What Happens When You Wire Speakers Backwards?

[@Enjoymentboy]

I learned about the importance of polarity when I was young. I received a ghetto blaster for xmas and I was shocked that AM radio sounded so much better than FM. AM was in mono and only came from the left speaker but FM being stereo came from both. My natural curiosity got the better of me and I opened it up 2 days after getting it. My mother was furious. I had no idea what I was doing or should be looking for but I knew the difference between positive and negative and colour coding. I saw the left speaker was wired white to + and black to - which seemed normal to me. But the right speaker was wired white to - and black to + which seemed wrong. I had already been soldering for a few years so I desoldered the wires from the right speaker, switched them and soldered them again. I put it on FM and was amazed at how good it sounded. My mother was so happy that it worked but still never gave me any credit for fixing/improving my gift. For years she would say "Do you remember that xmas you took apart your radio?" and I would always ask her if she remembered that not only did I put it back together but that it was better than when I had taken it apart. Never got any credit for that.

[@PauldeVries]

Hope you kept that thought process in your older years. You did what 99% of the people won't bother with these days and just throw it away.

[@Enjoymentboy]

@@PauldeVries I still regularly take things apart. Often only to see what's inside. I've gotten a LOT better at putting them back together again as well. lol But yes, 99% of the time I will try and fix it. I'm cheap and would much rather spend a couple of bucks on parts and a little bit of time instead of tossing it out and replacing it. That's one thing my grandparents taught me: Repair it until it can't be repaired any longer and then salvage whatever parts you can and repurpose what can't be salvaged.

[@PauldeVries]

​@@Enjoymentboy Yes, things are more useful than meets the eye sometimes. Hope you gave yourself credits for that ;)

[@exshenanigan2333]

Pretty sure she would have given you credit if someone had thought her how and why to do it. Don't think she intentionally held back on giving you credit. But yeah man, sometimes those unimportant moments for adults can become lifelong memories for kids.

[@PauldeVries]

@@exshenanigan2333 well said

[@philipcaron6805]

If you wire your speakers backwards and listen to country music, the guy actually gets back his horse, his job and his wife

[@JoeAmaral427]

LMAO 😂

[@trog69]

Yes, but now his existential angst is too much to handle, thus Emo is his new jams.

[@MervynPartin]

And if you are listening to Blues music, all the above plus it stops raining.

[@wallacegrommet9343]

Plus, he quits drinking

[@larrybremer4930]

you forgot his truck

[@deanevangelista6359]

My friend installed his new car battery backwards. Afterwards, his horn sucked, his headlights cast shadows, and his radio listened.

[@weiss-vonnix4519]

🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍👍👍

[@nonamejustbecause-b9k]

TOO FUNNY!!!LMAO!!!!

[@shadowlord0162]

This one is creative. I like it

[@3649yR]

How to turn an internal combustion engine car into an electric car (using a generator as an engine)

[@TheCassiusTain]

@@3649yR nah, it's an external combustion engine now

[@junaidfazlani04]

6:50 this is how active noise cancellation works. The earphones/headphones capture the sounds playing in your surrounding with the mic, reverse it's polarity and play it to your ears, resulting in cancellation of the background noise

[@bramweinreder2346]

That's exactly right. Typically, noise cancelling headphones have an analog mic wired to the system in reverse polarity so that the speakers in your headphones create a negative version of those sound waves in real time.

[@hope4ourfallen]

​@@bramweinreder2346Thank you to both you and the original poster you replied to. That was cools insight on a topic I never woulda known about. Pretty awesome to learn how it works.

[@TonyMartello]

Great vid. Last year I had one of my main speakers wired out of polarity. I had a mate over (who works in audio) to tune my subs. He listened for about 10secs and said 'I think your wiring is out of polarity' and of course it was. When I corrected it the only noticeable difference was the imaging, the sound quality was the same but the voice was no longer smeared, it was positioned. Always learning, thanks!

[@noahman27]

Years ago, I found I had accidentally wired one of my two subwoofers in reverse (in my mobile DJ rig). When I saw how I had screwed it up, I laughed so hard! I had been struggling for several months with my system - asking myself, "Why can I hear the base coming out of each sub when I stand right in front of it but when I move to the center of the dance floor, I don't hear or feel it?" No amount of EQing or compression made any difference. When I saw I had the cable to one sub wired backwards (positive to negative and negative to positive), man oh man, I was relieved. I still laugh today thinking about it.

[@wil-fri]

So you experienced wave cancellation by first hand 😂

[@BrettDalton]

I worked on a recording system that sounded perfectly fine but when you tried to record you got nothing. Someone wired one of the inputs backwards so the mono signals from the mic were being cancelled.... The tech who installed it couldn't figure it out for 2 weeks.

[@noahman27]

@@BrettDaltonLOL!! It happens to the best of us

[@EconID]

Haha that's a good laugh. I mean in the sense that we've all made simple mistakes but genuinely bothered us. Then we happen to stumble upon the solution like it felt sorry for us lmao

[@bfbunny]

Bro’s made of positivity👍

[@ardonjr]

Fun fact: I once installed a dual subwoofer setup in my Nissan 100NX (yes it's been a while) .. After installation I played some subwoofer test music and was disapointed by the lack of bass from the subwoofers. I didn't understand, I had two subwoofers and still heard almost nothing. It was at this point I thought about polarity and I changed the phase setting (on one of the amplifiers). It was at this moment I learned that I should not have done that while the system was running a subwoofer bass test on 80% volume. The moment I flipped that switch I was scared to death, the system was playing so load suddenly. Learned some lessons that day!

[@ivanf4023]

My college roommate blew out his rear glass because he was trying a test and realized a wire came loose or something. Suddenly bbbrrrrrrrtttttt and he was covered in little glass cubes.

