In phase or out?

I presume you meen mains plugs? Yes it can make a differance on some kit. It was quite noticable on my old Marantz CD94, but there was no differance on the CDA94 converter. I asume it depends how sophisticated the power supply is.

I tried rotating my plugs, but they don't fit the other way - the pins aren't aligned.

Paul Rowlands

I think Wolf is talking about speaker plugs. If you're using a Naim amp, you should also be using Naim SA8 plugs. These have lugs on either side so the positive side of the plug is always towards the outside of the amp. modern plugs have one (positive) lug on oe side and two luigs on the other side so if you try to place the plugs in the amp incorrectly, they will foul and not sit flush with the back plate of the amp.

Now, the positive side of NACA5 does not have writing on it, and it has a little ridge on it too. The negative side does not have the ridge and has the Naim Audio and arrow writing on it. So the ridged side of NACA5 should go into the positive side of the plug, being the one with one lug marked POS.

When looking at the amp from behind, the plugs should be fitted with the left hand plug (left speaker) with the POS lug on the left and the right hand plug (right speaker) with the POS lug on the right. This would be in phase. If you have a (non-Naim) source which inverts phase, then you'd have to have to turn over the plugs. If you have multiple sources, some inverting phase and others not, then you'll have to turn the plugs over every time you change source. The difference is pretty noticeable. When you invert the phase the soundstage gets bigger but loses its focus and snap.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Like trickytree I had a Marantz CD94 and CDA94 which behaved in exactly the same way - so I wasn't mad after all! I loved that player.

If you're talking about speaker phase I would have thought that the difference would sound like night and day, absolutely no doubt as to in phase vs out.

Sorry prowla, you're right. You'd have to use non-Naim plugs or chop the POS lugs off, or open the SA8's and cross over the positive and negative cables (the plug will still accommodate the cable in this configuration).

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

HTK, you're right, in phase vs out is very obvious, but this is about the absolute phase of the speakers, ie both speakers beihg 180 degrees out. Some recordings sound right with the phase inverted but IMHO most don't. It's interesting to try though.
Noel.

Ah right! I get it. I think.
Isn't the brain ear interface a thing of wonder? Hard wired to the wallet in my case, and no cure ever devised....

Frank - I was being flippant, talking about 3-pin mains plugs

Paul Rowlands

Frank-

I have a Yamaha RXV2085 AV receiver connected to a 112/150 and have the dreaded reversal of channels when playing movies, radio, etc.
Is there another solution to correcting this problem other than what you above describe as it is not practical with my current setup.

Regards

Max

Prowla - you had me there. No imagination, that's my problem.

I was talking about the mains plugs when inserted into the power strip. He swears that it makes a difference. He even has used cutters to snip off the extra wide prongs so that he can reverse them (a very difficult process). Seems like an awful lot of work tho after hearing his round earth system it was really amazing the clarity that he gets.

Thanks guys for the comments.

glenn

Life is analogue