checking phase

[ksporry]

Hi guys, I just want to check if the speakers I have are correctly phased (just for clarification: with that I mean if the + and - are correct). Reason why I want to check was because my new speakers don't sound that great even when red is connected to red and black is connected to black. When I checked on my AV receiver, my av receiver said they front speakers were out of phase. When I reversed the wires that message disappeared. However, according to the manual of my AV receiver, it is actually possible to get "out of phase" warning even when they are correctly connected, so now I'm trying to figure out how I can check if it is the speaker design or if they are truly out of phase (meaning the + and - were reversed internally)
Any suggestions?

[nigelwright7557]

Use a 1.5 volt battery and see if the cone goes in or out.

[ksporry]

I did, and I see the bass cone come out, so I guess the phase is correct (Mind you, I didn't see the tweeter and mid range unit move, but I read somewhere that tweeters and their crossovers don't react to DC power, is that right?). Maybe it is because they are 4Ohm speakers and that might throw off the calibration on the AV receiver. SO for now I assume they just need breaking in.

[Helmuth]

Do a simulation of your filter and see what the phase does.

[ksporry]

eh? how do I simulate my filter and with what?

[Helmuth]

Originally Posted by ksporry

eh? how do I simulate my filter and with what?

Search for freeware filter simulation software.

Or freeware simulation programme like symetrix or other spice programs.

here you can find a lot of freeware tools for audio.
Steve Ekblad's Free Audio Software and On-Line Enclosure Design

[speaker dave]

Feed mono noise, such as FM intersation hiss to both speakers. Place them face to face and reverse the connections on one speaker (try both ways). You will hear very strong output with both speakers in phase, and nearly full cancelation when they are out of phase.

Must be mono noise. Full cancelation across the band means the speakers are well matched.

David S.

[Soundminded]

Originally Posted by ksporry

Hi guys, I just want to check if the speakers I have are correctly phased (just for clarification: with that I mean if the + and - are correct). Reason why I want to check was because my new speakers don't sound that great even when red is connected to red and black is connected to black. When I checked on my AV receiver, my av receiver said they front speakers were out of phase. When I reversed the wires that message disappeared. However, according to the manual of my AV receiver, it is actually possible to get "out of phase" warning even when they are correctly connected, so now I'm trying to figure out how I can check if it is the speaker design or if they are truly out of phase (meaning the + and - were reversed internally)
Any suggestions?

Place the speakers facing each other a few feet apart. Play a monophonic source or if you don't have one and don't have a stereo/mono switch then use two y cables to parallel a stereo source to the input of both channels. Place your head between the speakers like they were headphones. If they are in phase, the sound will apppear to be coming from inside your head just like mono material through headphones. If they are out of phase, they will always have a diffuse sound with no apparent source. This should be especially easy to determine with a human voice as the material. This test and the expected results assumes that the speakers are correctly wired internally which includes both speakers being wired the same way. If they are not, all bets are off and in or out of phase between them will have no meaning until the wiring error is corrected.