Correct Way to Invert Phase

This CD includes tests/tracks that will tell anyone interested, whether they can discern reversed phase, in their room, on their system, with their ears:            https://cheskyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chesky-records-jazz-sampler-audiophile-test-vol-1            That some can’t doesn’t mean others won’t.

mijostyn

With my system I can invert phase on either channel or both at the same time all by remote control from the listening position. With both speakers in phase and switching them together not one of you would be able to tell inverted from not and anyone who thinks they can is______(fill in the blank.)

I have no reason to doubt that is true with your system. Are you suggesting it would be true with all systems?

I have a Mark Levinson No. 32 preamp (on loan to a friend) that allows for inverting polarity by remote control.  On most tracks, I cannot reliably hear a difference.  On some, there is a preferable polarity, on others, one instrument will sound better, but another one or the vocalist suffers (there is no guarantee with multi-track recordings that the polarity is consistent throughout the recording).  I concluded that it did not matter enough for me to drive myself nuts doing a track-by-track evaluation (different tracks on the same album may have a different preferable setting).

There are test CDs that will present the same track with  different polarity so that you can hear the effect for yourself.  The Chesky Jazz sampler is the one I have.  Chesky is very meticulous with their recordings, so, they are good for such testing of subtle effects.  

We've had a polarity switch on our preamps since their inception in 1989. IME you can really only hear a minor difference if you have a 2 or 3 mic recording; anything multitracked or multimiked will sound the same in either polarity.

My CDP and phono stage both have phase reversal switches.     The very few recordings I own, that exhibit a change in presentation with a change in phase, are marked.        With those; the effects are obvious.