2. amps-preamps
  3. 1374102634

Do I have a "balance" problem?

My system is in a dedicated room, 13 x 12.5 x 8.5, with one chair centered between the speakers. The speakers are several feet away from the front and side walls. I've treated the room, including absorption panels to deal with first reflections. Here's my issue: to get proper L/R imaging, I have to set the balance control in favor of the right channel somewhere between (depending on the recording) 1:00 and 2:30 on the dial. My system has always been this way and the issue is consistent with both LP and CD playback. I recently auditioned three line stages and each one required the balance control set to the right. By way of "troubleshooting," I've switched tubes, cleaned all contacts, and systematically switched L/R cables on each pair of interconnects one at a time. Nothing changes. There is no degradation of sound in the right channel (at least to my ears) and when the balance is set properly the music sounds great. But I just don't understand why the balance control needs to be set so far to the right. Does anyone else out there have a similar situation? Is there something "wrong" with my system? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
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ddd1
261 posts
 
Might just be wax buildup in ears. Doc can clean properly.
frogman
7,493 posts
 
****construction variations within the walls of your room can lead to the
acoustic center of your room not lining up with the mathematical center of
the room (laterally)****

Ivan is correct. In my dedicated room, one speaker is placed along a very
thick, brick load-bearing wall; the other speaker is placed along an inside
non-load-bearing wall which (to make matters worse) has a built-in closet.
No amount of room treatment has corrected what is, basically, two different
sounding halfs of the room. The side with the built-in closet is much more
resonant than the other and tends to make center images "pull"
to that side.

Finessing speaker placement has helped a great deal. Placing your
speakers to be equidistant to your listening position may not be the best
approach. Try moving one slightly forward or backward relative to the other
(the speaker's dispersion characteristics will determine which), and play
with toe-in of one or both speakers. It may not be a perfect solution, but you
can certainly help the situation this way. I have even used tubes that I know
to have slightly reduced gain in one of my amps to compensate. I don't
have a balance control on my preamp. Good luck
seikosha
218 posts
 
If you have access to other systems (friends or stores) you can listen to those to see if you experience the same center image issues. That'd be a quick way to determine if it's your ears or not.

I'm fanatical about getting that center image locked in the right place. A few notes...it doesn't take much in some rooms to throw it off. Just a small piece of furniture or a painting on the wall in a certain spot can really pull an image off to one side. Also, it'll vary on some recordings and even a little from track to track at times.

Good luck in getting it sorted out. Let us know the outcome.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Once you start playing with room acoustics, things can get pretty complicated in a hurry. The more you play around with panels and such the more you realize how powerful they can be in both helping and hurting sound. One really needs a test CD like the XLO Test CD to sort things out. And there are so many unwanted peaks in the room, including standing waves, reflections and echoes, that Herculean efforts are necessary to fully address them all properly and at the same time not interfere with the naturalness, openness, and tonal integrity of the signal.
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