Two questions: did I explain this mysterious button's operation correctly and what piece of Adcom gear do you have that I should try to find and buy next?

@devononair

6 ай бұрын

Incorrect. Polarity is not a reversal of left and right. It's a reversal of positive and negative. Consider your speaker cables. What you did by switching red and white was the same as switching the cable from the left speaker with the cable from the right speaker. However, reversing polarity would mean switching the positive and negative strands of one speaker. If you do this, then one speaker would be moving out when the other is moving in, and therefore they are out of phase. The audio result is usually a loss of bass. However, I don't see how the CD player's button would solve a problem like this, unless it reverses the polarity of just one channel of audio, perhaps? Some pro music equipment has this switch, as does my REL subwoofer. If you turn on the sub and can't hear any bass, you flick the switch and boom, suddenly it's now in phase with the speakers. I also used it on stage once. I was playing bass, and I guess something was wired up wrong somewhere, because I couldn't really hear my amp. Again, I hit the polarity switch and the bass appeared. It's pretty useful!

@devononair

6 ай бұрын

I have a suggestion for a video. Following your review of that tiny amp (can't remember the name), perhaps you could answer the question of "why are hi-fi separates so large? I was just asked this question and couldn't quite articulate the answer, and it would make an interesting video to learn what's going on in these large boxes and why there needs to be so much space in there (even if the answer is just "so they all match... lol")

From the Adcom GCD-600 Owners Manual in regards to the Polarity Button.... "This control is used to reverse the normal positive out-going output signal of the GCD-600 to a negative or inverted output signal. The LED in the center of the button will glow whenever the negative , inverted signal is selected. Whenever the GCD-600 is turned on, the positive polarity will automatically be selected, even if the reverse polarity has been selected when the unit was turned off. The function has the potential to improve the sound quality on certain discs depending on how they were recorded. Experimentation on your different discs will reveal which if any show this positive effect." So in plain english, it's a placebo button because they had to put something there....

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I read that as well, which is what confused me even more when I engaged the button and couldn't hear a difference, lol! Thanks for the comment!

@moonytheloony6516

Жыл бұрын

@@ForeverAnalog I put it up there just in case someone else buys this particular CD changer and is perplexed by that silly button. Please update us, perhaps a month or two down the road on how you like the ADCOM GCD-600 regarding it's built-in DAC by comparing it to an external DAC and overall sound quality. Over a year ago I researched what was considered the greatest 5 disc changers ever made. Two models kept being mentioned. 1. The ARCAM GCD-700 2. California Audio Labs CL-5 One of the consistent complaints about the ARCAM GCD-600 is tray problems from what I reviewed over a year ago. Your particular players uses a Philips 16-bit TDA1541A DAC.

@scottlowell493

Жыл бұрын

I can't imagine putting my stereo out of phase except possibly some sub woofers in the case of using more than one.

My dad has this model. Also, that was a cutlass supreme in the picture. That's the car I learned to drive in

I use the ADCOM GDA 700 DAC coaxial into a MARANTZ CC 4000OSE 5 charger… when my LINN WAKONDA preamp caught a power spike & went down. I tried a few preamps with my LINN LK 140 amp & could not get the polarity right. Even reversing the interconnects. Then hitting the polarity reverse worked great. Now to figure out how to get the phono stage right. Preamp is a SCHIIT SAGA S & a MUSICAL FIDELITY X LP phono stage & MUSICAL FIDELITY XPSU POWER SUPPLY

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Very sorry to hear about your Linn preamp issue, but thank you for sharing your experience here! I have the Schiit Saga+ that I sub in from time to time.

1993,Adcom,and music you talked about definitely bring back some fond memories.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Great memories, indeed! Thanks for watching!

Try to find a GFP-750 preamp. It's a Nelson Pass design and a really great preamp.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

my eyes are peeled!

I missed this. Nice find and interesting feature. I had never even thought about the possibility of reversing polarity during a recording session.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I’m not sure this button solved any issues lol

I forgot to mention that I have a few pieces of Adcom gear. I have the GFA-5400 and the GFA-535 amps. I love the 5400. It is powerful and sounds great. I also have their latest preamp the GFP-915 which I bought recently. It was a demo unit so I got it for a decent discount. I did mention that I have the GCD-575 and the best feature with digital out so I can run it into my Bifrost 2/64 dac.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Awesome. I would love a Bifrost DAC!

Sweet Relief Benefit! Still have it, the cover track Frying Pan sung by Evan Dando is beautiful. Interesting video. Polarity problems, as I understand it, are when the same instrument’s sound waveform is recorded on both left and right channels (or on pickups of a guitar) but if one or the other channel has inverted polarity, the waveforms, when superimposed would cancel each other out which would diminish the output of that instrument(s).

