Speaker phase observation and question?

Polarity is absolute; + or -, phase angle varies as a function of the frequency. Completely different concepts.

Polarity should not make that much difference. Unless you go one speaker reversed polarity and the other normal. 

That said - you are deaf in one ear.  In those with full hearing the brain does a lot of processing using BOTH ears - perhaps you are experiencing more masking from bass frequencies in one polarity vs the other because you only hear with one ear.

Hi Guys,  most of you know that I've been building speakers for 35 + years... Overall this is a great thread..
I noticed a couple of comments of phase angles.. Kalali mentioned that they are very different.
Phase angles show us how current rides with the voltage within the speaker... if current rides in front of or behind the voltage, you will see the large rises or dips in phase angles. So the phase angle changes how a speaker sees power...
Phase/polarity is important in the sense of keeping your individual drivers moving in unison... when a speaker is 180 degrees out of phase,  one driver has complete excursion moving outward and another driver has complete excursion moving inward. 
In theory when designing a crossover,  6db per octave gives you 90 degrees out of phase, 12db produces 180 degrees out of phase, 18db per octave produces 270 degrees out of phase and 24db per octave produces 360 degrees or full circle back in phase.
The most used crossover (which I don't use at all) is 12/12 slopes,  that means that the slopes between 2 drivers is 12db up from the woofer or mid to the tweeter and 12db down from the tweeter... Again, in theory, this is 180 degrees out of phase.  A designer can simply switch polarity and bring phase/polarity back into alignment.  A ton of things go into a design so that basic theory is not absolute,  but this is an accurate look at the theory behind speaker phase/polarity. 
I hope this little explanation helps, 
Tim

Tim, thanks for another of your always valuable inputs about speaker design.  Regarding:

In theory when designing a crossover, 6db per octave gives you 90 degrees out of phase, 12db produces 180 degrees out of phase, 18db per octave produces 270 degrees out of phase and 24db per octave produces 360 degrees or full circle back in phase.

I believe this theoretical model assumes that the impedances of the drivers themselves are purely resistive, and of course they are not.  Is that the basic reason why the phase angles of a speaker's impedance, as shown for example in John Atkinson's measurements in Stereophile, typically vary up and down over the frequency range by several tens of degrees, and swing between negative (capacitive) phase angles and positive (inductive) phase angles at various frequencies?

Thanks again.  Best regards,
-- Al
 

I really again, suggest anyone who wants to learn more would do so with the LM-1 simulation files. You can review the frequency, electrical and acoustic phase of the drivers by themselves, and then see how the crossover adds to it.

Best,


E