There is this minor imbalance that is driving me crazy. I swapped the puppies between left and right and found the imaging to shift possibly confirming the imbalance resides in the speakers rather than the equipment.
I ordered the resistor sets, wanted your opinion whether replacing resistors might be able to fix it. The centre vocal image currently on slightly in the right. Interestingly the centre image for the instruments is dead centre it only seems to impact vocals.
My experience has been that for whatever reasons the channels may have an imbalance. Swapping sides is the first thing I do, then I adjust positions (loudspeakers and me) until it is optimized. Loudspeakers often have different outputs, sometimes substantial, often sold in matched pairs.
Wilsons won’t come out of the factory mismatched, I promise you that. If the resistors don’t get it done, call Wilson and see what they recommend. Also, make sure your binding posts are tight!
I replaced the resistors, and the imbalance exist. Its really in the vocal area more then anywhere else. Eg: The centre image for instruments such as drums comes in the centre but vocals seem a tad off to the right.
1. Try swapping the speaker cables only. 2. Measure the exact distance from each speaker to your head where it would be when you're seated. 3. Get yourself an SPL meter and check both speakers are matched by measuring the same frequency for each speaker individually. 4. See if you can find a copy of 'Best of CHESKY' Classics & Jazz and Audiophile Test Disc - Volume 3. They have some microphone techniques on that CD that should help with locating center vocals. Or something similar to this type of CD.
Call it an audio band aid if you must, but I miss the days when equipment had balance and tone controls.
I did purchase a schitt lokius a month ago and could not be more pleased to be able to make minor adjustments. I have soft dome scanspeak tweeters and I find adding just a touch of emphasis is the cat’s meow. So little, but tuned just to my preference.
But no way to make any adjustments to left or right channels independently.
I have now testing the tweeter independent of the midrange and noticed that when the Midrange is only connected the image is dead centre. That's not the case with the tweeter only connected. The vocal image is slightly to the right, believe this concludes that the left tweeter might be faulty?
Interestingly the centre image for the instruments is dead centre it only seems to impact vocals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Impossible If mid instruments are centered and vocals NOT, this is a impossibility. I also have something of the sort, and does not bother me in the least, As I have better mids that your Wilson. I have wide bands,. Proof the midwoofer/tweeter things have their issues.
A wavering center image in my experience has always been solved by more precise setup of speakers. Double and triple check your measurements as well as toe-in. The fact that it wavers only in a certain band strongly suggests to me it isn't a balance issue.
A wavering center image in my experience has always been solved by more precise setup of speakers. Double and triple check your measurements as well as toe-in. The fact that it wavers only in a certain band strongly suggests to me it isn't a balance issue.
I mean no disrespect but if you read my posts earlier I have advised that initially I tested swapping the WATTs and the image moved to the opposite side.
No two speakers are identical. You want to fix it? Get a DSP preamp like the Trinnov Amethyst. You can analyze individual speakers and give them the same response curve.
The Trinnov stuff looks interesting. The Amethyst is a little pricy for my blood, but the ST2 Hi fi looks like it has a good bit of the performance and a more manageable (for me) price.
Have you called Wilson? It’s not hard? They will help you. If you swapped the speakers and your issue moved with the speakers, one of them has an issue. A driver on its way out, a connection problem somewhere, or perhaps an issue with a crossover. If you haven’t tried to change out the resistors, try that. The experiment you tried with a mid vs tweeter and centering the image won’t work. The easiest way to test a tweeter is simply cover it with your hand standing in front of the speaker then uncover it. You will notice the difference, it will be night and day. That doesn’t mean the signal getting to the tweeter is correct though, or that the tweeter is 100%. Same goes for the mids.
Have you done anything with your source? In the troubleshooting you need to check cables, and any other connection, the problem may have nothing to do with the speakers.
thanks for the detailed posts, really appreciate it. To answer some of the questions: I have swapped the resistors to new ones. My source is a turntable only, a while back I had to solder one of the tonearm channel wires but that should not have any impact as I mention the image is 20 degrees to the right in the current state, when I swap the WATT speakers the image moves 20 degrees to the left. This tells me everything up to the speakers in the chain is working fine. I have got my local Wilson Audio dealer to get in touch with Wilson Audio, let’s see what they come back with.
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