It comes with a balance knob?!?! I'll take it!
...said no one ever! I've been researching new gear and it hit me. Why, just why, do pieces have a balance knob? The only time in my life I can remember using said knob was to mess with the music and irritate my friends. You know, because it was cool to make every song sound like that classic Led Zep track. I think it was the 80's and on my Sanyo "boom box".
What is the point? To look retro? Do people actually use it and why?
Thought this might be fun to discuss and learn something new.
Lots of people with an imbalance in their hearing. Let’s not make gear that only 20 somethings can use well. Speaker positioning is another reason. You may need to put your speakers in less than an ideal situation and the balance knob will help. I for one am really happy to have balance, loudness and tone controls. |
Typically the better the equipment the less adjustments there are as each has a negative sonic impact. Balance is something nearly all high end equipment has. As @erik_squires pointed out the speakers could have on confined space on one side and open on another, so to have the soundstage centered balance control is needed. Also for people with differential hearing. That is the only control on audiophile gear… the designs to put sound quality first will not have tone controls. |
My old pre had one, my new one does not. Interesting, when I had one, and utilized it, (rarely), I did so to figure out what was wrong with my set-up, in order to sound correct back to 'equal'. Well, now I don't have one, but really do the same. Set-up, set-up, cables, a speck of dust on the stylus, whatever, is usually the problem. That said, yes, I have known those that had a set-up that really couldn't be changed for one reason or another, and in their case, they used it to 'balance' their imbalanced set-up or more importantly, room. So, for those instances it is probably nice to have. |
