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

You could check resistors if one is failing or someone replaced it with wrong value the output could be lacking or too much could cause what you described. That’s the cheapest place to start then film caps. I’m sure your interconnects are all good and connections are good. I would look for bad solder joints in the crossover and binding post. 

Yes, if it is easy to do, the driver swap will confirm that is, or is not the issue.  I hope it is not because drivers can be expensive.  The ideal would be a driver from the manufacturer.  The original driver may be a custom job.  It is quite easy for even the smallest manufacturer with not much of its own R&D capability to specify and get drivers customized.  A local dealer in my area who makes some of his own speakers to sell in the shop, had woofers customized for his requirements.  He specified some of the basic design elements and performance parameters, and the manufacturer built prototypes.  As a retail shop, which builds a somewhat limited number of custom speakers, the minimum order of 40 appeared to be a challenge, but, about two years later, he is ready for another order of 40.  That was it.  Easy.  If ProAc says their driver has been customized, it probably is a genuine claim.

OK, driver removed. It is original with the ProAc logo on the chassis/basket. Measured across the terminals and got open circuit. 9V battery test is moot if I've got an open circuit voice coil. I confirmed I am able to purchase a factory replacement through ProAc. They claim it is different from the Scan Speak replacement because it has a different chassis. A Scan Speak replacement 18W-8545 is about $225, the factory replacement is $500. Think I will stick with factory to stay as close to original as possible. BTW there was a lot of information on line since the DIY'ers in the early 2000's spent a lot of effort trying to reverse engineer and replicate this speaker. Thank you to all who participated in the dicussion!

Congrats on finding the issue — must be a relief knowing what it is and that there is a replacement available.  Great idea to go with factory unit just for peace of mind and especially if you might wanna resell them down the road.

I am sure you have tried this however you might reverse the speaker wires, left.to right and right to left just to rule out upstream  issues.