound. If all they had to do was reverse the wires going to the analog pre-outputs they would; but it evidently is not the same thing.

This is a Cool Hand Luke moment. Mshan, if you have a meridian cdp and want to know the answer to your question, call meridian tech support in Atlanta, at 404-344-7111. They will tell you what I said above. I have a 508, and I know what it does.

Why would someone who does not know the answer to the question and does not own the subject component waste everyone's time? A real testimonial for the value of this website, huh?

Then please educate me and explain why companies make gear out of phase and then tell us in the manual we have to fix the problem by moving the speaker wires? I'd would really like to know. Are all those audio engineers so stupid that they can't just reverse the wires inside the unit if the solution is that simple?

This still might be what that Meridian switch does, which is consistant with the Rotel phase switch which to repeat that owners manual again; changed the absolute phase of the recording by 180 degrees, but does not change the phase of the speakers. Why would the Meridiam be different, if this is a feature to add to a CD player that Rotel probably copied? I did own the Rotel BTW.

So we have two different people at Meridian giving different answers. One at the manufacturer in the UK, the other at the US Sales office. So the guy in the UK is automatically wrong based on what?

I really don't care which answer is right, I only care that we have a right answer. I just know that phase and polarity is a very misunderstood subject and is not just one thing.

Paulwp, Do you actually limit your comments on Audiogon to gear that you own? Currious?