Pro Audio Asylum Pro studio recording equipment and music production/industry.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Pro Audio Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

about Absolute Polarity

Posted by unclestu52 (D) on December 17, 2008 at 22:59:10

In Reply to: RE: More about Absolute Polarity posted by harecording on December 16, 2008 at 19:48:50:

If the microphone diaphragm moves backwards in the recording session that means your ear drum will also move backwards. If a speaker pulses outward given a signal, that re creates the the situation heard in real life and mimics the microphone diaphragm motion.

In examining JBL speakers, the pro series (L series) all have their drivers moving inboard when using a battery test. AKG headphones have a similar motion. In most other drivers as you point out the movement is primarily outwards when positive current is applied to the positive terminal.

I believe the original poster is very much correct in stating that a great majority of speaker systems today employ drivers wired in mixed polarity. In addition many are not time aligned which further clouds the issue and the perception of it.

Many prominent designs employ inverted drivers. I haven't kept up with all models in all designs but allow me state a few. The Proacs all have the tweeters inverted in relation to the woofer, even up to the Future models where at least they place the midrange and tweeter in correct polarity relative to each other. The early Alons and Hales Transcendent series all have their midrange drivers inverted to their woofers and tweeters.

I believe a lot of this is deliberately done because of the initial review in The Absolute Sound of the Proac Mini Tablettes. The Proac has the woofer inverted in polarity to the tweeter, but the reviewing editor (HP) proclaimed the speaker a wonder in that it had image specificity but a huge soundstage which belied its diminutive size. As you know, inverted polarity smears the image presenting a seemingly huge soundstage. Having the tweeter in correct polarity then gives a lot of image specificity although there is a distinct discontinuity evident that HP did not comment on nor seemed to have be sensitive to. This created a whole following on using inverted driver designs which now seems to more the norm than the exception.

However, when speaker designs incorporate both time and correct polarity, differences of polarity in sound are very audible. With practice, it is easily heard even with problematic designs

Stu

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---