Phono cartridge left / right output voltage differ

First I'd like to thank all of you for help in making a decision on what to do.All your comments have been appreciated.

I finally got something I could sink my teeth in after being told that the difference between the channels would be somewhere around 1 db or less.Thanks for that.That doesn't sound like a lot and if it turns out to be a problem I do have a balance control on my preamp.

So I've mounted and aligned the cartridge and had time to casually listen to one side of a Lp.Of coarse in the back of my head I think the right channel is louder but I'm really not sure.I will have some time over the weekend to listen more critically.Plus I can compare it to another cartridge.

Thanks again for your help

Yes, Al and Dre win the cupie doll. I glanced past the milli. :-)

I must have remember the formula incorrectly--I thought it was 10 log (P1/P2).

In any case, one db is not that big a difference if you have a balance control.

I must have remember the formula incorrectly--I thought it was 10 log (P1/P2).

It is. However we are dealing with voltage, not power, and it is 20log(V1/V2) as Mulveling explained. Since for a given load power is proportional to the square of voltage, the logarithm gets multiplied by an additional factor of 2 when calculating from voltages.

log(X squared) = 2(log(X))

Regards,
-- Al

It is also mathematically correct to compute 20 log for each voltage and subtract the results. However, you have to get the decimal points correct for millivolt values. That was my mistake. Using the quotient method as Al posted avoids the pit I fell into. :-)