Lower Volume from One Monoblock


Technical question on Cary 500 monoblocks. One amp is noticeably lower in output volume than the other. My sound was off-centered, a good bit louder on the left. Swapping the monoblocks left to right the louder sound swapped too. The left channel is now lower in volume. Any ideas on what goes wrong with a monoblock to reduce the output. The amp plays, it is just lower in output than the other amp?
stickman451

Showing 2 responses by tls49


The Bal/SE switches should be checked, however, interconnects and other components will not be the problem. Since the reduced sound moves as the amp is moved, it can only be the amp.
My only thought was that since the 20's don't really go too low that in the bass it might work.
Stickman451, you need to trust Al on this one. I've had some experience with an impedance mismatch, and bass was not the only issue with the sound. It also seemed lifeless, dull, and lacked dynamics. An amp with the correct input impedance, and only a 1/4 of the power of the mismatched amp was actually more dynamic. Both amps sounded great with a properly matched preamp.