Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems DSP power polarity?

Hi all,

I wonder if there is general rule in determining the power polarity for the DSP speakers (Hot, Earth & Neutral). As I understand it, wrong power polarity could affect SQ.

Should I use my ears and polarity measuring equipment to determine this, or is it like already pre-determined like This across all Meridian gears.

Thank You.

I would respectfully suggest in the interest of safety M power cords are used as supplied, this must be true for all markets supplied by Meridian.

Hector

Cujo,
The polarity of the power coming out of your wall socket will not matter. A very early stage of any amp/preamp/DAC/DSP speaker's power supply is a diode bridge that "rectifies" the power, effectively folding the two phases into one.

On the other hand, a mis-wired AC wall socket can be dangerous if not wired properly (and I've seen this happen in a lot of older homes. To test for this, your local hardware store will have a small, inexpensive tester. Just tell them you want to test your electrical wall sockets, and they'll point you to the right device.

I use the van den Hul polarity checker but can't say I hear any difference since I am on Sooloos and DSP. I did have positive-ish results in the past when I had my 502, 557 and Maggies.

Worthwhile to note that with our type wall plugs in Netherlands it is easy to change polarity, it is different with UK and grounded Belgium plugs.

Anyhow, it can be worthwhile to test polarity if it bothers you, then it is out of your mind.

Thank you all for the comments.

I live in Korea where the wall plug is round shape, so it is possible to swap polarity. I can see why this is not an issue in some countries, due to unchangable wall plug (square) shape, but this is a considerable issue from where I am from.

I guess best way is to test them with equipment and my ears to decide which way I need to plug my power cord to the round shape wall plug.

If the Korean standard is two prongs, that means that one is from the center-tap of the electrical provider's transformer. That prong will also be grounded.

It is irrelevant which of the prong feeds into which end of the diode bridge since they are merged at both outputs of the bridge.

I'm not against audio-system tweaks at all, and definitely believe that a good AC system helps, but I'd be extra-super skeptical of any company claiming that AC POLARITY can make any difference at all so long as the house wiring follows code.

I thought that South Korean and other markets used Schuko Plug connections. Is it possible to have a polarity issue with these? I was under the impression it didn't matter with pin went into which hole, by design?

Unless you are talking about the plug itself?

Hey Yetis..

That is the right plug, so it can be rotated 180 degrees when I plug in the power cord on a wall, resulting in oppposite polariy fead to the equipment (earth is always same)

Apart from possible change in SQ, would opposite polarity fed to the equipment effect anything in terms of durability and stability on the power supply and the electronic borad in my DSP? would be my bigger concern.

Thanx

It's AC, so the polarity reverses 60 times every second. The power supply won't care about power line polarity. And the input side of your power transformer (the first significant item in the power supply) is a single coiled wire, so the placement of ground on one prong or another won't matter.