Speaker and amp balance question?????

Gregm,
I think what it is that I noticed is when looking for it and right up to the tweerer I can hear a little noise which sounds almost like rf. It is the noise that is present in the right channel even if only the amp is hooked up to the speakers or the preamp is muted. I get an ever so slight hum from the tweeter/midrange.(this noise is only noticable if you put your ear against the driver 2" away) I think this noise, which is normal, is apparent in the tweeters when listening for it. When I switched the speakers left to right and right to left the difference in my speakers compensated for the difference in my amp. I believe both my speakers and my amp to be within spec and the difference I noticed would probably not be noticed or at least be of concern to most people. Swapping the speakers appears to have balanced out very fine differences in speaker and amp channels. The reason I noticed it before to a larger degree is that I had the cleaner speaker to the cleaner channel of the amp and the less clean speaker to the less clean channel and if the differnce was lets say for example 3% one way and 3 % the other way then I had a difference of6%.By swapping the speakersd the difference is closer to zero as the differences in amp and the difference in speaker are now the same on both sides makingg the sound more balanced. Does this make sense?

If you have the same problem with different amps,then the problem is elsewhere,cables,pre-amp channel, power cord,bad ground at power source.Keep trouble shooting.
Not trying to be a jerk, but could you have a hearing problem in your right ear?I have less in one ear.

Do you have the volume turned up with no source music playing when making your test?

If so, you will be hearing the noise floor of your system.

It seems quite possible and accceptable that you could have slightly different noise floor levels/signals in one channel versus the other at these kind of extremes (listening at 2" distance with volume turned up). At this extreme, you might be hearing something that is actually 95 db lower than regular amplified music at the amp output and and therefore something which is quite normal in any system and you should ignore.

Once your speakers start playing music at reasonable SPL levels, then your noise floor will jump from ultra low levels of the CD player/amplifier to around 60 db below the rest of the music....So you won't even hear this tiny signal!

Why is this? Typicaly even the best high end speaker/amp combinations, playing at reasonable sound levels, have all kinds of IM, harmonic and other room borne distortions that raise the general noise floor to around 60 db ....unfortunately this is a limitation of mechanical vibrating transducer systems in a room....and you just have to live with it until they invent something better.

Lacee, I do have a hearing problem in that my ears go like normal peoples ears go when in an airplane. My ears get blocked if I drive my car. It took me 25 years to figure this out and then I realised I could equalise my ears by pinching my nose and lightly blowing as well as certain jaw movements as in swallowing or yawning can cure. I sometiomes listen to music and forget my ears may be blocked and then when I equalise it's like wow!!!. I know how to equalise now but it was a disturbance not knowing about it for years.
Shadorne, If I listen to the speakers without a source it doesn't matter if my preamp is at 1 or at 25 the noise floor remains the same. It's not bad at all. There is just the slight hum out of the right speaker when right up 2" from the speaker. Very low level. What I was trying to explain is that I think this extra noise in the right channel is what makes the slight sonic differnce between channels. It is ever so subtle and not noticable unless looking for it. It becomes less noticable with meduium to hi volumes. I actually don't play my system that loud ever. No need. It sounds good low or at comfortable volumes without shattering windows. It's sometimes fun to see what the system will do if pushed more than usual but for the mostpart I don't listen loud. I kind of think I answered my own question in that the speakers and the amp are well within tolerance. It was just my initial question of that "Is it normal for two speakers playing a Mono source normal to sound slightly different". I think it is normal due to acceptable tolerances within parts used in products at a certain price point. The channels should sound for the most part the same but there could be slight variences althouigh subtle between two two channels as well as between a pair of speakers. I may be wrong so please set me straight if I'm off base with this one.

Mitch -- fm yr latest description, there seems to be a very slight difference b/ween the two tweets (or the attendant xover components). The hi fre is probably airborne that's being picked up somewhere.