Experiencing speaker imbalance, while amp headphone output is fine. Any ideas?


Hi all. Purchased a brand new Audio Research i/50 integrated amp a few weeks ago. Sounded fantastic straight out of the box. Left town for a week, came back and the left channel is now sounding substantially louder than the right. I have Vandersteen VLR CT’s paired with it.

The amp also has a built-in headphone amp. I’ve checked that, and the L/R balance is perfect.

Does anyone have a clue here what could be happening?

Thanks so much for everyone’s time.

128x128gnarmite

I'm glad it worked out well for you.  It's very frustrating when equipment is not functioning properly, but when you're buying new from a dealer, part of what you are paying for is a warranty and insurance for your peace of mind that someone will be there to assist you when something goes wrong.  I recently had an issue with a new phono preamp. I emailed my dealer and within the hour I received a detailed email from the distributor that explained how to address the issue.  It would be nice if this could be done with used gear as well, but unfortunately it's much more unlikely.  

@gnarmite

glad you figured it out

did you take @oldhvymec ’s advice and get pepper spray too? he also keeps a fire extinguisher handy next to his listening chair too, as i understand it

great mechanics are always prepared... 😂👍

I'm glad it worked out well for you.  It's very frustrating when equipment is not functioning properly, but when you're buying new from a dealer, part of what you are paying for is a warranty and insurance for your peace of mind that someone will be there to assist you when something goes wrong

Thank you. Luckily I have a great dealer and he got me sorted asap.

did you take @oldhvymec ’s advice and get pepper spray too? he also keeps a fire extinguisher handy next to his listening chair too, as i understand it

Best advice on the whole thread, and maybe the cheapest!!

 

Well I keep a fire extinguisher for me, the wife gets the water. I like to get even every now and then when she is getting shocked pretty good, I just want to ADD a little extra so to speak.. I keep a board handy to, at least that's what I tell her..

I use to get her to lick her finger and thumb and hold the lawn mower spark plug wire. I told her a lawn mower wouldn't start if you didn't do that. 

She figure it out, now you know why I carry pepper spray in the house. It still slows her down enough for me to get to the next bottle of pepper spray, after a couple and a Thorazine dart she'll calm down. She is a feisty one since (sence) I tried to blowing her up looking in the oven I left on for 5 minutes.  I gave her a lighter to look with.. 

She was a looker, not bad once her hair grew back.. Well most of it did on one side.. :-)

She is a good sport when she's asleep. My dog like her.. So does the rabbit.

Post removed