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.
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.