Whats on your turntable tonight?

Hi Emorrisiv. I'm fortunate (or cursed, depending on your viewpoint!) in that my preamp affords remote control of absolute phase, AKA polarity, from the listening position. I try to determine the best polarity setting for any recording before listening (other than sometimes casual or background listening), and have amassed experience in doing this with thousands of recordings over several years.

The truth I've found is that many, if not most recordings are either only mildly sensitive to polarity at best; or apparently insensitive enough that I can never be sure which the preferred or "correct" setting actually is; or display one preferred setting for one solo instrument or voice but the other setting for another soloist; or confusingly display opposite preferences for soloists vs. backgrounds; and/or vary in these regards and thus the preferred setting from cut to cut on an album. And I often find that it's quite possible to convince myself that one or the other setting is "correct", only to change my mind upon subsequent relistening (additionally, this can change as I vary my listening distance within the room, or even the volume setting).

On the other hand, many other recordings do seem to show a polarity preference that's constant and not difficult to determine. In the final tally, I'd guesstimate that I do determine a setting which I prefer on balance for around 85% of recordings (the other 15% being pick'em). The funny thing is, try as I have, I can't really say that these recordings possess any likely characteristics in common, such as being "minimally miked" or "naturally recorded". Sometimes "purist" or live recordings you'd think would be a slam dunk in theory are impossible to determine the "correct" polarity with, while some heavily multitracked studio creations are quick and easy to determine.

However -- as you'd expect given the disregard to polarity throughout the miking, recording, mastering, and production processes for most recordings, and the fact that most playback loudspeakers aren't so-called "minimum phase" designs but instead use high-order crossovers that rotate phase and multiple drivers often wired in opposing polarities -- in the end, the breakdown between "straight" and "inverse" settings in my experience approaches a 50/50 split with those recordings for which a preference can be determined, with maybe just a 10%-15% tilt toward the nominally "correct" setting when using 1st-order or single-driver, minimum-phase loudspeakers.

The upshot of which is, I'd be leery of declaring one or the other polarity setting best for any arbitrary group of recordings based on some incidental characteristic such as country of origin. Especially if you're having to reverse polarity by reversing speaker leads, since that doesn't allow for rapid, multiple A/B comparisons from the listening position -- it's just too easy to confuse or convince onesself that way. But having said all that, I do commend you on bothering to experiment with polarity, and can only say "go for it and enjoy it!" if you've found any rules you can live happily by.

Blood on the track - Bob Dylan on Columbia

Rodrigo y Gabriela - S/T on ATO Records

The Shadow of Your Smile - Friends of Dean Martinez on SUB POP
~ this is a beautiful Southwestern alt rock surf album with the early Calexico boys along for the ride. very cool start to two great bands.

Eric Burdon Declares "WAR" - Eric Burdon on MGM
~classic none radio play version of "Spill the Wine"

The Blues and the Abstract Truth - Bill Evans on new Impulse AP 45RPM

*a lot of great vinyl is being mentioned on this thread over the years, if you love some titles that are either very rare on vinyl these days or have never been pressed to it, please add them to the "Vinyl wish list thread" here on AudioGon...

Happy (Analogue) Listening!

Helo Zaikesman: thanks for the kind and informative response.
I agree with everything you are saying. Indeed some recordings sound very much the same with either phase polarity.However, I have found that my English Cathedral Music,(of which I am most intimate and expert being a life long chorister)shows phase in a dramatic way.
Many of these recordings are done in rooms of immense space,with huge powerful organs.That, and the very fast and immediate power of boys(most of the time)voices to reach into the sonic stratosphere,can tax a system to the extreme.
When the phase is correct,these transients work much better and are less problematic,i.e. cleaner.
I have also found that the room/soundstage is much more correct and recognizable.English choirs stand in antiphonal fashion,left and right of center and usually under the organ divisions. Indeed they are named;the right is the "Decani" (where the dean sits),the other is the "Cantorus"(where the cantor or precentor sits).When the phase is incorrect, the antiphonal effect is lost, and the ambient room decay and reverberation is shortened.

When listening to "pop" records,I have found the dead give away to phase is listening to cymbals.When there is a hit,but no crash or sizzle, the phase is incorrect.

I have been a "audiophile" for over 30 years, and I have just discovered this phenomenon. I also just discovered "loading" of the phono stage. Between these two epiphany, I am listening to some of my most beloved records (many that I have owned for over 30 years)as if they were new. I am having so much fun.

Recently I had a friend over for a listen.He was the guy that showed me the phase thing and for that I am indebted. He told me that I was a software guy,not a hardware guy.I suppose he is right,in that I value music first above all else in the hobby.I find the more I learn about the technical side the more interested it becomes a vehicle for making what I love better.

what a fun hobby

Happy Christmas to all

Thanks Emorrisiv. I have no doubt you can hear which polarity is correct with these LPs. My point was just that, given a fairly random distribution of labels, studios or locations, recording engineers, mastering labs, pressing plants etc., together with general indifference to maintainance of input-to-output polarity by these various entities, then "correct" choice of playback polarity should be expected to show a fairly random distribution as well.

The only reason I bring these things up, I suppose, is that I've ocassionally seen stuff over the years where some audiophiles promote running in "reverse phase" at all times, or with recordings of certain origin, as being some kind of panacea, which to me betrays a basic lack of understanding of the issue. (I recall an amplifier review in Stereophile once where the manufacturer advised the reviewer to reverse his speaker leads as a matter of course to get 'better' sound. The reviewer did, and agreed with the manufacturer. But this is an impossible outcome unless all recordings are made with the same polarity, which clearly they aren't. The reason for this, I suspect, is that sometimes we tend to hear any differences that result from our own hopeful actions as being improvements, when in reality what may be an improvement in some instances in others may be just a difference.)

It's cool you've also discovered MC loading too. We all know how this affects HF response (some like the extra 'air' of running unloaded, but personally I can't abide the accompanying mid-treble peakiness that damages natural timbre). However what I've also found, that you don't usually see so much about, is how loading affects image density and focus. Listen for this when you determine optimal loading, and then if you go back and compare the sound to running less loaded or unloaded, you might notice that your corporeal and located images have now become diffuse and lacking in substance and energy.

Anyway, getting back to the thread at hand, as the snow continues to come down:

Stackridge - "Pinafore Days" (Sire '74)
Pretty Things - "Parachute" (Rare Earth/Motown '70)
Puff - S/T (MGM '69)
Collins/Shepley Galaxy - "Time, Space And The Blues" (MTA Records, sometime shortly after the lunar landing to judge by the concept, jacket pix and song titles. Oliver Nelson-ish large band led by Duke Pearson sidemen Burt Collins and Joe Shepley both on trumpets and flugelhorns, with Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker rhythm section. Nice plush sound in a large acoustic courtesy Columbia's 30th street studio.)

Thanks Z: I agree with you completely. The loading has is giving me a much more defined sound stage,not to mention deeper and wider and taller. I feel that I am close in that there is still tremendous heft and power in the fundamentals.Bass lines are just as full as before but tighter,easier to follow. I feel that the loading has lowered the sound floor so much that EVERYTHING is better. Indeed I have never had a better system.
I am listening to records as though I have never heard them before. Old chestnuts are no longer old because I have never heard the inner details and nuances like this.

now for what I am listening to tonight:

Jethro Tull "Thick as a Brick"

Christy Moore "Ordinary Man"

Kings College "Durafle Requiem"

Sphere "Flight Path"

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