Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Phase switch on subs

Sirquack,

I can see why the comment is confusing you. Let me try to explain. The ideal speaker setup -- as far as phase is concerned -- is to have all the speakers the same distance from your head. In this way, the sound from all speakers arrives at your ears at the same time and in phase. If your mains and your subwoofer are arranged inline, then at least one of those speakers is closer or further from your ears than the others.

Here is what the EP600/EP500 manual has to say about phase. Coincidentally, I JUST HAPPENED to be perusing the manual today.

0 & 180 PHASE: This synchronizes the in/out movement of the subwoofer
cone driver with the other speakers in your system. Once you have
chosen the best location for your subwoofer, try flipping the phase switch
between 0 and 180 to see if one or the other setting produces deeper and
smoother bass output in your room. Leave the switch at the setting that
results in the smoothest and deepest bass at several listening locations
in the room. If you hear no difference, leave the switch at the 0 position.
Quite often the phase switch makes no difference, but it’s dependent on
your room and subwoofer location."

(bold emphasis is mine.)

My understanding (and observations in my room confirm it) is that if all your speakers are set to "small" the bass is only coming through the sub. In this case there will be VERY little if any difference from changing the phase on the sub as ths sub and other speakers are not outputting same tones.

If however the speakers are set to "large" then they and the sub are outputting same bass tones and the phase will matter. Depending on the sitting position and the speakers placement the same tone may be coming to your ears out of phase from the mains and from the sub cancelling each other. If you find this is the case flip the phase switch.

In general setting the speakers to "small" seems to be consensus, probably in part because blending with the sub becomes a much easier thing across the sitting positions and even with sub-optimal speaker placement.