Is your image centred?


I am giving up on my old Analog rig soon!
The image on most of my disk is not centred! Some shifted to the left, some shifted to the right!! Yet, some are dead centred!!! WHY???
My rig:
Thorens 125 mark2
SME 2009R
Otofon MC20 Super, Grado Prestige Gold
luna
Have you tried a mono LP? Now, that should be centered image. Use a simple production, uncomplicated one, such a a single voice or instrument. There are also test records for center channel.
Bob
Luna
If I mislead sorry, I have set it to "ONE" setting and it plays them all fine now, not setting each album everytime..
LUNA: Take it from me, please, if you dwell on this past due diligence you will spoil your pleasure. Do whatever you can, with yourself and your chosen experts, to make your rig as good as it can be. Past that there is a point of no return where it ain't about the music at all anymore, and that will not be satisfying or fun on any level. Do what you can, and project your mind into that off center image as if it were the whole of space. It is all mind anyway....
With what I just said not withstanding, yes, try a mono record and know for sure.
I also mostly hear the off center effects with 70's and 80's lp's (mostly rock), although some lp's from all era's have this anomaly.

I also hear variations within the soundstage. The most hard panned information can sound like it is coming right out of either the left or right speaker. Sometimes hard panned images can also be located at various depths right behind speakers.

As for the loudest sounds (what I would call the center image), that can vary anywhere within the soundstage, in other words, from side wall to side wall (sometimes even the illusion of outside the walls), it can also change in depth, from in front of the speakers to the front wall. This also sometimes changes within a single cut and/or album.
Also, often the highest level information is off centered, while lower level information is centered. If you understand how a stereo mixing board works, you'll discover that almost any variation of imaging is possible.

I would think if you are hearing every album with a centered or near centered image, you're not hearing a high resolution system. The fact you hear variation in central images is actually a good thing!
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