records phase

Posted by: Simo on 16 December 2003

One friend show me an old article on audiophilesound were was a tab. with recording phase (0° - 180°) of the most adiophile and no major (EMI, Telarc, GRP, Warner, Reference Recording ...), then i try to invert the polarity on a side of my naca5 with some inverted phase records (180°) and i found the sound more clean with solid bass and better stage.
I ask myself why naim doesn't have a phase inverter on cdp or preamp Confused
S.P.
Posted on: 16 December 2003 by willem
B******s? Play Lou Reed's 'New York', either on CD or vinyl and then play it again with the phase of the loudspeakers (both!) reversed and you'll be gobsmacked! This doesn't make me want a phase inverter button on my Nait though, it would spoil it's looks...

Have fun!

willem
Posted on: 16 December 2003 by J.N.
Hi Simo

Yes; an interesting 'old chestnut'.

There clearly is an audible difference to reversing one's absolute phase, but the preference generally varies from disc to disc.

I'm guessing that Naim would not be happy with the compromised sound quality which would result from the necessary switch.
Posted on: 17 December 2003 by Geofiz
There is of course the problem that for almost all recordings that the "absolute phase" is a Holy Grail. By the time the signal passes through microphones, mixing consoles, tape/hard drives etc. the absolute phase of the recording can and is probably lost forever unless everything has been meticulously controlled by the engineers at all stages of the process. That said, the majority of the signals mixed are very probably "in phase" but this can vary from LP/CD to LP/CD as well as between tracks and in a track. In this situation, having an absolute phase button would be of limited value.
Big Grin
Posted on: 17 December 2003 by Joe Petrik
John,

quote:
Can someone point me to a suitable link, or explain the concept of "absolute phase" to me, and what, if anything, this switch is doing, and most importantly; how do you know when you should use it (if it does make a difference)?


It lets you choose between your system sucking or blowing. ;-)

Think sound waves from an instrument. Would the beginning of the wave (as a sting is plucked, say, or a cymbal struck) be a crest or trough, and is that something that might be inverted during the recording, processing or playback of the wave?

Joe