inversion of the polarity

Innocent Bystander posted:

French Rooster posted:

i have nap 250dr now. I had to sell the nap300d and rega rp10 for financial reasons.

 

I am sorry to hear of your financial difficulties. I hope nothing more serious than rationalising your hifi.

thanks IB.  The financial problem is out now.  The nap250dr is better balanced with my system, so finally i feel not really a scale down.  The rp8 is specially good too, better than i could expect.   For occasional listenings to lps, it will be more than enough.

ricsimas posted:

French Rooster posted

what are you doing in this forum, if you don’t believe in audiophile “ business “.    I was told by the dealer that my speakers cables may have inversed channel in their construction.  It may explain that.   As for 300dr subject, someone in this forum found the nap 300dr too heavy and bass boomy for his system.  He preferred the 250dr too.

There are some more weird claimings in the audiophile area:  some find black speakers better sounding than white ones.   A naim member preferred the 552/nait 5 vs 552/500 combo.  Just examples....

 

I didn't say I don't believe in the audiophile business, only that the notion of attributing hi-fi significance to channel inversion doesn't make much sense if you think of how these things work.

Think of the nature of the situation: if you're playing a true mono signal that is exactly the same on both sides, if you invert the channels nothing could possibly change in the musical experience as it would still be the same content coming from either speaker. If you're playing stereo, it would take some weird sort of channel imbalance for it to sound "more open" when in one setup vs. the opposite, and even then it would be different for one recording to the next as the mixes change. 

As such, a persistent preference for one over the other doesn't make any sense. This is not like, say, cables, where opinions are strong but someone can make the case that there are things we don't know how to measure, or your comparison of 552/nait vs. 500 where things will for sure sound different. Where there is difference, there can be a preference.

In the case you described it's not a matter of preference as there is no phenomenon that could explain why playing the same content from inverted speakers would make a difference - it pretty much has to be in your head (except for visceral reactions to violins in the wrong side as described before) or if you are the one individual whose constitution somehow allows them to instinctively "know" whether the guitars panned to the right or to the left is right.

We would have to believe in that ability and in your dealer's comments for it to make sense, unless he/she was talking about either phase or polarity, not channels. 

my left speaker is closer to the wall than my right speaker ( the wall is not continuous).  It may also explain the difference in sound quality.   But anyway this difference is minimal and it is also possible that it is in my head.   The why i opened this thread to know if someone had the same experience.

No quarter posted:

I thought it was a known fact that on a 250 DR amp,standing in front of the rack,the right side speaker terminals are for the left speaker,and vice versa.The reasoning being,originally the amps were made to sit with the back side facing out.With the amp/rack sitting between the speakers,the cables will cross each other behind the rack.You do have to be careful soldering Naca5,if you are using the supplied Naim plugs,otherwise you might get one upside down.If you go to the Naim website,the 250 clearly is labelled right and left.

so finally my connection seems to be appropriate?     I have not naca5, but apertura cables and apertura speakers.

French Rooster posted:

my left speaker is closer to the wall than my right speaker ( the wall is not continuous).  It may also explain the difference in sound quality.   But anyway this difference is minimal and it is also possible that it is in my head.   The why i opened this thread to know if someone had the same experience.

That is the channel imbalance hypothesis that I mentioned, but which would only explain preferring one way over the other in some recordings, not across the board.

There’s nothing inherently different in the channels of a system that would make one be better suited to being closer to the wall at all times unless you have an issue with a component.

ricsimas posted:

French Rooster posted:

my left speaker is closer to the wall than my right speaker ( the wall is not continuous).  It may also explain the difference in sound quality.   But anyway this difference is minimal and it is also possible that it is in my head.   The why i opened this thread to know if someone had the same experience.

That is the channel imbalance hypothesis that I mentioned, but which would only explain preferring one way over the other in some recordings, not across the board.

There’s nothing inherently different in the channels of a system that would make one be better suited to being closer to the wall at all times unless you have an issue with a component.

i think you are right, because the preference is not for all tracks, but globally.