The Battery Test-REDUX

[boputnam]

I checked the .pdf link in your post, and on pg 2 , under "Studio Monitors", it clearly states: All 4300 Series models (except models 4311 and 4312L, R) are negative. This includes the 4343's in question.

Ah, that is correct. I saw the 4312 but was looking for the 4343, exactly - my error. We gigged until 4am, I'm kinda groggy... Regardless, this does not mean that a home user needs to do anything of the sort you are recommending - it simply does not matter.

As a musician since age 8, and an audiophile since my teens, I can percieve absolute polarity...

I find that amazing. Not that you started music at so late an age , but that you can perceive absolute polarity. I cannot see how you can do this (unless your ear drum does something splendiferous during the negative phase in the sine wave) - but I will not engage in arguing this myth.

I realize that I am in the minority in this matter.

OTOH, just about anyone can hear polarity problems in a complex system, and let's face it, home audio systems are complicated anymore.

In that we agree. But, invstbker does not have a "polarity" problem. His cabinets are consistent, and it does not matter whether he connects them both (+) system output to Red, or your backwards way. They will sound the same.

My old JBL/Urei 6290 has TRS tip + and XLR pin 3+, as verified in the manual. This was a nuisance when I used it with my Rane AC22B crossover at home to drive subs.

Always good to check the manual. And I wouldn't use a Rane anything - that I CAN hear - but that's just me...

And just last year, I scored an ebay deal on a pair of Monster Cable XLR to 1/4" balanced cables only to find that they were factory made with tip to pin 3 and ring to pin 2.

Maybe that's why they were a deal? JK

So, the problem still comes up every now and then.

It always does, that's why we're discussing this again.

The QSC's that have Neutrik combo jacks do not suffer this polarity problem

That's why I suggested a more correct reference, rather than mislead about QSC. Some were made that way; they no longer are for maybe 10-years. All the QSC's I use have XLR inputs, btw.

Forgive me, but I am a consistency fanatic, and to me, right is right. It's simpler that way.

Cool, but just so long as you state it that way, and don't propogate myth. It only matters in specific cases.

have concluded that it is important to conform to the "standard" and that any "non-standard" items should be connected appropriately i.e. make the change at their connection point to get in sync with the world.

Dunno - if it were me, in that picture you show, I would have chaged the wiring on the CV's - there were fewer of them...

[Rudy Kleimann]

I just PM'd you Bo. Enjoy the read!

I only addressed what I knew the QSC's were up to with the cable arrangement we were using. Gotta play the cards I'm dealt.
You are exactly right about ...specific cases... the really important thing is that the drivers in the cabinets are hooked up properly, and that the two cabinets are being driven in phase with each other.

Actually, the cabinets weren't a problem- all the JBL cabinets pictured are of Positive polar convention at the cabinet input terminals, as were the Vegas. JBL's factory wiring changed polarity as needed inside the cabinet at the crossover and/or input jacks, and color-coded the internal wiring to match the drivers' terminals. IOW, the battery test revealed that all the cabinets were positive, JBL's and Vegas.

What I did was permanently attach the speaker cables to the amp terminals with the phasing right for all. We rolled the cables up into the rack at the end of the gig. What used to take 1/2 hour in hunting for speaker and input cables (and inevitably having one or two that were bad) became a 5-minute walk in the park that always worked. One long cable to the snake box, one 120V pigtail to a 10Gauge extension cord from the Pwr. Distro, and four fan-tailed multi-conductor cables to the speakers. Maybe once a year I would have to fix a cable, at which time I would just re-do the ends on all of them as a matter of course.

[boputnam]

I just PM'd you Bo. Enjoy the read!

I did!

Glad to know another knob farmer! Now get out there and keep practicing!!

[Rudy Kleimann]

Oh yeah, one other thing: I've heard Rane gear dissed here before , but I can promise you they sound a helluva lot better than the DBX223's you see in that amp rack I used to run...

The Ashlys do sound nice, I must admit. Just haven't swooped a deal up on any to call my own.

[boputnam]

...haven't swooped a deal up on any to call my own.

So much gear - so little time...