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Switching polarity of tweeter in two-way design

In order to align the time&phase of the tweeter to the woofer in a two-way design, is it a common practice to switch the polarity of the tweeter so that it is slightly delay in time? It would be similar to having the baffle slanted at a small angle.

I think it is done on the ProAc 2.5 and probably on some of the DIY two way speakers
andy2

Showing 2 responses by jeffreybehr

jeffreybehr's avatar
jeffreybehr
805 posts
 
The tweeter is wired 'backwards' not to time-align anything but to 'offset' the response spike that occurs in most 2-ways if the tweeter is not reverse-wired. I don't pretend to understand it, but the result is to NONtime-align the system.
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jeffreybehr's avatar
jeffreybehr
805 posts
 
"For real-world listening, polarity of the tweeter does not seem to make a lot of difference. Best idea is to try it both ways."

I don't disagree with that, but understand the effect of reversing the tweeter leads from their original backwards orientation. Reversing the tweeter will create a small up-peak in response in the midrange/tweeter crossover region, this ocurring usually around 2.5KHz. I suppose you'd hear that occasionally as added presence or brightness (or maybe 'detail').

What I don't understand is why the designers don't simply pull the crossover frequencies apart to eliminate the spike. But I guess that simply shows how much I don't know.
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