I wired the speakers back to "in phase" and the world was right again. I have a wandering phase issue, either with one of the speakers or the electronics in the receiver or amp.I suggest you test your B&W CM10s polarity with a 1.5V battery, + to speaker positive and - to negative terminal and see if the woofers "pop" forward. But this test only determine the woofers polarity, in some cases, tweeter or/and mid-range driver could be wired out of phase to its woofers, due to some capacitors in series you need to check the tweeter and mid-range driver at its quick-connect terminals on the crossover.
Can hardware change speaker phasing over time??
After years of great listening, I suddenly noticed I wasn't getting the sharp center image with vocals. I spent hours moving the speakers and even did Room EQ on my Denon receiver (which normally would tell me if speakers are out of phase). The vocals sounded diffuse. Finally, I switched the wires on one speaker. BOOM! Right back to crystal clear center imaging on vocals, on all of my favorite tracks. I've checked all the wires. Everything is hooked up right, though now red is hooked to black on one speaker.
Could something have changed the phasing in the hardware? There is no other place in the set up the wires could have been reversed. I have triple-checked that the ++++ cable is connected to the red output on the amp.
Signal goes from Mac Mini by USB to Bryston DAC, by two single channel cables to Denon receiver, by two single channel cables to Parasound A21 Halo amp, by speaker wires (one wire marked ++++) to B&W CM10s.
Could something have changed the phasing in the hardware? There is no other place in the set up the wires could have been reversed. I have triple-checked that the ++++ cable is connected to the red output on the amp.
Signal goes from Mac Mini by USB to Bryston DAC, by two single channel cables to Denon receiver, by two single channel cables to Parasound A21 Halo amp, by speaker wires (one wire marked ++++) to B&W CM10s.