Miscellaneous Ramblings

Yes, I did notice that.. Since I am not as knowledgable on phase and polarity as I would like and knowing of its importance, If possible, can you give us a quick "what to do" tutorial on checking for these things? Or, if you already have done that here, where would it be in the forum? Or if you havent yet, maybe make it a proper new thread within G's Corner...  Thank you
 
This can be your new slogan... GET IT DONE!... :)
 

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Chris,

I'll store the picture away for a future avatar.

What I was referring to is the recreation of transients.  The speakers should, all, move forward when the transient hits.  If they move backward they have not retained absolute polarity. 

It gets sticky because most US microphones are wired 180 degrees out from most European ones.  Sometimes both US and European microphones are used in a recording.

But what it brings to the table is a clearer voice, the true strike of a drum stick on a cymbal, the proper "pop" of a drumstick on the rim of the snare drum, the proper pluck of a pick on a guitar/mandolin/banjo/dulcimer string.  The music becomes more lifelike. 

PJ says too many albums are recorded with instruments in no particular polarity.  Some are most of mine are not.  A "Best Of" album is very likely to have this problem. 

The CD and polarity meter allowed me to check a friend's system.  It has groupings of three "Ticks" on it.  The first two are proper polarity and the third is 180 degrees out.  The meter should register green, green, red.  Out of polarity registers red, red, green.  My friend's midranges were out and it made a discernible difference when when we flipped the midrange amp output wires.  He has a 4-way quad amplified system.
 
I thought it was fairly common on multi driver speakers to have the high ends reversed.  I know the tweeters in my KEF speakers are, and when i queried it on a KEF forum i got the response that in all probability the KEF engineers knew exactly what they were doing :)

I kind of have the same attitude towards recordings, if the mix/master engineers left parts of the recording out of phase, well thats just the way it is.

It is something that does bother me in a whole system context, source and output from the speakers should match.  Having a DAC with a switch on the front to invert phase made it very easy for me to learn first hand the difference it makes.  Though i wish the Bottlehead DAC had that feature.

 
It depends on the slope, order, of the crossover.  First order and second order keep their phase relative to the other drivers.
 
This is where i need a confused smiley face, crossover design and radio receiver design fall into the electrical voodoo category for me  :)
 
Well, think about this....  If the tweeter has a forward movement for a guitar pick and the midrange has a rearward movement for the same sound then there will be a suck out of the midrange portion of this sound.  The two will be negating each other.

One of the local audio group has designed speakers for several decades.  I mean that he designs magnets, cones, baskets, voice coils and crossovers.  He starts with the "traditional" phasing then voices it so it sounds best. 
 
Wow, cool guy to have in your group...
Thank you for the expalanation and yeah, I thought you may like the picture. I was on the net one day and I just randomly came across that pic and thought I needed to save it and send it to you...
 
Wow, I will need to look into getting me one of those polarity checkers.. Its crazy that the studio would do these kinds of things since they are recording in the first place for the purpose of playing back on audio systems...
 
I bought three, replacement, Shawn Phillips albums and one of Dan's old Audio magazines.  The odd thing is that three of these four purchases come from Washington State.

I guess more Shawn Phillips fans were or are now living in the PNW.
 
Yep, I am raised in central washington and when in my teens I loved to go to my local Budget Tapes and Records shop and ask the owner what he thought was good (vietnam vet), and one of those times he told me a story of doing hard manual labor all day in the summer heat and when exhausted and finally home at around 10 pm, he switched on the tv and there was a live performance of shawn philips and the sound just hit him right at that time of wanting to wind down and was a fan ever since....So he thought I should to give him a try and I did buy an album thus starting my audio "relationship" with SP... and much thanks to you G , I now have one more SP album....  :)
 
Gotta Say,  I love Roger Waters and respect him greatly musically, however, I feel he is meddling into areas not his business by publicly going after Bon Jovi's decision to play Israel..  And he is using some pretty unfair "wording" as well...  I hope to hell he doesnt start to tarnish my "enthusiasm" thus "lessening" my desire to hear and buy his music.....
 
Artists becoming political open the door to alienating a segment of their fan base.  Yet, they have the right.  And need to live with the consequences.
 
When I pay to see a show, I don't want to hear your political rants.

Shut up and play the damn song.
What you say on your own time is up to you...John
 
Yes, you both are spot on...  I still love early U2 up to "Unforgettable Fire" but after hearing Bono's american concert "lecturing", I can't listen to newer U2.. Helps that the music is crap also.. haha
 
I got a crazy used vinyl purchase today.. It is a pristine EARLY MoFi pressing of "Steam"... Apparently it is a whole album dedicated to different steam locomotives and the sounds they make...  Crazy I think.. So , I had to have it because it just may be a dang cool sound effect and system tester piece... And even crazier is it is the Volume 2!.. haha  Had no idea a volume 2 would be needed of that sort of thing....
 
Yep, that's the "mobile" in mobile fidelity. They started doing on-location recordings rather than being a reissue company. IIRC volume one is their first record.
 
I have both the steam and Diesel MOFI albums.  Oh, and another with a steam train and a rain storm on it.

I bought my birthday present today.  10 albums from Elusive disk, all vinyl, several multiple disk sets, some really cheap ones including Elvira's only LP.
 
Ok, thanks guys, very interesting...  I will have to scare the neighbors with it and my 2  1,000 watt amplifiers at lets say.... around midnight with my windows open.....    8)
 
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