Dumb Question About Polarity Switches

[adamlloyd]

Ok, I have to settle this.

On a preamp with a polarity switch, (in my case an LA-610), which position is "0" and which position is the 180 degree flip? In or Out?

I had a couple people tell me that "Out" = No Inversion, but I had thought that "Out" meant "Out of Phase" i.e. the 180 flip..

Anyhow, I'm having a polarity inversion occurring somewhere in my input chain but I'd like to know where it's happening as opposed to just flipping the switch the other way...

Thanks.

[dbbubba]

Usually "out" would mean "out of the circuit."
I think that it is just a coincidence that you are using the switch to make the signal be OUT of phase.
It could easily be thopught of as REV or reverse (phase.)

I'd say if the "out" position is with the switch down that would be the "out of circuit" position.

Truthfully, an easy test would be to hook up a dynamic mic to the pre amp with a cable that you know is wired correctly.
As long as pins #2 and #3 are not flipped it will be wired correctly.

Feed the output of the 610 to a channel or monitoring source that you are certain is in phase.
Now lightly tap the grill of the mic,
The low freq. driver (woofer) should move outward.
You could do the same thing with a kick drum.

I have a phase checker that is made by Rolls.
It has a generator or send unit with with an XLR out and a speaker.
You run the send unit into a source and then monitor the "click" it emits on the RECEIVER unit.
If the receive unit sees an in phase signal a green LED illuminates with each click or pulse of the send unit.
If the signal is out of phase the a red LED illuminates with each click or pulse.

Unless something is way weird the 610, DOWN should be "in phase."

[adamlloyd]

oh okay... and "in phase" means "not flipped," right? (down is marked "IN")

[dbbubba]

that IS weird!

It goes against my logic in a way, but I'd be willing to bet that down is IN PHASE.

I am just going by how "most" stuff I have encountered over the years has been labeled and set up.
It is how I wire the stuff I build up.

I have things like attenuators out of circuit with the switch down.

If you don't do that test or something similar it has to be in the manual.
Call them up!

[Rick Sutton]

adamlloyd83, Google is your friend.

From the LA-610 manual that I found online in about 30 seconds:

(4) Polarity - Determines the polarity of the LA-610’s LINE OUTPUT. When IN ø is selected (the
normal position most of the time), the signal is in phase, and pin 2 is hot (positive). When OUT ø is
selected, the signal is out of phase, and pin 3 is hot (positive). Polarity reversal may be useful in
cases where more than one microphone is utilized in recording a source.

[BOWIE]

Good question! I've been keeping the one on my M610 down ("in"). The "off" position for the roll-off switch is also down so I assume they did the same woth the phase switch. "In" can also imply "engaged" so I agree that it's confusing.
EDIT; Rick got the answer.

[adamlloyd]

lol... i guess i'm googley challanged
i swear i always go to google first.. i've learned that asking a question on gearslutz when the answer is easily available already is a big no no...

glad to get this resolved though :-D

[Rick Sutton]

Originally Posted by adamlloyd83

lol... i guess i'm googley challanged
i swear i always go to google first.. i've learned that asking a question on gearslutz when the answer is easily available already is a big no no...

glad to get this resolved though :-D

No big deal
usually equip that has been made within the last 10 years has manuals/tech info on the manufacturer's web site and it's just a PDF download away!