checking system phase

[aragorn723]

Hi,

Does anyone know of an easy way to check the phase of a stereo?  I have the following components:
1)  Rotel CD player
2)  Audioengine d1 dac
3)  Quickie preamp
4)  Inter-m R500 170X2 amp

None of them have a balance control, is there a way to check this without pulling the whole thing apart and re-checking every single wire and hookup?  I have noticed it makes a really big difference in how the stereo sounds.  Thanks!

Dave

[galyons]

Too hard to figure out the phase of all of the components in the chain.  I usually just listen to both phase orientations at the speakers and pick the one that sounds best, if there is an audible difference.

Cheers,
Geary

[Doc B.]

Do you guys mean polarity? Phase is pretty easy, if two channels are out of phase the music sounds "inside out". Polarity is about whether the speaker cones are moving forward or backward on a transient.

[Grainger49]

I listen to the sound of a picked or plucked string on a guitar or mandolin.  When out of proper polarity the transient sounds blunt.

[aragorn723]

yes, the question is about polarity.  There seems to be plenty of bass in some songs, though not as much with others.  I'm guessing there wouldn't be much bass in any song if the speaker polarity was reversed?  (Though maybe I reversed one and not the other! 

Dave

[Paul Joppa]

It's an easy experiment to swap the polarity of one speaker.

If the speakers are close together you will usually hear a significant change in the bass level, but in ordinary listening locations it's mostly the weird sound rather than the level of bass that you hear. At least in my experience.

[Grainger49]

This is the test used in the 60s and 70s to test if the speakers are moving together (in relative phase).  You face them to each other and play music with good bass content.  While the music is playing swap the + & - on one speaker.  If the bass increases they were out of phase.  If the bass decreases they were in phase.

[Chris]

I visited a guy who built a DIY set of Linkwitz Orions and I listened to a few tracks and the sound had some good audiophile qualities but the soundstage was strange in the imaging department and the bass was strange as well, like it was "sucking" when it should be "pushing" and vice versa.. I have never heard this out of polarity thing before, but I left his place thinking that maybe THAT was what I was hearing... Would I be correct??  Cause there was definitely something ODD about the sound he was getting.. And the strange thing, HE was quite pleased with the sound... maybe it was because he was the "Daddy" so to say...   Building them himself....

[Chris]

What I am asking is NOT about his build quality or the Orion speakers... I am just asking, IF the bass  or soundstage is "odd".. Could it be from placement being not optimum creating a bass "suck" and odd imaging? or can that be a polarity reversal?   This is all I am asking..

[Doc B.]

Open baffles can have cancellation effects by their very nature. It's a little hard to say what is going on without actually taking measurements in room.

[Chris]

Ok... a "cancellation effect"...hmmm yeah that makes some sense.. thank you... Could have been that.. Interesting...