Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Polarity Question

I set up my RX-V750 last night with some older speakers from a 5.1 shelf system that I have...

The speakers on the shelf system all terminated in RCA style plugs (if you know what I mean). The other end of the speaker wire went directly into the speaker, without indicating which end was the positive or negative terminal.

I took a guess as to which end was positive and negative (doing my best based on the markings on the wires themselves). After running the YPAO, it informed me that my center and surrodnu speakers were out of phase (which they probably were - however, I am aware of the problems that some have had with YPAO telling them that their speakers were out of phase when tehy weren't)

Instead of switching the center and two surrounds, I just decided to switch the connection on the mains, reversing their polarity. I figured switching two was easier than switching three (no banana plugs). Then, I ran YPAO again, and it told me that ALL my speakers were out of phase.

Based on my limited knowledge of phase, I figured that this might be Ok, since they would all be pushing and pulling at the right times, and they would all be properly polarized, in relative terms.

NOW MY QUESTION:
Is there any problem with wiring all of your speakers out of phase? Do you lose any power or imaging, etc? Should I go back and reverse each speaker's wiring?

TIA, Adrien

lots of views, no answers -

Let me make it simple.

Will wiring ALL of yoru speakers out of phase negatively affect the output of my system (wattage, soundstage, etc.)

i have never tried it, and i have not enough electronic expertise to answer with confidence.. so, i respectively decline to answer.

sorry

bigjohn

If all your speakers are out-of-phase then they are all in-phase with each other, which is all that really matters. There is no audible difference.

How were the cables coming from the shelf system's speaker marked, anyway?

yup ur fine, cept it would jsut bug me to death to leave em all out of phase

Adrien, as Peter pointed out, if you reversed the polarity of the connections to all of your speakers equally, then they're in phase with each other. If the RCA plugs have different colors, the red ones typically are the positives.

There's a minor controversy in some circles as to whether "absolute polarity"(i.e. whether the speaker cones go in and out when the recording mike diaphragm went in and out)is significant. Aside from the fact that polarity often is reversed several times in the recording process, tests indicate that it isn't audible, at least on music. Possibly the YPAO is sensitive enough to have picked up the "wrong" polarity in reproducing its test tones.

Thanks, guys.

And Peter - to answer your question - the wires coming out of the bookshelf speakers are color coded. One is blue and the other is blue/black. But the center and surround speakers are black and gray/black. They do not terminate in any "connectors" on the back of the speakers, but rather come straight out of the back of the speakers...

Anyway - it's a temporary fix until the big dogs come in the mail....the long 13 week wait is almost over (of course, after I wait for 9 weeks, the wait goes down to 7) /murphy's law rant

But thanks you guys for the info on polarity. I appreciate the info

Avoiding the 'sound difference' when all speakers are out of phase, it just makes sense to wire all of your speakers in phase. A simple (and harmless) method for testing polarity is to take a battery and short piece of wire. Connect the positive on the battery to one lead on the speaker and the negative to another lead. If the cone moves outward when completing the circuit, then the + from the battery indicates + on the speaker. Conversely, if the cone moves inward when completing the circuit, the + on the battery indicates - on the speaker.
Note: you can use any type of 1.5v household battery.

good tip el_giovato. As long as you use the weaker batteries (AA, AAA, C, D) this is completely safe. A 9-volt battery might cause the driver to hit max excursion, which could cause damage.