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My tonearm must be wired out of phase

I have always had a slight channel imbalance with 2 cartridges and 2 phono stages.  The right channel always played slightly louder than the left and the sound stage leaned that way also, more center and right with the left stage almost nonexistent.  The meters on my monoblock amps also indicated less output on the left channel.

After switching the cartridge leads everything snapped into focus.  Full soundstage, 3 dimensional, amp meters equal and test record pink noise indicates equal balance as well.  My tonearm is a Basis Vector 4 with a captive cable.  Somewhere in the chain the wires must be crossed...that’s all I can come up with.  Anyone had this experience?  
pops

Showing 1 response by lewm

lewm
12,454 posts
 
 There are two very different ways in which a stereo system can be wired out of phase. In the first case, one channel is 180° out of phase with the other. This produces some dramatic negative effects, imaging is damaged severely, and it’s just quite noticeable. In the second case, both channels are wired in the same phase with respect to each other, but the phase of the system is 180° different from the phase with which the material was recorded. Frankly, I have never been able to hear that second difference in my system, perhaps because I use dipolar  electrostatic speakers. However, there are golden ears who claim that system phase makes a great deal of difference to them. Nevertheless, this second sort of phase issue is unlikely to have anything to do with your observation because it’s quite subtle, at most..

So please tell us exactly what you mean when you say you “switched cartridge leads”. Thanks.
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