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ARC REF 3, Nagra PSA, & Phase Inversion

Last night, while I was auditioning a Nagra PSA for my primary system, at the suggestion of a friend, I inverted the phase on the REF 3. The sonic effects were remarkable. The speakers disappeared further. The sound stage became much more defined and deeper; it extended a little more forward, quite a bit more backward, and even a little wider. Imaging, which had always been quite good, was also markedly improved. And the overall musical presentation was more relaxed (for lack of a better word) and musical (to my ears). I was really shocked but also quite pleased with the changes I heard!

Can someone explain what exactly goes on with phase inversion and how it can cause the changes I heard (and perhaps other changes that occurred and I did not recognize them)?

Thanks in advance!
4musica44107
dbarger
215 posts
 
I would guess the recording was recorded out of phase, and you corrected it. Or something is wired out of phase in your system, and you corrected that.
Many recordings are recorded out of phase, or some instruments in the recording out of phase, so that is why a phase switch can be useful to correct this, if it is important to you.
microstrip
180 posts
 
Were you using the unbalanced (RCA) output of the preamplifier? If so, the REF3 usually sounds better in the inverted position.
4musica44107 OP
520 posts
 
Microstrip:

For the evaluation I was doing, I was using the balanced output. I am going to talk to my friend who suggested the inversion and get his explanation, then share it in a subsequent response for this thread.
4musica44107 OP
520 posts
 
My friend who suggested I try the phase inversion explained his rationale this way. He said that most tube preamplifiers do not have a second amplifier stage ( although a few do, according to him) and thus are out of phase with a solid state amplifier. Thus inverting the phase should bring a system's tube preamplifier (in most cases per his clarification above) and SS amplifier into phase. At least that is what I gleaned from his comments. Whether the explanation is "correct" or not, there must be something to this, because when we tried the phase inversion with the SS Nagra PSA, I easily noticed all of the nice sonic improvements I mentioned in my original post for this thread. And this was evident on all of the 10 to 12 recordings we listened to. On the other hand, when I switched to my Luxman tube amp, phase inversion in the same system did not improve the sound, and in some ways it was less "good."
dan31
17 posts
 
What did you think about the Nagra PSA?
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