Subwoofer Phase: Normal or Reverse

Alright all you audio gurus! I've never been able to figure this out, and to be honest, have never seeked to find out what it was, but what is the difference between selecting Normal or Reverse as the subwoofer phase? I recently purchases a brand new Pioneer HU for my '00 Protege and installed a 12" subwoofer in a ported box in the trunk. I've bought several Pioneer HUs in the past and all of them have had this selectable setting which I have always kept on Normal. But what is the difference between both?

Just curious.

It basically reverses the polarity of the sub. You know how speakers go in and out to make sound right. You want all the speakers going in and out at the same time or else they're basically canceling each other out. Say you have two speakers working properly, both of them going in and out toghether. If you reverse the phase on one of them, one will be pushing out while the other is pulling in, makes thing's sound pretty bad if they're not in phase.

You should be able to hear a difference if you mess with this setting. If for some reason your sub wires were reversed you would be able to correct it without changing the wires. Might make things seems muffled or not as loud if it's incorrect.

Oh ok! I switched to Reverse yesterday afternoon, and noticed more punch to the bass. I switched back to Normal until I knew exactly what this was for first. Because of the extra punch in Reverse mode, I probably have to change the phase from the Normal position.

Now, if this is the case, then can't I switch the wires around at the amp since I have the sub bridged? I have a 2-channel amp and the sub is bridged, and set to mono.

Thanks!

The phase can do a few things for your system.
It can help bass become louder, or it can stage it better.
It's really up to the listener to decide which route they want to take.
Some listeners want an acurate sound stage, and others want more bass.

In the ideal world you can have both.
In automobiles however there are many factors that come into play that do not allow "perfect sound" to come inexpensively...