I had a very similar situation only my system favored the right side. This occurred whether I switched cables, components, or even swapped the L/R speakers. Someone on A'gon suggested I check the output of each speaker as sometimes manufacturing variances can produce slight differences. With this in mind I ran a channel balance check with my pre/pro and sure enough the right speaker was about 2dB louder than the left. Once I corrected for this with the pre/pro everything snapped into focus. I have no explanation why the right was still favored when I swapped L/R speakers--it makes no sense but neither does losing one sock every time I do my laundry--some things we may never understand.
I since have been using stereo preamps instead of the pre/pro for serious listening and have found the balance control to be an extremely valuable tool. Not only because it allows me to correct for the above, but also because I realized that many recordings are very different in how they are balanced, and while the singer may be in the center for one recording they may be off to the left or right in another. I've become addicted to being able to center these recordings rather than contorting my neck/head to suit each recording engineer. These are not huge adjustments so I don't find they dramatically impact the balance of the rest of the recording, and I find I enjoy listening to music more with the balance "optimized" for each recording(and even moreso when the balance control can be adjusted using the remote--very helpful).
Sorry for digressing, but it seemed related. Best of luck.
Tim
I since have been using stereo preamps instead of the pre/pro for serious listening and have found the balance control to be an extremely valuable tool. Not only because it allows me to correct for the above, but also because I realized that many recordings are very different in how they are balanced, and while the singer may be in the center for one recording they may be off to the left or right in another. I've become addicted to being able to center these recordings rather than contorting my neck/head to suit each recording engineer. These are not huge adjustments so I don't find they dramatically impact the balance of the rest of the recording, and I find I enjoy listening to music more with the balance "optimized" for each recording(and even moreso when the balance control can be adjusted using the remote--very helpful).
Sorry for digressing, but it seemed related. Best of luck.
Tim