[@TwinShards]

Both subwoofer were trading the airflow they were producing.

[@runnergo1398]

After I saw a friend of mine fry his car amp doing what you did, I always turn off the power before switching wires around.

[@jimross2101]

I had an NX2000.

[@psxtuneservice]

Out of principal you should only do wiring with everything turned on 😂....we did that with our cncs also😮

[@don7680]

Very simply, when one speaker is out of phase (wired backwards) in a stereo system, they cancel each other out. Mainly heard in the lower frequencies, but also affecting image and sound staging.

[@rimmersbryggeri]

It's heard in all frequencies that are pannes with an identical signal to both speakers. It's the same as a common mode interference supressor in a balanced signal chain. There is usually just one bass and bass drums are usually not panned so that is why they dissapear more than other instruments, has nothing to do with them being low frequency though.

[@NeovanGoth]

I once played at a psytrance party where one of two subs was wired incorrectly, resulting in the bass literally disappearing right in the middle of the dance floor. 😂 Since is was open air, you hadn't even echoes from walls. Super weird.

[@rimmersbryggeri]

@@NeovanGoth The person that made those speaker cables really messed up. Should never happen in a PA system since the speaker cabler are hard wired unless there is a phaze switch somewhere in the system.

[@markmarkofkane8167]

I heard about phase back in the 70's. I don't recall being able to hear a difference, but I didn't have speakers that reproduced heavy bass. I've always tried to wire correctly anyway.

[@EdKolis]

Is this how noise cancelling headphones work? They layer on top of your audio an inverted waveform of whatever ambient sound you're hearing?

[@Dadzilla2]

This just happened to of popped up on my KZbin. I spent many years in the automotive stereo industry, starting out very young. I could never hear the difference AS long as everything was wired the same. But wire one speaker wrong in a stereo system and you most assuredly can and will hear it. That was almost 40 years when I started, and nothing much has changed. Very important to get it right and right the first time. Nothing worse than having that person coming back because you got it wrong.

[@BigAl53750]

"This just happened to of popped up on my KZbin." Ummm; 'happened to OF popped up'???? I suppose you ask people questions like; "Where OF you been?" The word is HAVE! Does anyone learn grammar these days?

[@Dadzilla2]

@@BigAl53750 Excuse the FUCK for my incorrect grammer.

[@brucewizjam3618]

Great video. It does make a difference, I recently bought a new Denon receiver and hooked up all my speakers in a 7.1 configuration. When I ran the audio test using the included condenser mic, it failed the test and pointed out two speakers that were wired incorrectly. Their built in audio software found the two speakers wired backwards and identified them. I was surprised, but it was correct, the wires were crossed on those two speakers. Fixed the cross wiring, and reran the test, and it passed and they certainly sounded much better. The bass, clarity, and sound stage were much improved.

[@sutchsteve]

If you have two stereo speakers wired with opposite polarity (a.k.a half a cycle out of phase), you get an interesting effect because the signals cancel each other out in a fringe pattern which generally makes it feel like the sound is coming from around or behind you, because it will bounce off the room walls before it reaches your ears. This effect is used in legend of zelda ocarina of time for the sound of the townspeople in the castle town courtyard, and in the movie twelve monkeys for the mystery voice he hears in his head Flipping the polarity of one of the channels in a pop song can also work as a useful hack to get something approximating an instrumental version of the track, because generally the vocal is dead centre but the backing is not so the vocal gets cancelled out

[@c0wqu3u31at3r]

my science teacher did this in school with speakers out of phase and made us walk around the room, the volume changed depending on where you were in the room because of the phase cancellation

[@DanEvans-f8f]

But that messes with the "dubbing" The effect is still in play when recorded, and requires micro editing in the DAW where cancelations occur in track adding... Someone once suggested changing the waveform, but it's still the inverse frequency loss to deal with.

[@-DeScruff]

I seem to recall an old CD player stereo my sister got for Christmas had this as a feature? (I think it was intended as a Karaoke mode?) I don't remember much other then it was weird to child me for the vocals to just all the sudden disappear like the vocals were on some different audio channel getting disabled.

[@BASSstarlet]

If you mess with polarities you'll destroy low freqs and some mids as well

[@ClansmanK]

Zackley

[@markgigiel2722]

It's actually fun to experiment with out of phase speakers and placement. If they are directly facing each other with the listener in between, you get a push-pull effect that's pretty cool. It depends on the spacing and frequencies as well.

[@maxine_q]

I hate that effect. Gives me a weird feeling in my ears.

[@jnawk83]

Deafening silence

[@a64738]

@@jnawk83 You do not get silence, only damped bass and the higher frequencies is pretty much unaffected but with weird / cool sound effects of "sound phasing".

[@Patrick-857]

It can result in a kind of "fake stereo" effect. When I was a kid I got a kick out of doing that. Even better was setting up an AM radio and FM radio on the same station (here in NZ at the time we had stations that broadcasted on both) for whatever reason there was a significant time difference between the two, causing a fairly extreme slapback echo effect. It was a trip.

[@Ungroovy03]

This is the best audio engineering channel on KZbin.

[@annoynymouse1146]

Facts

[@Ungroovy03]

Anyways, thanks for the suggestion!@@corporealundead

[@sphygo]

It took until 4:12 to understand that the symbol you were using was supposed to represent "inverted". The circle with a line through means "diameter" and I use that almost daily for engineering drawings. I was so confused how that was related lol.

[@awittypilot8961]

I knew this but this was the absolute best depiction of the principal I have ever seen. Well done!

