Polarity of speaker drivers

glai,

Not by 90% of listeners, no. There are some who claim to be able to hear this difference, and I cannot prove if they can or cannot. All I can say is I most definitely cannot.

What all listeners could hear is if the drivers are not matched properly. Take a look at the second graph on this page:

http://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2016/05/lm-1-bookshelf-measurements.html

You'll see a severe dip that happens when the tweeter is inverted from normal. It's quite audible.


Best,

Erik

What is more important is that BOTH speakers are wired with the same polarity.  You would be surprised at how many speakers are shipped with mismatch in polarity.

@glai This is potentially a huge issue. Yes, MANY designs do this and some argue that it's because the result is potentially better measurements which in turn look better in magazine reviews, and result in higher sales. Others would say that the most common configuration, midrange reversed from tweeter and woofer in a 3way, results in increased air & ambience. 
I am in the camp that thinks it's great to test it both ways and trust your ears. More often than not, I prefer the sound with all drivers in polarity. Of course, this is easier to test on some speakers more than others. For example, the Nolas and Alons that I've owned included tri-wiring so it was simple to just swap leads for the reversed driver. Doing so on a pair of 5 ways with internal crossover is a huge PITA! 
A good friend of mine and audio tech carries a "Cricket" polarity tester with test CD everywhere he goes. I've seen him shock & delight over a dozen system owners by getting their drivers in polarity. 
@brf makes a good point too. QA needs to be held to a higher standard. Cheers,
Spencer

Some speaker companies (like Vandersteen and the old Thiel) stake their design philosophy on the premise that these time domain issues are crucial.  Listen to those designs yourself and see what you think.  I'm a Vandersteen guy, so you know where I stand.

Full range headphones, using a single driver without a crossover for all frequencies, can tell us what a loudspeaker should sound like, at least in amplitude and temporal terms. So do some planar speakers, such as the Eminent Technology LFT-8b, which has a single driver reproducing 180Hz to 10kHz, without a crossover in that range. The x/o at 180Hz to a dynamic woofer, and at 10kHz to a ribbon tweeter, are both 1st order-6dB/octave, just as in Vandersteen designs.