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

It’s such a great CD! One of the classic 90s comps! Thanks for info!

Well left and right channels are switched just means left channel can be on the right and right channel on the left that’s It’s not polarity Polarity is when positive and negative are switched not left and right channel being switched Your audio cables have negative and positive connections in place correctly

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, that makes total sense, thank you!

You are not describing polarity correctly. You described stereo reversal (which used to be a feature on older receivers and integrated amps). To change polarity in a normal system you would change the speaker cables at one end on both sides. For example, you would connect the positive wire to the negative terminal on the speaker and connect the negative wire to the positive terminal of the speaker. That would be polarity reversal.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, honestly, I thought polarity was limited to speakers too, but the online forums confused me, lol. Maybe I misread the info, haha. I love learning from others on KZread so figured I'd take a shot and hope someone can help me out!

Good job

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, Dave!

I picked up a GCD 700 the other day, was wondering what that button was Personally, I love all the buttons, and all the little lights are super handy and cool. Also not sure if you've found out, you can open the changer WHILE a disk is still playing

@ForeverAnalog

7 ай бұрын

Yes I noticed that too! I’ve since sold this player to a friend but it was fun while I had it.

@lukelegg9915

7 ай бұрын

@@ForeverAnalog I bought mine to resale, since i got it and another piece of equipment for 30 bucks, but honestly its too cool 😂 I'm going to keep it for more hifi disks since ive only got a single player for hifi, but already have a 200 changer by Sony

It just looked better with that extra button to fill space on the faceplate.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

I think you might be right!

@scottlowell493

Жыл бұрын

@@ForeverAnalog It was from the era of "Sideshow Bob Carver" and imports where dubious but cool circuits and buttons ran rampant.

Interesting. Your explanation makes sense. You think you’ll be trying out the Fosi audio v3? I just ordered one and am excited to see how it is. Currently using my Denon HT receiver and hoping this will sound better for vinyl.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Good question! Fosi didn't send me one for review and I've seen lots of videos already posted, so I might use my limited gear budget to buy something else instead. It seems to be a fun amp though! Arylic sent me their H50 amp, which I'll try to review soon. June and July were busy with multiple family vacations so my recording cadence is all a mess right now, lol!

I have an Adcom gcd-575 and it has that same polarity button. I have read what it does but am not sure I can hear a difference when I tap it on and off. I am also 55 yo. and if it IS doing anything, I probably can't hear it anyway.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

My experience says it doesn’t change much in the sound so keep trusting your ears lol! Thanks for watching!

@bifff8433

Жыл бұрын

@@ForeverAnalog Just subscribed today. It seems we have very similar tastes in music. Looking forward to your future content.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!!!

I couldn’t say whether or not you explained that correctly either. However, I will say for sure that I’m not going to be using any buttons labeled “polarity.”

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Yeah it’s still very odd to me. Thanks for watching!

Seems like a useless feature to me and you explained it just fine. Adcom made great gear. I had a GFP-400 preamp a few years back and i now regret selling it. Their GFA 535 545,and 555 amps are great too. As far as vintage changers, i own a few 90s Yamaha 5 disc players and love them. Its great for bedtime or just long listening sessions. I do also have a single drawer tube cd player for special times too. The internal dacs in mine sound great too. Great video

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing! I would love to hear one of those tube CD players. I always keep my eye out for them.

@crimsonghost6454

Жыл бұрын

@ForeverAnalog mine is a Ah! Njoe Tjoeb. It was originally a marantz cd 400 and a company in Denmark modified them and sold under their brand and sold through upscale audio here in the states. I traded a vintage rotel receiver for mine years ago and the player didn't work. But I bought a new board from upscale and it's been fine since. It sounds awesome and the right tubes make it better.

I just googled "adcom CD player polarity button", it looks like it was a "special feature" on all their players, found a review that tested it and surprise they said it had no effect on the sound at all, probably the reason why you've never seen if before and to be honest I've haven't either.

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

I tried soooooooo hard to hear a difference in sound!!! Thanks for confirming I’m not crazy lol.

@markrowe8824

Жыл бұрын

@@ForeverAnalog you might be glad it has all those buttons on the player, just checked at the price of an official remote and they aren't cheap. ☹️☹️

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

@@markrowe8824 no kidding! I saw those prices too. Oof.

Button fetish 😊

@ForeverAnalog

Жыл бұрын

lol no kidding!