[@keithbroughton4476]

On a side note, the term phase and polarity are often used to describe the same thing but are actually different. Polarity inversion (flip or swap)is what is described in this video and is a 180 degree phase inversion. It is possible to have phase discrepancies that are not a full 180 degrees.

[@fantasticsound2085]

Also, polarity is a reversal of a physical or electrical connection that results in a 180° phase shift. Many issues can create phase shift. Polarity reversal is just one that has a singular shift.

[@exshenanigan2333]

you must be fun at parties.

[@TimpBizkit]

You can but they will be different at all frequencies. Simply having one speaker further away from your ears than another will give you a phase change - could be partial or the full 180 depending on frequency.

[@rcarlberg]

Yes but phase shift varies with frequency, so you cannot simply apply it to music as a way to counteract poorly-wired speakers.

[@timotejsuvak9979]

exactly

[@Steve_K2]

Having some education in electronics and a half century experience with home stereo, I can't say I learned from the video. But oh how I enjoyed seeing it explained so well. This young man has a gift for explanation.

[@kansaspetes8708]

I like that it was explained without assuming every member of the audience already knew the basics. People often skip the basics, and those are so important in building a good foundational knowledge. I agree. He did a great job, and his voice is calm and soothing. He makes good eye contact, and speaks without ums and ahs.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks!

[@ramdhane]

Yeah you are right bro, all people can broadcast information however what make difference is the Way of delivering that information. This respectful Guy touched the top of perfection in his explanation.

[@mirfd]

Coincidentally last week I was installing an home theater in my room (the old style one, not a sound bar) and I was wondering why the speakers had polarity and I was very afraid of inverting wires. Now everything is very clear. Thanks for the video!

[@HxThomison]

Nice, a real home theater! I hope you enjoy your build. I just got a pair of TAD 1601c, some altec 288c, and gauss 1502 drivers /horns. My wife vehemently refused to let them near the living room, so down to the Home Theater they went! The kids love it

[@grumpy3543]

Thank you for this. I learned about out of phase speakers in the late 70’s when I took audio engineering classes. It’s hard to explain to the layman. You did it perfectly. You could also add that it’s similar to the way noise canceling headphones work.

[@joshuamiller9186]

Wave addition is such a cool concept. I wish there were more practical applications like this taught in public schools

[@RocknJazzer]

It is taught in certain math and physics classes, but there is little practical application for most people, except installing speakers, or getting a job that uses math or physics

[@myhchiu]

Wave addition (or cancellation if one signal is reversed) has a very practical application in noise canceling headphones and earbuds. A microphone picks up the ambient noise, which is then reversed and added to the music being played by the speakers in the headphones, the reversed noise cancels out the ambient noise and you hear just the music.

[@muspylenz]

PROLONGED SEMESTER

[@NNITRED]

At live events you'll often see arrays or fills aimed backstage and wired out of phase. This cancels the sound from monitors and main PA. While the crowd is getting blasted. The crew backstage can speak normally and often don't need ear pro while working. They do the same thing to create "dead zones" in large clubs - areas like the lounge or the bar. Those speakers over the bar that don't appear to be on are actually doing a big job. Theme parks even use phase cancellation to kill mechanical noise.

[@SPECTRA890]

That's incredible. Had no idea people can apply this on this way

[@steamer2k319]

You should take a pair of those linear transducers and have them agitate a shallow pool of ~dyed water. In theory, we should be able to see how the delay required to propagate the signals through the media affect constructive and destructive interference at different frequencies, distances, polarities, etc.

[@AudioUniversity]

Cool idea!

[@raymota4515]

I used the "Chaldini" plates with small metal slivers and video taped them in the 80's. I recall Velvet Underground being quite interesting.

[@rojirrim7298]

Installing a stroboscope illuminating the water at the same frequency as the waves, will also make it so that the waves appear stationary, so the differences can be pictured better

[@jeffreyblack666]

@@rojirrim7298 I think showing the agitation of the water would be better. Otherwise, when you have a spot with looks like it hasn't moved is that because it cancels or because it just isn't moving at that point. Alternatively, the stroboscope slightly off frequency, so you can see the waves moving and interacting.

[@yourhandlehere1]

huh huh....you said words.

[@onmyworkbench7000]

Back in the mid 1970's I worked installing PA systems in a grocery store chain, the system was a 70 volt system that was used to play mono background music when it was not being use for announcements. The speakers were mounted in the ceiling of the stores and to keep the speakers from canceling one another out we had to space the speaker properly to take in account the delay of the audio from each of the speakers and we had to switch the polarity of each of the speakers because of that delay to keep them in phase with one another. This was to minimize the locations in the shopping aisle that presented cancellation zones. It worked very good.

[@davidmacphee3549]

Fascinating. I worked on that stuff too.

[@TimpBizkit]

Although music is all different frequencies, so there's no one distinct phase change, so may as well just keep all the speakers in phase imo.

[@davidmacphee3549]

Yes. But you guys make me think about something here but not here. We don't have it. Let me imagine this for a moment or so .. Can't we have a button on our so, advanced remote that we can flip polarity around?

[@davidmacphee3549]

You have to do the math between the ohms of the speakers and series and parallel loads on the amp. You just can't hook them all up in parallel like most people would. Thankfully those days of problems are loin behind me. Uh I meant long behind me. Same thing I guess, oh well.

[@onmyworkbench7000]

@@TimpBizkit You are correct that music is all different frequencies, but when you reverse the polarity of one speaker you are reversing or changing the phase of all of the frequencies to that speaker in relation to the other speakers by 180 degrees, so *_PHASE MATTERS._*

[@wolfguy423]

You explained it in a way that was pretty easy to understand, and I actually learned something. Thank you.

