Might be interesting.......

Lowell_M
Lowell_M Posts: 1,660
edited February 2006 in Basic Hookup/Wiring Questions
I moved my system around a little a month ago. Lately, when listnening to music (2 channel) something just didn't seem right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The speakers just sounded....thin or something. I am pretty good at convincing myself that I need new ****, so had myself convinced that I should go out and buy that HK AVR645 I have been drooling over.

Well, I finally got my TV repaired last week (CRT pins needed cleaned apparently) and so put in my Ovation video and audio calibration DVD. After setting up the TV I thought i would run through the audio setup as well.....Long story short, I had my front towers polarity reversed. I swaped the wires that were backwards and the system sounds completely different. I had no idea that a polarity issue would cause such a dramatic change in sound. Make sure youve got your +'s and -'s right!
HT
RTi70 mains
CSi30 center
RTi28 Rears
Velodyne CHT-12
H/K AVR-247
ADCOM GFA-7000
Samsung PN58B860
Playstation 3
2-Channel
Polk Audio LSi15's
Rotel RCD-1072
Nakamichi CA-5 Pre
ADCOM GFA-555
Signal Cable Analog II IC's
Signal Ultra Bi-Wire Speaker Cables
Post edited by Lowell_M on
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Comments

  • shack
    shack Posts: 11,154
    edited February 2006
    Polarity is pretty much audio 101...one of the first things you check when the sound isn't right.
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  • Lowell_M
    Lowell_M Posts: 1,660
    edited February 2006
    Doh! I didn't even think of it though because I forgot that I had moved speakers around.

    Should have ordered the HK anyway...that would have fixed the problem because I would have checked the wires when hooking up the new AVR.
    HT
    RTi70 mains
    CSi30 center
    RTi28 Rears
    Velodyne CHT-12
    H/K AVR-247
    ADCOM GFA-7000
    Samsung PN58B860
    Playstation 3
    2-Channel
    Polk Audio LSi15's
    Rotel RCD-1072
    Nakamichi CA-5 Pre
    ADCOM GFA-555
    Signal Cable Analog II IC's
    Signal Ultra Bi-Wire Speaker Cables
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  • Lowell_M
    Lowell_M Posts: 1,660
    edited February 2006
    The DVD has a Sub polarity check on it also, but I didn't really get it. Any tips on making sure that phase on the sub is correct? Does anybody have the Sound and Vision (Ovation Software) home Theater tunup disk that could explain what I am listening for in the sub polarity check? I can't really tell a difference, which may be because I don't know what I am listening for.
    HT
    RTi70 mains
    CSi30 center
    RTi28 Rears
    Velodyne CHT-12
    H/K AVR-247
    ADCOM GFA-7000
    Samsung PN58B860
    Playstation 3
    2-Channel
    Polk Audio LSi15's
    Rotel RCD-1072
    Nakamichi CA-5 Pre
    ADCOM GFA-555
    Signal Cable Analog II IC's
    Signal Ultra Bi-Wire Speaker Cables
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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited February 2006
    Isn't polarity in its simplest form, red to red, black to black? Or am I WAY off?
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,200
    edited February 2006
    MrNightly wrote:
    Isn't polarity in its simplest form, red to red, black to black? Or am I WAY off?

    What if your wires are white and black???

    Dan
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • Frank Z
    Frank Z Posts: 5,860
    edited February 2006
    a_mattison wrote:
    Does anybody have the Sound and Vision (Ovation Software) home Theater tunup disk that could explain what I am listening for in the sub polarity check? I can't really tell a difference, which may be because I don't know what I am listening for.
    Basically you hear MOOB, MOOB if the polarity is reversed......

























    :D

    I'll check my S&V disk later and get back to you.
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  • Lowell_M
    Lowell_M Posts: 1,660
    edited February 2006
    mantis wrote:
    What if your wires are white and black???

    Dan

    the position of your sub in the room can effect the phase that cancels with the towers, so with a sub it is not as easy as red/white to red/white.
    HT
    RTi70 mains
    CSi30 center
    RTi28 Rears
    Velodyne CHT-12
    H/K AVR-247
    ADCOM GFA-7000
    Samsung PN58B860
    Playstation 3
    2-Channel
    Polk Audio LSi15's
    Rotel RCD-1072
    Nakamichi CA-5 Pre
    ADCOM GFA-555
    Signal Cable Analog II IC's
    Signal Ultra Bi-Wire Speaker Cables
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  • jgido759
    jgido759 Posts: 572
    edited February 2006
    Frank Z wrote:
    Basically you hear MOOB, MOOB if the polarity is reversed......

    You got me there, Frank. I had to read this a couple of times before it clicked. :D
    Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support
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    -Drew Carey

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    My DVD Collection
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