Center image on left side and don't know why

Your ear being the problem sounds a bit off. I suggest you put the speaker back where it was and get someone else in the room. Your mind can play crazy tricks on you, so I suggest you don't tell the person it's comming from the left. Just tell them its off center and see if they recongnize its the left on their own. If you tell them its on the left they will here it on the left because they are looking for it.

I went through the same crazy problem. It can be madning. I found out that it was all in my head. I went as far as going to Audio dealers, pretending to audition equipment just to see where their center image was on recordings that I supplied. Everywhere I went the image was on the left. I'm not an expert, but maybe its all of us. I was watching a program on T.V that explained how the human brain works and found it interesting to know that when someone walks into a retail store they immediately turn their attention to the right upon entrance(think about it, its true). Maybe the same thing goes for when listening to music that is esentially centered, but yet our brain pays more attention to what is hppening on the left side of the stage.

This happened quite a few years back. After I stopped worring about it the image seem to lock in center. For me it was only vocals that were to the left. Still to this day after the years have passed since (I obviously upgraded virtually everything as we audiophiles tend to due every year, changing entire systems at least 2-3 times and moving homes once) if I concentrate and analyze where the vocals are they turn from lock center to slightly left. Sounds like the singer is in the middle of my left speaker and componant rack. I drove a friend of mine crazy because he thought everything was center on his system until I told him it wasn't, he then let his imagination get the better of him.

The mind is a very powerful tool, too powerful for us to comprehend.

-Dave

Dave, could you be describing the phenomenon that explains why some people hear differences in Power Cords? Did you resolve or admit to your problem by taking measurements, by chance?

Power Cords, I think can make a difference. Although, when someone spends a large amount of money on power cords or interconnects thay also very badly, even depserately WANT to hear a difference.

As far as taking measurements, I went crazy measuring everything to a tenth of an inch, I also changed rooms.
I even went to Radio Shack and bought a little divice to measure the electrical current out of each channel of the power amp.

I recently was experiencing a shift of image to the right side. I found out that my large dog had been leaning against the bottom of my left speaker, and moved it back about 1/2". This was enough to shift my image from center, to about a foot to the right of center.

I too have been plagued with this problem from time to time. It has almost always been solved by speaker placement, toe in and/or distance from the listening position. It is amazing how seemingly insignificant changes in these two factors can cause dramatic shifts in the image. If your system is set up properly and everything is working properly, you should be able to look at the spot where the vocals are coming from, and that spot should be centered. I find it hard to believe that you can trick yourself into thinking it is coming from some place it is not, especially when you are concentrating on it.

Here is a simple way to tell. When I think my image is centered, I turn my head to look left of center and the image comes from the right of where I am looking. Then when I turn my head to look right of center, the image comes from the left of where I am looking. In other words, even when I turn my head, it is still coming from the center. If the image moves left when I look left or to the right when I look right, then the image is indeed off center in that direction.

To see if it is something wrong with the system, move the left speaker to the right and vice versa but leave everything hooked up the way it is. Hopefully your speaker cables are long enough. That way everything that was feeding the right side is now on the left, and vice versa. If the image is still off center in the same direction, then you have a problem with one of the following:

a. toe in
b. distance from the speaker to the sweet spot
c. some sort of interaction with a room irregularity
d. a hearing problem