[@paulh2981]

Extremely clear and methodical explanation. Well done.

[@jocrp6]

Every time I wired up my speakers backward's,, They wouldn't play but only listened.

[@captainmoretokin2172]

once somebody put the batteries in backwards on the energizer bunny, and he kept coming and coming and coming.

[@WarrenPenner]

LOL! Seriously! bahahahahahaaaa! *Dad Jokes

[@minusmartin]

Sometimes that's just what we need

[@GarryNichols]

Right foot first or left it doesn't matter unless you want to coordinate with another. Just like dancing.

[@codahighland]

Until you step on your partner's foot.

[@nobody7817]

@@codahighlandThat would impede the good ol' rhythm, no?

[@BeforeAndAfterScience]

Dancing is sinful.

[@nobody7817]

@@BeforeAndAfterScienceI guess Psalm 149:3 is sinful then... maybe the Bible is sinful. Maybe God is sinful. Maybe God is Satan...and Satan is God.

[@nobody7817]

@@BeforeAndAfterScienceNo Scientist makes such an open ended statement without qualifying the parameters thereof.

[@maik5825]

It's possible to isolate the voice in all songs that have a similar instrumental version by inverting one of the two audio files. It doesn't work perfectly because of audio compression and sometimes the original song includes more or less sounds than the instrumental. But with a bit of luck you can get pretty good results.

[@quaztron]

Playing the difference between channels (left minus right) usually cancels out the lead vocal and the bass because the lead vocal and bass are usually mixed dead-center. You get some of the instruments and some of the harmony vocals. It can be mildly amazing. Try it on Olivia Newton-John tunes (she's almost a choir). "Saturday in the Park" by Chicago some surprises that cancellation brings to the front.

[@rcarlberg]

@@quaztron It all depends on the mixing. Many recordings, to save money or because the engineers have tin ears, record the vocals or guitar solos or bass monaurally, and then pan them to the center of the mix. With a single monaural source it's relatively easy to inject a 180º opposite and thus cancel out the original. With true stereo recordings, not so easy.

[@SeekerGoldstone]

​@@rcarlberg Just flatten the stereo signal to mono...

[@SeekerGoldstone]

​@@rcarlberg Just flatten the stereo signal to mono

[@trentstewart2558]

You have a gift, dude. I spent decades in the professional audio industry having been born into it with my father coming before me. And you have generated over one and a half million hits to this video sharing something I've known since I was in grade school. This isn't me criticizing you, it's me applauding you. To be able to do this, it's a gift. Things I took for granted surprise me often. I had inherited a half dozen JBL Professional transformers. So common in our shop were these, I literally thought they were garbage For giggles, put one up for sale on ebay years ago. They started stabbing each other to obtain it. Ended up getting $200 for something I almost threw away and had five more of. Just one example of a pleasant surprise. You should do a video on impedance matching. Reversing the polarity of speaker isn't something that commonly happens with polarity marked on the speakers or speakers with wiring included having these wires color coated. You are correct in stating it does and does not matter if reversed. As a professional, it absolutely matters. Nothing would scream amatuer louder than having screwed up the obvious. Doesn't matter in typical two speaker stereo systems much because two independent channels, etc. But impedance matching of speakers to amplifiers is not well known at all. Yet is simple and straight forward. And very important. The common person is typically power output motivated when it comes to amplifiers and sound systems. Yet, they are ignorant to what they are referring to because all they know is what salesman tell them. Salesman are always motivated by making bigger, better, and more sales. Usually equally as ignorant as the end user. So, more, more, more and bragging rights for power output rules the world. Which makes any video you would offer on proper impedance matching that much more relevant to the common consumer of audio amplification and sound reproduction equipment. You're a good presenter. Don't know your background in audio. You may be another KZbin creator who presents him or herself as expert, but the we and us they often use to make them look like a great big rolling railroad is non existent. I can hear them justifying the terms used by saying they were referring to their wife/husband or baby children. Can't blame anyone for trying. Impedance matching is necessary to get all the wattage you thought you really needed when you bought that big power amp or stereo system that put out all that advertised power to actually be used. If the output rating of an amp is 4 ohms for example. Let's clarify at 4 ohms per channel, to get the 100 advertised watts of power per channel you paid for, you need to match the input impedance of the speakers to it. 4 ohm amplifier output to 4 ohm speaker input means all 100 watts of power is available. Impedance mismatches will still make the amplifier's power output available, but in lesser percentages than advertised. Same example of amplifier with 8 ohm speaker. The mismatch is a factor of two or half. The 100 watts would not be available and only half this, 50 watts, would be. It's always a reduction in advertised power not an increase. So another speaker, listed as having a 2 ohm impedance input connected to the same 100 watt, 4 ohm rated amplifier output, would also produce half the 100 watts of power available and 50 watts of power tops. Start mixing multiple speakers per channel and that's another complexity all together but on the same level. Since impedance is basically the resistance measurement of an ac device, it increases and decreases in rating same as resistance does. Put two 8 ohm speakers in parallel, and the amplifier does not see 8 ohms but 4 ohms. Put the same speakers in series, now the amplifier sees 16 ohms. In this scenario, on a 100 watt power amplifier with a 4 ohm output, the most you'll see from that 100 watts of power you have is 25 watts being 4 is one forth of 16. Always lose power from mismatches, never gain. Sorry to lecture. I'm old and too much to do, nothing I really want to. Thanks.

[@jonmars9559]

That is a question I have pondered for years. I appreciate how clearly you explain a subject in such a concise and orderly fashion. My autistic brain totally gets it.

[@jasonschubert6828]

In a world of misinformation, particularly on audio, this channel is such a breath of fresh air! Superbly explained too.

