How important is the AC phase to your connected equipment?
And while we're on the subject, what about the actual audio signal itself? Swap red and black on your speaker cables or press "phase" on your preamp's remote control and what differences do you hear?
Absolute polarity has been at the forefront of controversial items for many years. Most folks would say correct polarity matters on the speaker side, but on the AC side?
Let's start with the speaker side. If I listen to my system and press phase as it is playing, I can pretty easily identify the differences I am hearing. With the signal out of proper polarity, there seems to be a loss of immediacy and energy. The whack of a drum or the snap of a finger isn't as present when the polarity is askew.
The same doesn't seem to apply on the AC side of things. Try as I might; swapping AC polarity doesn't impact sound quality, as far as I can tell.
I suppose much of this doesn't really matter. In most parts of the world AC polarity is fixed by the type of AC connector. In Europe, for example, it would take a soldering iron and wire snips to change the polarity of the AC.
I do get asked these questions a lot, but for now, I suspect it's probably time to put this one to bed.
It's been a long day.
