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Thread: help me understand this.....phase vs polarity

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    help me understand this.....phase vs polarity

    I had a discussion with a fellow member about phase, and polarity yesterday. We were discussing 180° phase shifts, and how it sounded different in my car than polarity swaps. He said they were identical, I didn't believe it because they sound totally different in my car. I explained that when installing my midbasses that I had to have the polarity right in order to get bass, when the polarity was opposite, I got cancellation, but after getting polarity correct, I could shift phase 180° and not get cancellation. It would just "detach" the sound from the drivers, and reduce localization. He insisted they were one and the same, and I had no arhuement to offer other than they sound different. After our discussion, I pictured a sine wave, and started to se where he was coming from.....holy shit that makes sense, but I still new the sound was different. That lead to a Google search, and this.........

    http://totalproaudio.stevebunting.co...e-or-polarity/

    Now this told me I was correct with my origional statement, and told me why they sounded different......but, I still don't have my head around explaining to someone the difference between the two. Now I probably should have gotten this from the link above, but its giving my head fits, I realize that they look the same in a sine wave, but the phase comes from delay.......but I can't put it together.......any of you guys care to break it down in layman's terms for me? Why no cancellation when it looks the same on an o-scope? I need some help with this!
    Last edited by BigAl205; 08-29-2013 at 12:27 PM. Reason: Clarified title

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    Big Daddy chad's Avatar
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    Re: help me understand this.....

    How did you shift the phase 180 degrees?

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    Re: help me understand this.....

    With the dsp in my head unit......

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    Big Daddy chad's Avatar
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    Re: help me understand this.....

    Methinks your headunit is inverting polarity also..... Not shifting phase.

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    Woobooster WOOSEY's Avatar
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    Re: help me understand this.....

    Most dsp's flip polarity, even if phase is mentioned...

    Is it correct to say?:

    Polarity flips the entire signal ( frequency independent ) without time being a factor.
    Phaseshift is a shift in time and is frequency dependent.( because every frequency has a different wavelength )

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    Woobooster WOOSEY's Avatar
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    Re: help me understand this.....


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    Re: help me understand this.....

    I was thinking about this stuff the other day, I had to stop because I shorted out my last remaining brain cell. Throw time alignment in the mix if you want some extra fun.

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    Re: help me understand this.....

    I was needing some input, I don't think my head unit is flipping polarity, because it sounds way different than a manual polarity swap......with a manaul polarity swap
    I get major cancellation, when switching phase on my headunit....no cancellation. Anyways, I still couldn't explain the difference between 180° phase shift, and a polarity swap......other than the way they wind up looking the same on a sine......phase by delay, polarity by inversion.....

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    Woobooster WOOSEY's Avatar
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    Re: help me understand this.....

    What do you want to achieve? Or just curiousity?

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