[@PunakiviAddikti]

The "audiophiles" as they call themselves are also incredibly toxic. Ask any questions and you'll get smugly talked down to for not knowing. Disagree with them and you'll get the most vile insults. Stay far away from them.

[@Axymerion]

​@@PunakiviAddikti Not only will you get ridiculed for not knowing, but you'll be buried under a mountain of wildly inaccurate or downright wrong information right after.

[@GraysonLang]

I don’t think it was mentioned in the video, so I just wanted to add that the common naming when speakers are wired the same is “in phase” and when they are wired with different polarities is “out of phase”. There are some interesting acoustic characteristics when speakers are wired out of phase in a home listening environment where the sound seems to appear diffuse and almost like it’s “floating around your head” with no distinct source. There are some fun examples elsewhere on KZbin where you can listen to in-phase and out-of-phase white noise that demonstrate this.

[@fantasticsound2085]

What you describe results because vocals and other instruments that are intended to be front and center experience more interference than those panned more to one side or another because they are essentially equal in each speaker. This causes more cancellation of anything in the center.

[@Angellus502]

Im not 100% sure I am correct, but i heard somewhere over the years that some high end speaker manufacturers using a lot of X-over points design speaker cabs with the low bass drivers intentionaly wired 180 degrees out of phase to take advantage of this phenomenon and give the low end a wider sound stage

[@fantasticsound2085]

@@Angellus502 Interesting idea, however, I wonder about this. Bass frequencies are extremely problematic when out of phase between multiple speakers. I would expect dissonant artifacts that would be anything but audiophile, from such a setup. I don't know the specific acoustic properties, but in the concert PA world, it's fairly common now to physically reverse several of the subwoofer boxes, but not to create phase artifacts. It's done to acoustically cancel bass frequencies behind the subwoofes. It's the speaker equivalent to phase ports on the back of directional microphone capsules. The steers the bass towards the audience and away from the stage where it can be problematic vibrating the performers, their gear, and the microphones on amplifiers and other instruments.

[@052RC]

That's not entirely correct. Polarity refers to the actual electrical connection. Polarity only has 2 options, correct or inverted. Phase is dealt with in the xover. In order for the individual drivers to be in phase, first order xovers must be used. 2nd order, or higher, and the drivers are not in phase with each other. On a phase correct speaker, all the drivers move in and out at the same time. Speakers that use 2nd order xovers, or higher, the drivers move in and out at different times. Given that, you would think manufacturers would only design phase correct speakers. However, the opposite is true. Probably less than 1% of all speakers on the market are phase correct.

[@grabasandwich]

I noticed a difference in sound decades ago on my Dad's stereo. Maybe it's not noticeable on headphones, but if the speakers are far enough apart, the inverted wiring caused it to sound very hollow.

[@Shermanbay]

An excellent, illustrated, detailed, demonstration of speaker polarity, an important factor one that I have been promoting for over 50 years!

[@maxjefferison1654]

Whoever said they can hear a difference with the snare drum is either lying or their brain is playing a trick on them.

[@Ryion54]

imo the higher frecuencies sound VERY SLIGHTLY louder

[@backyardthinker5996]

its possible to hear if you listen thru right setup.. larger speakers with air movement

[@052RC]

Why? Because you say so? If your answer is, this has been proven by science, fine. Reference a test that was done using legitimate science. Otherwise, you're just guessing.

[@SirkyNL]

with good hearing and headphones u can tell a difference

[@backyardthinker5996]

@@SirkyNL umm you can't really wire headphones backwards unless you make an effort..

[@majorbuzz]

Many, many years ago (like 1970s), I installed 2 speakers in my car's front doors for my Pioneer Super Tuner stereo system. Somewhere, I saw an article about adding a 3rd speaker and mounting it on the rear deck of the car. I took a positive lead from the left and right channels and connected them to the 3rd speaker. Whether or not or was good for the electronics, I don't know, but it made for an interesting effect since the only sound coming from the 3rd speaker was the difference between the 2 channels. Like sounds were filtered out.

[@dom_xi-dzopa720]

would this still work or would it be obsolete with newer technology?, im sure i can look this up but i want your opinion and im a little lazy

[@majorbuzz]

@@dom_xi-dzopa720 I think it would still work. The signal going to the speakers is analog.

[@russellbride]

It works... Poor man's surround sound...

[@stephens2984]

this was pseudo quadrophonic sound system developed by a bloke called Hafler. i have had my stereo setup like this using 2 speakers for the rear wired in series but opposite polarity since the seventy's.

[@steeleslicer1217]

What a flashback! I had a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 with a Pioneer Supertuner hooked up to a Pioneer 100W amp. 2 bookshelf speakers with 8 in woofers seatbelted in the back seat, each with about 30 feet of wire. When we were hanging out at the park, speakers spread apart and awesome tunes!

[@James-eg3nf]

I saw a perfect example of this in application - there’s a documentary on making of Metallica’s Black Album where the sound engineers had James Hetfield sing in a booth with two monitors wired in opposite phase so that the mic would only pick up his voice. He was having trouble wearing headphones for some reason. It was truly mind blowing how this worked.

[@LRK-GT]

I've felt headphones change my head shape, and damage hair follicles. I'm going to have to play with this, someday.

