Also, many recordings have poor balance with the lead vocals and they are "left shifted." So make sure you're using a test CD with a true center image (e.g., the stereophile test CD series) when you're working on the problem.
I'd love to hear from some recording industry expert on why this is the case, as I don't know (maybe it's because the left channel is more important to drivers in vehicles?). I hear it a lot in my system and periodically have to go back to the test CD to reconfirm what I already knew, that the system is set up properly. When I'm listening I am periodically tempted to shift the balance by 1 or 2 db towards the right to "fix" the image center, but if I'm listening very carefully, I've found that this usually smears the image and hurts the sound quality. I've just slowly worked on giving up my obsession with having the vocals come out of the dead center...
I'd love to hear from some recording industry expert on why this is the case, as I don't know (maybe it's because the left channel is more important to drivers in vehicles?). I hear it a lot in my system and periodically have to go back to the test CD to reconfirm what I already knew, that the system is set up properly. When I'm listening I am periodically tempted to shift the balance by 1 or 2 db towards the right to "fix" the image center, but if I'm listening very carefully, I've found that this usually smears the image and hurts the sound quality. I've just slowly worked on giving up my obsession with having the vocals come out of the dead center...