Lol, I remember my first high end pre amp ... it had just a few knobs, as was the trend, but it still had a balance knob. I was used to balance knobs that would ’move’ the sound from full left to full right. This one didn’t. I thought I heard a teenie tiny difference on my Magnepan speakers between full left or full right, but I couldn’t even tell for sure.
Not that I planned on using the balance knob, but with new equipment I wanted things to work and not be broken. I called the dealer. He called the manufacturer. I sent the unit in for measurement, under guarantee. It was gone 6 weeks. It came back with a measurement report ... all was well ... the difference was 2 dB, as intended!
2 dB ... the border of what is humanly detectable ... lol ... that's what I call 'fine tuning'. Why not leave that knob off? I has been in the middle ... for 30 years now ... the amp is still perfectly balanced.