panel polarity reversed for nearfield listening?

[JohnA]

Stereophile have now put their Sequel review on the web:
http://stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/889mlseq/index.html

It is an interesting observation in the very last page, where the sound is better in nearfield conditions with the panel polarity reversed, while in larger rooms it is better with panel/bass polarity settings as standard.

Anyone here has experimented with this?

 

[VanDaRo]

I saw that review too. But it is apparent that it is a very old article... like from 1989 when the Sequel II was first introduced, so in many ways it is not the same speaker that I have. The tip-offs were the woofer construction and bass cut switch on the back.

Mine are built in December of 1994 and incorporate many changes. The bass switch evolved to "flat/+2dB", the woofer is completely different and the power supply came with the music sensing feature that powers down the stators...so the high voltage interface and crossovers may be completely reworked. I will not be mucking around with my woofer phasing.

~VDR

 

[JohnA]

Mine are SL3s, so different still.

But maybe that doesn't alter the principle of panel/woofer polarity for near/farfield response.
I am actually listening in nearfield conditions to a large extent, so could be relevant.

It's not hard to swap the connections of both panels (or woofers) - the hardest thing in my view is to get an unbiased opinion (placebo )