Occasional Sound Imbalance Issue


I posted an issue a while back where I had an issue with what I thought at first was due to my room sucking out higher frequencies from the right side of the sound. After jumping through hoops to isolate the issue, ruling out the room and my gear as causing the issue, I had concluded that it was actually slight imbalances in the source material.

This turned out not to be the case. The issue sometimes returns, but only when I physically move ANY of my components (even slightly), or mess with my cabling (even slightly). When the problem returns, it takes hours of trial and error fiddling to get rid of it. When the problem is resolved, it stays resolved for as long as I don’t touch any of my components or cabling. When re-arranging ANY of my vibration control footers that my components rest on, the problem will promptly return, every time.

This issue drives be NUTS.... Suggesting the issue is with balance is misleading - it’s more subtle than that, but at the same time very obvious (but only on certain songs which is why for a while I believed the issue to be related to source material). At times the issue is very subtle when it manifests, and at other times it’s extreme. But in all cases, even non-audiophile members of my family (which is everyone else...) can detect the issue. It’s like the air and ambience around a singer’s voice is present on the left of the singer, but not on the right, which is veiled in comparison. Also, when the problem resolves, the vocals in general sound more open and confident - possibly simply due to the ambience and air on the right side of the vocals being restored.

What’s new vs my prior thread is that I now understand the issue to be transitory, and related to physically moving my gear or cables, even slightly. In my prior thread on the issue I’ve gone through the process of ruling out any of my devices specifically contributing to the issue, testing in isolation etc and the issue still remaining (I reversed my amp’s output speaker cables too, to see if the problem would follow the output).

My cabling is a bit of a mess. Currently I have everything but my Rel subs (which arrived only very recently so nothing to do with the issue) powered by my Torus RM20, which in turn is connected to a dedicated 20A circuit. I have a photo of my rat’s nest of cables uploaded to my system pics on Audiogon. My full system details and photos are posted there as well for reference.  I'd suspect my mess of cables are to blame with EMF buildup or something, but the weird thing is that just gently moving any component, even while on and playing music, can cause the issue to show up (I suppose gently moving a component moves it's cables as well however).

On a less revealing system or components, the issue is much harder to detect. Removing my PhoenixUSB reclocker from the system for example makes it a bit harder to detect, but it’s still obvious. I’d probably never know about this issue if I had my prior speaker cables, but with my Nordost Valhalla 2’s any issue is readily apparent.

Has anyone heard of anything like this before, and have an explanation of what is happening? And suggestions on ways to prevent it from happening?  I really hate this issue, especially because it is a big, big impediment to the tweaking/testing process.

 

 

nyev

Showing 5 responses by holmz

Is it:

  • a dodgy cable termination?
    or…
  • a dodgy connection on a piece of gear?

@holmz I’d agree it is likely a connection issue if not for the fact that I can move any component in my system and the problem materializes instantly! Very frustrating.

Also of note is that it is not related to restarting my digital devices, as the issue happens when moving a device or cable while the system remains on and is playing music. Very frustrating! It’s such a relief when it gets back to optimal sound.

My guess is it’s somehow related to my cabling. I have two unnecessarily long power cords (3m) but I believe I’ve laid them out in as clean a way as possible with minimal coiling.

I guess one test I could do is buy 5 1m cheap generic cords and see if the problem disappears

I would using a single generic cord.,, and march it through the system.
Or if it is not subtle, then some ear buds and RCA to 1/8” and start from the player, and move it down stream in steps.

Or an iPhone with 1/8” to RCA and replace the source with that, and march it down stream.

But it could be something similar to a ground loop, with some resonance and oscillation way up in the RF range… if it way that, then chokes on the power, etc. may help, but an O-scope would be the tool to use then.

@holmz  , a ground loop at the panel?  If it was due just to where that particular outlet(s) ground wire connect to the neutral bar, maybe experiment with some extension cord to an outlet on a different circuit?

Nah @immatthewj just “ground loop like”. If the speakers/cables are forming an oscillator that the amp get stuck on.

The amp at the end of my last post I touched on oscillation.

The specific speaker cables, if they are high capacitance, can sometimes cause an amp to go into oscillation.

it seems like you are making progress, but it would not be unthinkable to have a problem if you speakers are difficult to drive with high phase angles, and the cable pushes it into oscillation.

Buy a cheap PC scope. When the problem happens, disconnect the speakers at the speakers and connect 8Ω dummy loads

Measure a 1kHz square wave on the speaker cables simultaneously on both channels.

If the waveforms are identical, it's the speakers. If not, back up the chain until you find the culprit.

[Sounds to me like a driver failure. Could be in the other channel if it is damaged and ringing / distorting.]

Yeah if once it starts, it does not stop, then having a set fo RCAs on another input would allow a phone to plugged in quickly.

 

But I would not disconnect the speaker… that sould stop the thing.
I would just measure the signal iin-situ.

At some point we should know your speakers are, as well as the amp.
And whether there are any phase and impedance measurements on the web for the speakers.