[@davidrobertson1980]

Actually if you wire your headphones backwards and out of phase with the earth's magnetic field, it causes and aluminum foil hat to grow right out of your head between the hairs, this is fed from the years and years of using underarm deodorants and taking excessive jabs (those "j's" especially as hey go right to the brain which is in close proximity) to the "hat" growing area! Napoleon Hill was experimenting with this, you can tell from his pictures, even tho b&w.... you can see the tell tale peak starting to grow - this is probably WHY his book *"Stink and Grow Rich" was transcribed to cassettes later on :P (*Written after "Think" due to people who avoided the deodorants to stop "hat growth")

[@DanEvans-f8f]

Called "balancing phase-shifts"

[@You-can-fix-it-yourself]

The inverse wiring can be tailored to a room. If you hold dinner parties and want background music, but not so that it overcomes conversation, then put your stereo speakers behind the furniture, but wire one backwards. The people seated can hear the music, but the people standing cannot (or significantly reduced). Also, putting a microphone in your car, and playing the inverse wave back over the speakers will soften the road noise. Great video.

[@jokerwetter4066]

Noise cancellation in a car I love the idea

[@ronaldhillhouse8860]

We used a battery to figure out the polarity of the speakers;when trouble shooting a previous installation. A dead give away is solid bass when turned to one channel or the other, but when balanced no bass out of either indicates inverted polarity on one or more speakers depending upon setup. Our shop used to troubleshoot a lot of other shops work. Motor noise used to be a huge issue for some shops.

[@khy6330]

There is a fascinating explanation within this video (starting at 5:02) of constructive/destructive interference in wave patterns using sound waves instead of the typical light waves. Well done.

[@azy6868]

When you listen to the initial hit of a kick drum there is a definite change of sound and feel with a single speaker wired with reverse polarity. Especially with a PA sub system that covers the 25Hz range. If everything is wired correctly you should feel the air hitting your chest. If the sub polarity is reversed then the kick drum completely loses it's impact. This because the first positive peak of the sine wave is the largest and sound pressure waves in compression have better projection than ratification of sound waves.

[@konstantinpalkin2177]

Absolutely correct. I was going to post similar comment. If that would be no difference at all then drummer can put his kick pedal in front of bass drum and play that way. But nobody ever played such way in a music history for obvious reason. You need LF sound kick to propagate toward audience. However I agree that it would be no difference in mid and high freq ranges.

[@juniorsilvabroadcast]

very important !

[@galacticminx]

This. Difference between a pressure wave and a lack of pressure wave.

[@keithmoriyama5421]

If that were remotely true JBL would have never wired their bass drivers reverse polarity.

[@dirtydirk69]

@@keithmoriyama5421 😂

[@CubeEarthTheory]

I'm a retired mobile electronics installer of over 40 years. About 50% of systems installed by "professionals" are out of phase.

[@MTRX2011]

i was taught this about 30yrs ago from some sound engineers for both studio and live situations. there's also been several articles in guitar magazine about this because especially important to the life of your gear and what's going to go on record. the last interview i read about this was from one of the sound engineers who worked on crew for Jimmy Hendrix on tour. it is as follows: when you wires your speakers backwards your cones hit in reverse. the initial blast from the speaker, i.e. that first vibration should always be the cone pushing outwards to deliver that first hit. when you wire them backwards the cones take a breath instead. i.e. pull in instead of pushing forward. that's going to affect the sound quality and volume of your session and speakers. if you got several amps going and one is in reverse, your phase is going to be messed up. it won't be something crazy like a full cancellation but your signals won't be balanced. over time, if the speakers are wired in reverse, the initial hit from your speakers will lead to damage from always sucking in at first instead of blowing outwards.

[@jamesm90]

That last bit is wrong. The coil and therefore cone excursion is held in an equilibrium and the availability of excursions in and out are the same therefore there is not any damage to the speaker that sucks in first. It does that hundreds or thousands of times, a second anyway.

[@TiqueO6]

@@jamesm90 I wonder if damping circuits are expecting specific phase on the initial signal and could that have something to do with whether or not the damping is effective on the first impulse? I suppose this would be most of the concern for powerful low and very low end signals like sub-bass since now we're concerned with these things down to 5 CPSand such

[@HASSANA-n3n]

Thank you for explaining. I now finally know WHY speakers have magnets and WHAT happens if I wired them backwards! :D

[@tonydoggett7627]

When I worked on cars as a Auto Electrician in late 80’s. So many cars had owner installed stereo’s with no regard to polarity! I could hear the dullness and fixed many.

[@firecloud77]

There is one case in which connecting stereo speakers in reverse polarity is a GOOD thing. The best imaging and sound stage is acquired by placing a twin set of tweeters and midrange drivers on the outside of your main speakers and wiring them to the opposite channel in reverse polarity to cancel crosstalk. That's how the Polk Audio SDA's work.

[@luvr381]

I found your comment after I posted mine.

[@ewwitsantonio]

I've said it before but I'll say it again: you are an incredible teacher!

[@AudioUniversity]

Thank you!

[@davidmacphee3549]

I'm Subbed now. You bring back old memories.@@AudioUniversity

[@donaldmasucci326]

Years ago when speakers didn't give polarity we used to put them face to face about a half inch apart and reverse the wires on one. Which ever way sounded better is the way you would leave it. We called it putting them in the same phase.

[@michaelhansen6141]

To some people this video may be useless if I read the comments but let me tell you, not so long ago I've bought a very expensive home entertainment system with pretty decent sound. I had a get together with some buddies and wanted to show off my new set so I disconnected the complete system to play it outside and had a little help from one of my oh so helpful buddies. Eventually everything was connected and when it was time to play, I could only hear the mids and treble but the base was virtually non existing. With two subwoofers connected I looked like a total fool. When doing fault finding we quickly realised that the guy who connected the subs did the wrong way around, not following the colour code. So yes, very important to take note of and this is a very good video for the younger generation starting their sound journey. 💯👌

[@smonkwad]

i once connected a cheap microphone to the phone using xlr to 3.5mm aux and it used it as a speaker, i was so blown away.

