Gearslutz.com - View Single Post

cymatics · 8th August 2002

I can flip the polarity of the line level inputs on my console (D&R Dayner), so I often check low frequency sources to make sure there is no difference between 0 and 180. More often than not, I can't tell the difference. Check out the following link:

http://www.d-and-d.com/mrivers/poltest.html

If you ever had any doubt that polarity affects frequency response, this should settle it.

I would argue that while there is such a thing as absolute polarity, it is not as important as determining which sounds better. If you stop to think about it, every transducer in a recording signal chain is imperfect, therefore, will respond differently to positive pressure vs negative pressure. While this is a simple matter of fact, the resulting differences being judged as better one way or the other is entirely subjective.

- jon

8th August 2002	#6
cymatics Gear addict Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Charm City Posts: 303	I can flip the polarity of the line level inputs on my console (D&R Dayner), so I often check low frequency sources to make sure there is no difference between 0 and 180. More often than not, I can't tell the difference. Check out the following link: http://www.d-and-d.com/mrivers/poltest.html If you ever had any doubt that polarity affects frequency response, this should settle it. I would argue that while there is such a thing as absolute polarity, it is not as important as determining which sounds better. If you stop to think about it, every transducer in a recording signal chain is imperfect, therefore, will respond differently to positive pressure vs negative pressure. While this is a simple matter of fact, the resulting differences being judged as better one way or the other is entirely subjective. - jon