diff --git a/src/python_spectrometer/core.py b/src/python_spectrometer/core.py
index ec130ba01dfdf244528339bc277db7bfecc0838d..cb7067b7f02ba833b9d06f11097d90e518b3672d 100644
--- a/src/python_spectrometer/core.py
+++ b/src/python_spectrometer/core.py
@@ -1153,7 +1153,7 @@ class Spectrometer:
         settings = self.daq.setup(**settings)
         T = settings['n_pts'] / settings['fs']
 
-        if np.issubdtype(self.daq.DTYPE, np.complexfloating):
+        if np.issubdtype(self.daq.DTYPE, np.complexfloating) and self.plot_negative_frequencies:
             freq_xscale = _asinh_scale_maybe()
             xlim = np.array([-settings['f_max'], settings['f_max']])
         else: