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AUDIO FORUMS >> TROUBLESHOOTING >> Channel balance question
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Message started by roggae on 12/11/24 at 03:36:44

Title: Channel balance question
Post by roggae on 12/11/24 at 03:36:44

So i have been noticing that it SEEMS that one of my speakers is louder than the other. As in i hear things at a louder volume out of one channel than i do the other. So naturally the first thing i checked was the turntable. I performed all of the basic calibration and got things set up even. Still heard it, so i had a new cartridge installed. It was time anyway as the previous cartridge was very worn. I'm still hearing it. It's very subtle but i swear it hear things louder out of one channel than the other. I have a Zen Torii MKK4 amp. IO was wondering if there any diagnostics i can perform on the amp to determine if this is actually happening or if i am just insane. Thanks!

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by Donnie on 12/11/24 at 03:58:36

Try swapping tubes from side to side one at a time and see if the problem follows a tube.

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by roggae on 12/11/24 at 04:04:59

I remembered this after posting. Thank you. So one tube could be the culprit? It doesn't seem to have any distortion or anything involved, just lower volume. It's probably me losing my mind. Lol.

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by CAJames on 12/11/24 at 04:10:51

Swapping tubes from side to side is an excellent suggestion. If that does not diagnose the problem do you have a stereo imaging test track you can play? If one side really is louder then you should hear the sound stage tilted to the loud side. For me, my room is not symmetric and one side really is louder than other so I compensate with speaker placement and turning down the volume slightly in the left channel until the stereo image is centered and symmetric.

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by CAJames on 12/11/24 at 04:12:57

Quote:

Posted by: roggae Posted on: Today at 20:04:59

...So one tube could be the culprit? It doesn't seem to have any distortion or anything involved, just lower volume. It's probably me losing my mind. Lol.

In theory yes. How old are your tubes? There doesn't have to be distortion, just the tubes in one channel aging faster than the other.

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by roggae on 12/11/24 at 04:15:27

Honestly i'm EXACTLY sure how old they are but maybe a couple years.

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by CAJames on 12/11/24 at 04:20:57

Do you have a spare set of tubes? If you don't you should get one ASAP IMO. After a couple of years you ought to at least swap in new tubes just to check and see if there is a difference. Your current tubes may be fine, but the best/only way to know for sure is to listen to new ones to see if there is a difference.

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by roggae on 12/11/24 at 04:33:31

Oh man i have so many tubes. Easily one whole new set but i keep saving them. I guess this is the time for to use them though.

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by JBzen on 12/11/24 at 07:47:16

I had the same problem with balance. The lead vocals always skewed to the right at various degrees material dependant. Also thought my sanity was at question! You know trying the same things over and over with expected different results. I even went as far as moving objects in the room with an expected change that seem to happen but did not. Well it ended up being the CSP2's headphone voltage adjustment pots! I always kept those at full throttle as recommended by Steve when not using headphones. As it turns out backing off one click on the right channel with those puts the lead vocals dead center on most material!
Exercise those pots!
HTH

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by Crazy Bill the Eel Killer on 12/11/24 at 13:17:26

The tubes are an obvious culprit, but don't rule out the speakers themselves.
Swap them and see if the problem follows.

Good luck, Crazy Bill

Title: Re: Channel balance question
Post by Hearafter on 12/11/24 at 15:47:58

One of my favorite feature’s on my Decware amp is separate channel volume controls…I find myself using them quite often due to my room set up and some tracks just sound better with a slight adjustment. Good luck solving your issue…hope its an easy fix with the good advice.