[@Bassotronics]

A little car audio story.. I was testing two subwoofers. I place one in the trunk and one on the back seat. They were sounding loud higher than 50hz but weak below 50Hz. ( Had them wired inverted) Then when inverted the polarity (back to normal), they did the opposite, they sounded weak higher than 50Hz but louder under 50Hz. With that said, speaker placement is crucial thus all frequencies travel at different wavelengths as well as the environment they are placed in. I was kind of in "awe" when I heard the high frequencies sound louder when there were out of phase at the position they were in. But mind you the bass frequencies were creating nodes and other issues when inverted. So keeping them in phase is always the best idea UNLESS you are doing some weird experiment like I did.

[@defenestrated23]

This is true that there should be no audible difference when your DAC, amp, and speaker are all operating linearly. However, in practice there are nonlinearities and biases in all these systems. I would imagine it would be easier to A/B test polarity inversion on cheaper systems or at very high sound pressure levels.

[@TheRumpletiltskin]

i "hear" the difference in the snare, but honestly i think it's more about feeling it. the pressure difference in a speaker pushing the note vs pulling the note into existence. sound waves are just a transfer of energy from one object to your eardrum. under normal conditions, the eardrum is pushed first, then pulled by the sound made by the speaker, where as with inverted phase the eardrum is being pulled first, then pushed by the soundwave produced by the speaker, and i think that subtle difference is what people are noticing.

[@hughobyrne2588]

Kind of like the same effect as a fan - there's strong directed flow out of the front, but no strong directed flow into the back?

[@wally7856]

A snare is usually tuned to ~ 170 hz so that initial "pull" is only 0.0029 seconds (2.9 milliseconds) long before there is a "push" and the cycle repeats.

[@Munakas-wq3gp]

I'm fairly sure you hear placebo. It makes no difference to a speaker whether it starts the waveform this or that way.

[@Munakas-wq3gp]

@@hughobyrne2588 No, a fan does not produce a waveform (unless you have a rotary subwoofer). A speaker does not blow air like a fan. The only time you feel air move is when you have a vented sub where air starts to move relatively fast or a horn speaker playing bass at loud volume. But since sound is a waveform, there is no front or back per se, it varies like AC varies in electric grid. Doesn't matter which way you put the plug in.

[@TheRumpletiltskin]

@@Munakas-wq3gp that is true, a speaker doesn't care, but your inner ear does.

[@dudleyrathborne9849]

Thank you for a simple and understandable demenstration . I've always been very careful when hooking up my speakers correctly . Just never knew how important the audio results would be ...........DGR

[@steffenketels180]

This is something i love about beeing an electrician and make 3-Phase electronics and meassuring sine waves so intersting. At the End of it all, it makes Motors turn.

[@Unknown-RARE]

It mean it make noise cancellation 6:39

[@kramoogle]

WAOW... the quality of your content is impressive 😄 So sharp and clear, I love it !

[@Jawst]

2024 and most of us are still listening to mono audio😂

[@Hausedj2]

Why though

[@PatJones82]

Awesome Video! You did a great job of explaining and clarifying! Demonstrations and visuals were spot on. Well done sir, and thanks!

[@rosauroruz2928]

Very clear sir,,I didn't knew that,except that when speakers wire is reverse,the sounds not centered and separated to properly polarized speakers,,that's why polarity is very important in wiring speakers..

[@marco.castiglia]

the music gets played in reverse

[@thehallsofvalhalla2788]

They start speaking Spanish

[@CatzHTU]

ñ

[@Hello_-_-_-_]

Yes

[@Nikotinbetyar]

Guandooooooooo

[@imstupid880]

Man spent 7 minutes explaining ANC

[@randolphpatterson5061]

Not all speaker terminals are color-coded for polarity correctly, and some speaker terminals have no polarity markings at all. If you have a speaker and don't know which terminals are which, use a (weak/mostly-discharged) 9V battery and briefly connect the speaker to it. When the cone pushes forward (toward the listener), it means the positive terminal is connected to the battery's positive terminal. Knowing this, you can now mark the positive terminal with a red marker for future reference. I hope this helps.

[@052RC]

There's an easier way. Play a recording that has a strong vocal center image. If the voice is coming from in between the speakers, its good. If not, the voice will be coming from one of the side walls. When you get a chance, try it. You'll hear the effect instantly.

[@microk7648]

perfect delivery, my friend

[@sidsuperstar]

Thank you very much for taking the time making this video….it is appreciated

[@MechanicalTriage]

Heard the difference right away. Running subs out of phase makes the timing off just enough to emphasize the bass notes and makes audio much cleaner.

[@EnglishPalette]

Excellent explanation!

[@phttxhrry]

reverse polarity also fun to test if different plugins do the same with same settings, or to achieve same results using just slightly different settings

[@vulpesinculta3478]

I heard a very slight difference in the snares, but that could just be bc I was expecting to hear a slight difference. This video is very informative, thank you

[@miketayse]

Nice clear explanation, thanks!

[@notathang8087]

I really liked you on 3rd Rock from the Sun, Gordon 😂 j/k great video.

[@klpittman1]

Discovered noise cancelling microphones in the mid 70's while working with CB radios. Used a similar effect to cancel out noise but you had to speak directly into the microphone. Tilting it 15 or 20 degrees in any direction effectively cancelled out the user as well as the background noise.

[@SERAVIVA]

I'm running 1992 JBL Monitor 4208s (with aftermarket woofers) and can tell the difference from A and B. They're some of the best studio monitors even by modern standards, and the bass sounds more centered on track B versus more left on track A.

[@finallyitsed2191]

Hence, a great example of noise cancelation. This was a very well done video, thanks!

