Interchanging polarity of Interconnects between CD Player and Integrated AMP

[sunder]

IMHO, in stereophonic reproduction, mostly left channel music is little louder or in high gain than the right channel music. I think, the recording engineers purposely making it to distinguish the importance of the instruments for the nature of the theme. And in a stereo amplifier, the purpose of the 'Balance Control' is to minimise the heaviness of the music of the one channel & to balance with the other channel for everyone's own taste.
In the vintage recording cassette decks, to record a blank cassette , they had separate Left-Right gain controls to adjust the recording level in Left & Right channels for equal strength or for everyone's own taste, The incoming stereo signal from the source (Gramophone record) will be original as what it was recorded, but in different Left-Right level. Mostly in a original stereo recording, in any genre of music, the Left-Right recording level will not be in 50+50 equal . The function of the VU meters are the great evidence.

 

[Analogous]

This discussion is getting interesting.
As a listener interested in a good stereo image I mostly want the main singer to be in the centre. I am also delighted with creative variations on this occasionally. But I am still trying to make sense of the inputs in this thread.
So two questions:

1. What does changing right and left channel speaker output connections do to the sound stage, imaging and frequency response?

2. What does changing the audio cable connections at the speaker do to (as above)?

Looking for explanations without jargon or measurements if possible. Just what we can expect to hear in the above scenarios

 

[bornfi]

1. What does changing right and left channel speaker output connections do to the sound stage, imaging and frequency response?

Nothing, in my opinion.

2. What does changing the audio cable connections at the speaker do to (as above)?

Hoping you meant switching right/left, again, nothing.

Think of a situation where you swapped cables at the source and then swapped speaker cables too, the net result is null.

Changing phase/polarity is totally different from swapping right/left. In reverse phase/polarity the thrust at the drivers' cones are front-to-back while in in-phase/polarity, it is back-to-front. When this is done, make sure you do it for both the speakers.

Reversing phase polarity at source is difficult because you may either have to cut-open the cable or the source and solder/desolder some wires. Net net, don't try this. Some DAC though have phase button to do the same.

Never thought this thread would run into multiple pages.

 

[Analogous]

Nothing, in my opinion.

Hoping you meant switching right/left, again, nothing.

Think of a situation where you swapped cables at the source and then swapped speaker cables too, the net result is null.

Changing phase/polarity is totally different from swapping right/left. In reverse phase/polarity the thrust at the drivers' cones are front-to-back while in in-phase/polarity, it is back-to-front. When this is done, make sure you do it for both the speakers.

Reversing phase polarity at source is difficult because you may either have to cut-open the cable or the source and solder/desolder some wires. Net net, don't try this. Some DAC though have phase button to do the same.

Never thought this thread would run into multiple pages.

Thanks. Now I too am wondering what this discussion is all about

 

[keith_correa]

Phase and Polarity are 2 very different and distinct animals.
What the OP is referring to is neither phase nor polarity but is a simple swapping of left and right channels via the interconnects between source and amplification boxes.

 

[mbhangui]

Reversing phase polarity at source is difficult because you may either have to cut-open the cable or the source and solder/desolder some wires. Net net, don't try this. Some DAC though have phase button to do the same.

Good point and can be harmful. many equipments have three pin power plug and the ground could be connected to the outer RCA barrel. In such a case (where both source and receiver have 3 pin plug), you will be shorting output of the source and input of the receiver when you connect the source and equipment through such a miswired RCA cable. Even without a 3 pin plug if multiple cables connect the source and receiver the same can happen. e.g. If both source and receiver have SPDIF as well as analog input and outputs and if you have connected SPDIF of source to receiver and after that you connect the analog left and right channels, just one miswired RCA cable will short the input/output. In most cases nothing will happen because the output of the analog is quite low for any significant current to flow.

Can happen when you are making a DIY amp, preamp etc and you solder the wrong wires to the RCA sockets. That's why it is important to follow colour codes. Red for the hot wire and black/white for the ground.

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Usually , in a stereo recording, the left channel will have somewhat more loudness than the right channel comparatively. So if you feed the signals as rigt to left & left to right from the source to the amp, then the amp will deliver little more to right & little less to left. IMHO.

Is this right? I can’t think of any reason why it should be so. Check if your left speaker has more reflective surfaces around it while right speaker has more absorbing surfaces/open space around it giving that impression. Could it also be differential hearing between the two ears? Another reason could be loose fit of interconnect/speaker cable on one side resulting in some loss of current.

If you change the polarity of the speakers, you will notice a loss of bass, since the left and right speakers are now out of phase with each other.

Not quite. Not if the OP only swaps the interconnect ends. Out of phase happens when the in/out terminals of the amp are interchanged (ie if you connect the positive output of amp to negative input of speaker and vice versa) for one of the speakers.

 

[availlyrics]

Guitars panned mostly towards one side. (The other channel only contains the reverb / ambience sound)

I agree with your observations about "mostly towards one side", that was the way they did in those days.
But my argument was about "usually the left is louder than right" statement, as if the balance control is deliberately tilted more towards left as @sunder implied. Therefore, swapping Lch with Rch cable / connectors may result in R ch getting somehow louder.
sometimes, this phenomenon used to happen during compact cassette playback due to tape head misalignment / dirty head while playing side A/B

 

[Analogous]

If the sidewalls are not identical or equidistant from each speaker the image shifts too in my experience. This may be related to one channel sounding more prominent. There could be other reasons too, such as one channel of the amp having issues or one ear of the listener hearing less…
Having furniture (egbookshelfs with books) placed along one side wall while the other side is an empty wall does this too.

 

[alpha1]

But my argument was about "usually the left is louder than right" statement, as if the balance control is deliberately tilted more towards left as @sunder implied.

Quite honestly even I am interested in listening to recordings that, if exist, were made that way.
And more curious to know the mixing, mastering engineers and their philosophy in doing so.

I get extremely annoyed by tone/timber difference between L&R speaker, and a deliberate volume difference in the channels would frustrate me no end ...