Phase Control (0/180 toggle) on PSW505?

aat
aat Posts: 45
edited April 2006 in Subwoofer Hookup & Bass Management
Hi experts,

What is the prefer setting for the phase control (0 or 180 toggle) on the PSW505?

Thanks,
~AAT
Post edited by aat on
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Comments

  • PolkThug
    PolkThug Posts: 7,532
    edited April 2006
    Most of the time it is better at 0. Try both for yourself and see what you like.

    Regards
    Never Forget
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  • Zen Dragon
    Zen Dragon Posts: 501
    edited April 2006
    0 is generally preferred. If the sub is facing in the direction of the speakers than 180 is often used. This prevents the bass signal from the sub from cancelling out the bass waves coming out of your speaker.
    Try it in both positions and listen from your likely listening area in the room. Usually one of the positions will sound cleaner and louder. This is the position you should leave the switch in.
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  • michael_w
    michael_w Posts: 2,813
    edited April 2006
    As others have said try 0° first. I had to flick mine to 180° because of some cancellation issues that were causing big holes in the frequency response.
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  • Tour2ma
    Tour2ma Posts: 10,177
    edited April 2006
    Louder is not always better. The sub and mains could be reinforcing each other.

    Be they adding or nulling, the true issue is that this will only occur at certain frequencies and it's harmonics. So whether nulling or reinforcing, the end result is a humpy system responce curve. That's why a lot of folk drag out their test disks and SPL meters and plot their room curve. But if it suits your ear...

    Whether or not you'll have issues includes many variables, e.g. room geometry, relative distances of the mains and sub from your listening postion, and more.

    It also depends on whether your mains are phased properly. Most folk assume that their speakers are phase coherent, or are "absolutely" phased. A surprising number are not. Any link in the chain from the source to the speaker wire can invert the signal 180 degrees from absolute phase.

    While some folks claim that they can "hear" absolute phase, they are the most golden of the golden ear crowd. Some may in fact be able to hear a difference, but the vast majority can't. But add another bass source that's not in phase, and it can be as easy to detect.

    To determine your system's phasing, observe the woofers, or MW's in the case of Polks, on a simple kick drum passage. Does the woofer first thrust outward (proper phasing), or does it suck in (180 deg off)?

    Just be glad your sub does not have infinite phase variability from 0 to 180 deg's...

    Have fun.
    More later,
    Tour...
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