Is this madness?

Was listening a couple of nights ago and for some unknown reason decided to pull the speaker wire out of one wire and reverse the phase. I was expecting it to sound apalling, but was very surprised by what I heard.........
I had more soundstage, in fact a massive one, sounds were completely jumping out of the speakers. Never had this in my room before.
As a result much more sense of the room in which the recording was made.
Bass was apparently no worse, if anything a little reduced, but I've been playing Funky Porcini, and the walls still shake
So is it possible my gear sounds better wired out of phase, or is it possible that somewhere something is out of phase, in the crossover for instance, or a third way, am I mad? I guess that one isn't exclusive to 1 and 2.
Would someone else try it. How would you describe the sound of speakers out of phase. Is it big and out of the box, or smaller and precise. Those seem to be my two alternatives, and at the moment I'm liking the first!

 

In my experience, yeah it can sound bigger, but I would describe it more as atmospheric as the sound seems to come from nowhere particular. The bass is reduced.

Try something with vocals dead in the centre. Dido is a good one for this. If the vocals are also reduced in volume (you have to be sitting dead centre) then they are out of phase.

By the way, if you find it is out of phase, but you like it that way then you could try the DEQ2496 as it has a stereo width enhancer. It uses phase idfferences to make things sound bigger, but you wont loose the centre vocals and bass that way.

 

I had my old Quad 988s wired out-of-phase for a long time because I thought they sounded more alive, and as you say, imaging was seemed to be better than in-phase.. But didn't work with other speakers, soundstage was just wrong.

I've tried the Stereo Width thing on the behringer and its fun to play with but it definitley has an adverse affect on other aspects of the sound.

 

Yes, but not as bad as having your speakers out of phase lol!

 

Yes, you are mad sir!
But aint we all

 

My B&W's were out of phase for months, never realised untill I ran a test CD. Guy in the shop had the colours mixed up on the ends of the QED Airlock's!

Sounds much better now, more bass better mid-range

 

I'm using Naca5 as speaker cable and looking at the Naim fittings I've got at one end it's possible that they have been twisted to make them work in phase, I took the casing off at one end to make them fit the amp..... Could have been the dealer didn't do the best job he might have done when he made them up.....
I've just remembered I've got a test record with a phase test on it. I'm going to try that out now

 

They were out of phase. I've put them back now as they should be. I might play again though soon

 

Maybe you just need to play with speaker positioning to get a bigger stage. Have you tried toeing them outwards?

 

No they're set up with a spreadsheet, after using my ears, that way I managed to rid myself of huge bass problems, I've got a hooligan room you see! There's plenty of soundstage really. Maybe I just need a pair of Shahinians!

 

One way to test if speakers are out of phase is to place them face to face, about 1" apart. Bass almost disappears completely.

 

it depends to your speakers
i think time coherent speakers need correct phase but other speakers may be better in some area when they run invert phase

 

Mine are supposed to be time coherent. It's very interesting how things aren't always what they seem though.

 

If you need a good test disc...[you could have heard it at Rsand if circumstances had been different], let me know.

It has all the ususal stuff plus some off the wall stuff.

 

That could be interesting. I've put them back in phase now, but I still like the out of the boxness I had earlier. I'll put it back out of phase again soon and see whether it still makes sense.............

 

NAC A5 has a raised rib down the edge of the positive side of the dielectric, this is the easiest way to check if it is in or out of phase. Quite often the Naim right angle plugs end up pointing in the wrong direction as many amps have their speaker connetors reversed, i.e. the plug angle is no indication of phase.

Tony.

 

I believe Mick Parry is the expert on this subject.

 

I think you'll find Dido is good for nothing... Apart from the old text joke:
The Dodo died.
Di died.
Dodi died.
I hope Dido's worried.

 

do you tested with many albums or just with one?