[georgelouis]

Some Stax electrostatic headphones invert polarity, the AKG K701 headphones invert polarity, some Maxell Studio Series headphones invert polarity, and many active noise cancelling headphones such as the great sounding Aiwa HP-CN6 invert polarity when the active noise cancelling circuit is on. None of the manufactures of the aforementioned inverting headphone amplifiers and inverting headphones give their customers that information.
When you add that to the fact that most CD players invert polarity and so far as I know every track on all CDs are in absolute polarity (the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" is a special case which I may discuss later) except for every music track after track #8 its polarity the on the Stereophile Test CD STPH-002-2 and all Reference Recordings CDs, which I believe have every one of their tracks inverted although their vinyl records seem to be mostly in polarity. Therefore, the current state of confusion regarding polarity is easily understandable.

George S. Louis, Perfect Polarity Pundit

 

[smeggy]

Eh? now I'm confused too.

 

[nikongod]

i think you are confusing absolute phase, and relative phase.

absolute phase means that when the signal on the "medium" goes up, the driver goes up.

relative phase (for most sounds) means that the signals on the left and right side GENERALLY go up and down together. certanly, a singer who was recorded on 1 mike will have their voice in the same phase on BOTH chanels.

most people are not sensative to absolute phase. if you are get a cd player, amp, or other bit of gear that has phase switches.

relative phase is a deal breaker, but it is typpically done as an "artistic" efect. i use the term artistic efect to describe the worst bit of bullsheet psychoacoustic efect ever played on headphones. signals out of phase do some cool "floaty" things on a speaker system, but just sound like poo on headphones. for these, you need a device capiable of switching ONE of the signals, but not the other. albums, and pieces that are mixed out of phase are quite rare. there is a list of them somewhere.

in short:
absolute phase: who the fack cares?
relative phase: everyone should care, although it is rare enough that few people do.

 

[smeggy]

So, does that mean I'm in phase or not?

 

[M0T0XGUY]

I think this thread is definitly worth some simplification so Nikongod isn't the only guy here who understands what he's talking about.

 

[Jamey Warren]

I just tested the K701's and they do not invert polarity.

Cheers,
Jamey

 

[smeggy]

One of my K1000s is out of relative phase. Somehow they wired one side backwards. Sounded very odd indeed as you would expect. Seems totally stock and unmodified too.

 

[Michgelsen]

If you fire at it with a phaser cannon you can fix it.

 

[smeggy]

My phase cannon is broke, I'm trying to see if my deflector dish can help.

 

[Vicomte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy /img/forum/go_quote.gif My phase cannon is broke, I'm trying to see if my deflector dish can help.

Deflector dish won't help anything. You need a plasma reconditioner with ionic rectifiers.

In regards to the OP:

Wha?

...and Nikongod:

Wha?

 

[MaloS]

I...understood that...but I am not going to even try to reproduce that. O.o

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by georgelouis /img/forum/go_quote.gif When you add that to the fact that most CD players invert polarity and so far as I know every track on all CDs are in absolute polarity (the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" is a special case which I may discuss later) except for every music track after track #8 its polarity the on the Stereophile Test CD STPH-002-2 and all Reference Recordings CDs which I believe have every one of their tracks inverted although their vinyl records seem to be mostly in polarity which all goes to the current state of confusion regarding polarity understandable.

I learned a great deal from this thread, specifically...

#1: Run on sentences are absurd.

#2: Run on sentences that additionally ignore the rules of grammar are even more absurd.

#3: Run on sentences that additionally ignore the rules of grammar and end with the observation that the current state of confusion is understandable are so sublimely self-referential as to define the absurd.

 

[cotdt]

to test phase, you can use a 1.5V battery. the headphone diaphragm should move outward if the battery is oriented correctly, so now you know the + and - terminals.

 

[JaZZ]

I just see «yesterday» as posting date (of the OP), and I'm on CET, midnight is just over. What's the exact posting date?

[Edit:] I thought it might be an April fool's joke, but in fact it looks a little late.
.

 

[tjkurita]

Here is a pretty simple explanation of absolute phase and phase inversion. I think what nikongod is referring to when he says relative phase is a reversed polarity on only one of two transducers in a two channel speaker system. This is easy to hear and is probably a manufacturing flaw (if it is headphones) or the wires are reversed on one speaker in a speaker setup. It sounds a little strange and will probably cause someone to seek out the problem. I used to have a phase inverting pre-amp and a non-phase-inverting power amp. I had to reverse the polarity at the speakers to get "the right sound." Then again, the recordings I was listening to could very well have had reversed phase as well.

Considering the complexity of audio recordings, it is hard to know if the recording you are listening to at any given moment is in or out of absoiute phase unless you experiement a little in the manner described in the link. I can invert phase on my source and I do have cds that benefit from it (opening up the soundstage to "normal" levels.).

Considering the fact that my tubes seem to be blowing up and my interconnects don't seem to pass signals consistently phase is the least of my concerns. But maybe when things have stabilized I will try these experiments and see what happens.

Everyone with a speaker setup should try reversing polarity on one of their speakers just to hear what messed up phase sounds like. (Do so at your own risk. Turn off your equipment before you start re-wiring your setup. Never, ever short speaker wires when the amp is on.)