Phase - what does it sound like?
Posted by: Noel on 16 February 2004
Rockingdoc is not a fool for not knowing what a speaker sounds like when out of phase. Many others have made this error. Its very easy to hear on a speaker with only one set of connections. The bass sounds thin and the mid and treble sound,... ...well they sound phasey. The problem is that unless you've heard it its hard to describe. Electric guitars, keyboards, etc can use phasers to change the phase of certain frequencies. In hi-fi designers try to keep phase distortion to a minimum. If you reverse the polarity to one speaker and leave the other one connected normally you will hear a thinner, distorted, and quieter sound. This is because as one speaker is pushing its drivers out, the other one is pulling them in. This causes a degree of cancellation in the sound. Its worth doing in a controlled manner, then you can recognise it if you do it by mistake.
With bi-wireable/multi connection loudspeakers its more difficult. Normally the loss of bass gives the game away, but if the bass is correct its easy to assume that the speakers are OK and its something else you've done that isn't right. This is where either the bass or the treble is out of phase. Once again its worth doing in a controlled fashion. Once you know what it sounds like its instantly recogniseable when a speaker is wholly or partially out of phase.
The most difficult is when you've a set of speakers that have been wired incorrectly inside the speaker. We had a set of Monitor Audio 352 speakers where one of the treble units was wired the wrong way round. We were convinced it was wrong and took the drivers out.
Once rewired the sound returned to normal.
Hope this helps restore rockindocs reputation.
Noel.
With bi-wireable/multi connection loudspeakers its more difficult. Normally the loss of bass gives the game away, but if the bass is correct its easy to assume that the speakers are OK and its something else you've done that isn't right. This is where either the bass or the treble is out of phase. Once again its worth doing in a controlled fashion. Once you know what it sounds like its instantly recogniseable when a speaker is wholly or partially out of phase.
The most difficult is when you've a set of speakers that have been wired incorrectly inside the speaker. We had a set of Monitor Audio 352 speakers where one of the treble units was wired the wrong way round. We were convinced it was wrong and took the drivers out.
Once rewired the sound returned to normal.
Hope this helps restore rockindocs reputation.
Noel.
Oooh. Ta! 