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  3. 191514-187529

Proac Response 3.8 stereo imaging is not centered

I picked up a pristine pair of Proac Response 3.8 speakers recently. They sound lovely, however the sound on one side seemed slightly weaker than the other side with the stereo image or soundstage offset to the louder side. This has never been an issue with my other speakers. Speaker cables are the same length. Switching the speaker wires at the amp output doesn't change the asymmetry. Switching the speakers from left to right and vice versa does change the asymmetry. So my conclusion is that the one speaker is slightly louder than the other? The individual speaker drivers are performing fine and the musical presentation is otherwise fine. Could the crossover components be the problem? Any other ideas to troubleshoot this?

kb3
larryi
3,948 posts
 

You can try experimenting with speaker placement.  Even a small difference in location, toe-in etc. can affect imaging.  If you put the speakers at exactly the same spot as your previous pair, the new speakers and old may interact differently with the room and this might be at least part of the problem.  
 
Have you tried listening very carefully to both speakers to confirm that all drivers are working and sounding the same aside from the volume discrepancy?  Put on a mono recording or switch to mono mode to get an identical signal to both channels fot this test.  Now swing balance all the way to one side to the other to confirm that the speakers sound the same.  I am betting that they don’t sound the same.  If any component—a driver, a part in the crossover is off, the sound would change and not just the overall volume. 

yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,651 posts
 

It sounds like an out of phase problem. Reverse the positive and negative on the speaker and see if that fixes the problem. It’s a shot in the dark but you have nothin’ to lose givin’ that a try!!

gregm
3,405 posts
 

Presumably you have listened to the tweeter, putting your hand over the mid-bass unit that follows jsut to check? Likewise with the top mid-bass unit?

This might help you single out which unit has lower amplitude.

Otherwise (assuming it's not just a phase issue as mentioned above), you'll need the help of a technician. It may just be a bad soldering

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