This is because when all the filtered parts are combine (at your ear) the inverted filter channel now has a timing and amplitude errors when compared to the other non-inverted (filtered) channels. In this article, I will disclose the method which has been working flawlessly for me in the past couple of years. Listen to the quality of the sound. As you can see from the graph, with the switch in the wrong position for the particular room setup, more than an octave from below 100 hertz to 220 hertz disappears, down in level by an average of about 15 decibels. So, TM, if I m listening to (A) rock with mostly guitar and drum, (B) jazz with mostly horns, or (C) classical with mostly strings and piano, and have a front firing/vented port, where in the 0 – 180 phase would best be suited to each type of music? A quest which at one point in my early career felt like impossible. Now, you may end up with subwoofers that are out of phase with each other. Crossover is the frequency where speakers begin to roll off, and the subwoofer starts outputting bass notes and LFEs. horizontal arrays . One of the biggest challenges every new generation of sound engineers appears to struggle with is learning how to phase align subwoofers to mains. It's extension is lower than 80 Hz and therefore its phase response at 80 Hz is less than 90 degrees. When this happens, the bass quality coming from each speaker will cancel out that of the other, resulting in poor quality sound. One can imagine the phase lag as clockwise movement and phase lead is counter clockwise movement. Inverting this sinewave still has the wrong timing when compared to the signal source displaced by 180°. It's a two-step process consisting of a relative and absolute part. So experiment, otherwise you may not be getting all the bass you’ve paid for. A 180° phase shift is a timing correction not a signal invertion! On symetrical waveforms (like sinewaves, or 1:1 mark-space ratio squarewaves) it will looks like it has been shifted by 180° but this is only an attribute of it being a symetrical waveform. Direct Stream Digital and the Power of Imagination. The phase control in a powered subwoofer allows the user to add electrical delay to the incoming signal. NHT SB3 uses a larger 6-1/2" woofer. Figure 2 - NHT SB3 amplitude and phase response. This means that the waveform is turned upside down (which is what engineers mean when they talk about reversing phase, or switching it 180 degrees). This shows the frequency performance from 55 to perhaps 350 hertz. The reason is that in the area where both the subwoofer and the satellite speakers are producing output, their respective outputs interfere destructively with the switch one way, and constructively the other way. As of version 1.4 the results can be exported into Meyer Sound MAPP XT for increased accuracy. It's provided because the speakers and subwoofer sound best when they are in-phase -- meaning their woofers move in and out in sync with each other. All conditions were identical between these two measurements, except that the Phase switch was in the ‘+’ position in the top one, and the ‘-‘ position in the bottom one. If the speakers are compatible, one size fits all and the limitations of the IR are even on both sides of the equation. I can estimate this based on your comments but would appreciate your articulation. Shows you SPL and polar plots. Most subwoofers have a switch on the back that’s labelled ‘Phase’, and has positions of 0 and 180 degrees. Nothing subtle about this at all. One can consider this as a violation of the assumption stated earlier. How much this affects the sound and fidelity of the percieved sound is debatable. M&K recommends that you set the switch to the position which gives the greatest amount of perceived mid and upper bass at the normal listening position. The image on the right is my frequency response graph, measured last night, of a Miller and Kreisel K5 satellite speaker and a K-9 subwoofer working together. I also think this is why some lesser systems sound as if the sound stage has been smeared and lacking coherance on certain voices and instruments. Put the switch one way, and the two conductors carrying signal from the input are connected to the rest of the electronics in one way. You can clearly hear the difference. Scan it with your smart phone to be connected wherever you are: Your email address will not be published. What does that subwoofer ‘phase’ switch do? Your email address will not be published. Setting the Crossover. The phase control operates over a range of 0 to 180 degrees. features: real-time; configurations . Because some speaker wires cannot be switched, (as is sometimes the case with RCA cords), an alternate method is often provided in the form of a “Phase” switch. Here’s what’s happening when you follow this procedure: By reversing the polarity of the main speakers, you’re putting them out of phase with the subwoofer. Their response will be in phase at 16 kHz and remain in phase as we go down – (TO THE EXTENT THAT THE TWO SPEAKER MODELS ARE PHASE MATCHED). Adding delay to the subwoofer signal can sometimes help the subwoofer to integrate better with the loudspeakers in the room. A better method would be to appy a timing filter to the frequency band that requires a phase shift. What this switch does, electrically, is the second easist thing to understand on a subwoofer’s wiring (the easiest is the ‘on/off’ switch). 10kHz is linked to 10 kHz and 1k to 1k and 100 to 100 for as long as they share their range. Figure 1 - NHT SB2 amplitude and phase response . That is because the sinewave is symetrical – – the positive and negative parts of the waveform are exactly the same shape, and the same amount of energy in them. Flick the switch and the two conductors swap position. Thanks. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Setting the phase control to 180 degrees reverses the polarity of the subwoofer. If you look at the envelope of a sound (say a piano) the initial strike of the piano is not symetrical, indeed most acoustic, and electro-acoustic, instruments have this property. Dipole subwoofers are quite different to the other subwoofer systems described on this site because of the way they treat the the driver's output. Most subwoofers have a switch on the back that’s labelled ‘Phase’, and has positions of 0 and 180 degrees. But what does that mean in terms of the listening experience? It's phase response at 80 Hz is about ideal. It displays frequency and phase responses for 7 microphones. The term subwoofer is grossly misused to describe any low-frequency driver system enclosed in a separate cabinet. AudioQuest wants you to buy $44,000 speaker cables | Gadget Guy Australia. I believe it is the major issue that give very good systems there particular signature sound. To do this accurately a carefully designed digital system is required. The switch only inverts the signal and this is NOT the same as 180° phase shift. Which way depends upon such things as the locations of the satellites and the sub, the distances between them and the listening position, and the room boundaries. What this switch does, electrically, is the second easist thing to understand on a subwoofer’s wiring (the easiest is the ‘on/off’ switch). True hi-fi is about signal intergrity, testing with sinewaves does not show these subtle timing issue in parts of the signal spectrum that has had signal invertion applied. Thus when these are processed by the crossover with one driver’s signal being inverted most musical waveforms will now have both envelope and timing errors imposed on them because one frequency band out of the speaker system has an inverted output compared to the rest of the sound signal. The subwoofer’s phase control is now set perfectly. This is a PARALLEL operation. On non-symetrical waveforms (musical signals with a very sharp but short time positive swing followed by a longer period lower level negative swing; like that from plucked instruments) they will look entirely incorrect as well as the timing being wrong. But subwoofer actually means “below the woofer,” and the term should be reserved for those products that extend bass response to below 20Hz. On the other hand, the phase shift caused by the high pass filters (those used on front speaker to crossover to subwoofer) is a phase lead which is in the opposite direction of phase lag. 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