[@xn7331]

This is something I've never really even thought about although I essentially knew what the effect would be but I'm glad this video was suggested to me, nonetheless. Very well done and interesting topic! Fantastic visualization and explanation

[@sudazima]

i knew what to listen to and i very much could hear a clear difference, esp the bass is lesser/wierd sounding

[@davidellison6571]

I had misconceptions. Thanks for the correction!

[@vayzeria]

Basic but good info. I really like your channel. It helps me a lot to develop a better understanding to my mixes and what im doing and not going on a "gut feeling". I'm a new follower and just wondering if you have anything on RMS,dbfs,dbu and VU that are explained in context to compressors, EQ, routing/busses e.t.c. I terms of what to/how to plan ahead to keep a good volume and signal throughout your mix? (Really hope i've made the question weird😂 the question in short summary. 👉 How to keep a good volume from recording, disregarding, analog or virtual to mix/mastering. And not to lose dynamics or "pressure". Thanks in advance and keep up the good work /Patrik👍🤘😊

[@Hypershell]

This honestly makes me feel better about repurposing speakers without clear labels on the wiring to a new receiver. They say the positive usually has dashes or text. Well, I had dashes on one wire and text on the other. Took my chances with dashes on positive, and made sure to keep it consistent.

[@omarjassar4650]

Wiring the speakers opposite will give you a wider perception of the sound , THX did a kinda similar thing in the rear channels but instead of reversing one signal they have both sides constantly phase-shifting

[@noelaruldas1152]

Thank you very much for your demonstration and explanation!

[@zapcos80]

When working with passive crossovers, phase can have an effect on staging.

[@DoYouLoveTheSilverHairedGod]

There are times when reversing polarity is a good thing. I have an SQ build in my car right now with a 3 way set up up front and my midrange are reversed polarity compared to my mid bass and tweeters. It helped me achieve a brighter “center stage” .

[@4everascending511]

Thank you. I didn't know that. I have an old 5.1 surround sound and I reversed the polarity of one speaker and in improved the sound from left to right. The cable doesn't have any markings whatsoever for me to check what is right or left.. no colors or anything. I hadn't even considered the possibility of having wired some speakers the opposite way.

[@marimarmarimar25]

Well explained! It's about adding waves. Thanks!

[@williamjones7821]

Thank you, yes. I'm currently (November 2024) in the process of upgrading my car stereo (2002 Saturn) with an aftermarket SONY head unit. I'm paying careful attention to get positive and negative wires hooked up correctly to the speakers. When I'm finished, I'll put in my "test CD" of sounds released by DENON years ago (including IN PHASE and OUT OF PHASE sounds). I'm sure I'll notice the difference.

[@WhiskeyGulf71]

Back in the days of Hi-Fi I had a reasonable Kenwood separates setup & the amp was wired to four speakers in parallel on two channels, they were situated in pairs, so two towers of speakers. I observed that if I reversed the polarity to one of the speakers of each channel the music had a deeper bass sound.

[@holtsvillehal8616]

Excellent, Excellent video...your visual displays are perfect. Now Tweeters what ones are best to replace in DJ Speakers using 200 AMP

[@sickhead93]

I did this experiment a few years ago and found that if you connect all speakers the wrong way, that is all negative are connected to positive and all positive to negative, the system plays excellent. Once one speaker is connected differently, the cancellation starts.

[@hightechhamzahammad6685]

6:14 Fun fact: This is actually how noise cancelation works on headphones, microphones take the sound, and play an inverted version of it in the same ms (some may have a delay if it is a lower end headset)

[@LoneWolfZ]

The best argument I have heard for monaural polarity is regarding long excursions for bass drums. the theory is that a bass kick needs to go outwards because that is where the speaker cove is strongest and most efficiently moves air for that single pulse. it does make sense. Well, it makes more sense than anything else I have heard.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

This is related to how you can detect subtle differences in different versions of an audio recording: You reverse the polarity of one and layer it on top of the other and look at what's left over.

[@elfboi523]

When you wire one bass driver normally and the other one inversed, you can use isobaric push-pull coupling to make them behave like one with double the stiffness. You either mount them cone-to-cone inside a cube-shaped box with a bass reflex tube for an opening, or you can use a big short tube as your bass box and put the speakers on both end facing outwards.

[@keithmassie]

I have wondered why speakers were polar marked. Now I understand a lot more!

[@THELONIOUSMONstertrucK]

Cut and dry, excellent tutorial.

[@the6r]

Greetings, I'll be brief. The reason it's important to "+" > "+", and "-" > "-", is the same reason folks said they can hear the difference; AND you even touched on it - the snare sample. The sample begins with a high POSITIVE peak and the rest is comprised of harmonics and decay. The speakers responsible for reproducing that particular sound (if everything is wired correctly... beginning with microphones) will produce a positive excursion of the speaker cone. If the cone (reverse wired) moved "away" from the listener at impact it would create a different affect on the medium (air) and sound different. A trained ear (musician, conductor, producer) could tell the difference. I used to be able to 😏 What it boils down to is the ALL drivers in a reproduction environment must travel in the same direction at the same time. Time is critically important to minimize any phase differentials. Be Well. ...and yes, that WAS "brief" - trust me...

[@Stueffell]

Such a great video and really informative in a short amount of time 👍

[@Braindizruptor]

the fact hes using Reaper makes me happy

[@staiain]

I actually have reversed the polarity of my high end speakers, because i noticed a phase issue with my active subwoofer's internal crossover even if i use the preset that was made for the exact speakers i have. Not sure if this is caused by using balanced to a power amp for my speakers and rca for subwoofer, or if it's just my room being weird. but i've never had any issue this way. Glad I don't have to worry about this