Phase Control (0/180 toggle) on PSW505?

[aat]

Hi experts,

What is the prefer setting for the phase control (0 or 180 toggle) on the PSW505?

Thanks,
~AAT

[PolkThug]

Most of the time it is better at 0. Try both for yourself and see what you like.

Regards

[Zen Dragon]

0 is generally preferred. If the sub is facing in the direction of the speakers than 180 is often used. This prevents the bass signal from the sub from cancelling out the bass waves coming out of your speaker.
Try it in both positions and listen from your likely listening area in the room. Usually one of the positions will sound cleaner and louder. This is the position you should leave the switch in.

[michael_w]

As others have said try 0° first. I had to flick mine to 180° because of some cancellation issues that were causing big holes in the frequency response.

[Tour2ma]

Louder is not always better. The sub and mains could be reinforcing each other.

Be they adding or nulling, the true issue is that this will only occur at certain frequencies and it's harmonics. So whether nulling or reinforcing, the end result is a humpy system responce curve. That's why a lot of folk drag out their test disks and SPL meters and plot their room curve. But if it suits your ear...

Whether or not you'll have issues includes many variables, e.g. room geometry, relative distances of the mains and sub from your listening postion, and more.

It also depends on whether your mains are phased properly. Most folk assume that their speakers are phase coherent, or are "absolutely" phased. A surprising number are not. Any link in the chain from the source to the speaker wire can invert the signal 180 degrees from absolute phase.

While some folks claim that they can "hear" absolute phase, they are the most golden of the golden ear crowd. Some may in fact be able to hear a difference, but the vast majority can't. But add another bass source that's not in phase, and it can be as easy to detect.

To determine your system's phasing, observe the woofers, or MW's in the case of Polks, on a simple kick drum passage. Does the woofer first thrust outward (proper phasing), or does it suck in (180 deg off)?

Just be glad your sub does not have infinite phase variability from 0 to 180 deg's...

Have fun.