Out of Balance

Is this the first time playing this disk?

No.  Not sure what you are thinking but the disc is out of balance on another system as well.

You can find out using Ozone Imager 

It’s happened to me on previous systems I’ve owned, but so far, not on the current one.

I find that many CDs, and especially LPs are out of balance, usually not by much - but it only takes a couple of dBs to make a huge difference in position. 

Have you moved furniture around?  

Did you wake up with wax in one ear, had you slept awkwardly?

lol, yes. the first thing I always question is a cerumen impaction from my ear plugs.  But as stated, this is something that clearly originated from poor mixing from the sound engineer.  Fortunately, I have only found this to occur on rare occastion.   Nonetheless, just baffles me how something so off balance could be released from the recording studio.

I've given up counting the number of LP's / CDs I own that have terrible mixing. A jazz trio that has one instrument in the left speaker, two in the middle and nothing on the right side.  And it's not the equipment.   I often wondered what the engineer was thinking, or was he/she just too lazy to lay down a good mix?  Or why, when they re-master a disk, they don't re-mix it at the same time, to bring out the best performance.  So much technology, so little good use of it?  

Switch to Seattle's Best.

I love Remote Balance, a small adjustment can make a large improvement, especially while in your listening position.

I use a Chase RLC-1 Remote Line Controller specifically for that purpose, it has very many 1db steps, mute, other features you might or might not use, including automatic and progressive implementation of bass boost that only begins at very low volumes.

NIB, $167. delivered, you MUST have the remote, no controls on the unit

There haven’t been any with remotes, or new for sale for a while lately, don’t hesitate.

Sunday my friend and I were comparing both Mono and Stereo LPs with high quality streaming. Volume differences need to be adjusted for fair comparison. His Audio Research Preamp has remote mute, you can adjust the volume while muted, then change the input, then un-mute. Very nice, AND it has remote balance and a slider display I could see clear enough from 12 ft away! 

His system/speakers came alive when he got this model, he knew his prior AR Preamp had sounded better long ago, I never heard it, his memory was correct.

Normally, it would not be my norm to add an inexpensive piece of gear or additional preamp circuitry into the signal path, BUT, given the profound improvement I experienced this morning by just using a simple twist of my balance control, who knows what's next---a tone control!?!?

Seriously, I am happy with the vast majority of my CD's as is.  But in the future, I will be a bit less reluctant to use the previously unused controls on my preamp. 

Was it an analog recording that had been transferred to digital?  

No, this is a DG DDD recording from 2005, Mozart Trio, featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter.  

Spot on! A couple of years ago I noticed my system was definitely out of balance.

Yes I checked the cables replaced tubes. Went as far back as having the manufacture test the preamp. I ran my DAC through the amp and still missing part of the sound in the right speaker. 

A friend was having a Party and asked if I would supply the music . I brought over my Allen & Heath mixing board along with my Yamaha Powered speakers and Focal subwoofer. Sounded great not a problem after I adjusted the Pan control.

Playing music now through my regular system and use the balance control every now and then. 

Thank yo for bringing this to attention . This is equivalent to hearing a hum in your speakers finding out you have a ground loop after you paid good money to send your system out for testing

This is simply another recording variable, strange mixes aren't that unusual. Trying to 'repair' these mixes on an individual basis is a recipe for unhappy listening sessions so I just accept them as is.

Well, the whole point of my post was quite the opposite.  A quick twist of the balance control took an annoying recording and made it quite wonderful.  Why in the world would you want to "accept them as is"??

It's window on the artist's power in the recording studio, or the engineer in the mixing box at a live event, with the artist's final approval. Of course very old recording quality may be limited for tech reasons.

Best example I like is Stevie Nick's Crystal Visions CD. Perfection in studio and live. 

To me adjusting tone controls would be like opening a bottle of wine and adding things. I prefer to take art on the artist's terms.

+1, @elliottbnewcombjr  !

I will add that many pop and rock recordings made during coke-fueled years (1970-1990) are off balance as well.  My McIntosh pre has remote balance control with a very large range.  It is my "soundstage centering control."

my friend's tube preamp with remote balance, and ability to change the volume and input remotely while muted is Audio Research REF 5 SE. Loved it!

IF my McIntosh mx110x tube tuner/preamp dies .... now I have a second choice. I think Steve at VAS has several AR pieces he is willing to part with (i.e. not listed, you need to ask him what he has, it's always a head shake when you look around).

My friend has a separate AR Tuner, I never heard it. I had a very good Carver SS Tuner, sold it for a lousy $100 same time I sold my Carver SS Cube Amp. I think the Tube Tuner in the mx110z is remarkable, and it has 2 MM Phono inputs. 

McIntosh 2 MM phonos and only 1 aux has trim controls, I bet the AR does also (to equalize the various inputs volumes) but that does not solve swapping different cartridges and/or streaming.

So I'm generally speaking of mixes, as @incorrigable stated, this was the artist/producer/engineers intent, this is one valid reason for not making changes. Probably far more important for me is, I try not to focus on sound when listening, being solidly immersed in the music far more enjoyable for me. Focusing on recording blemishes only leads to frustration, I can't control what I can't control.

Now I will agree there are the relatively rare recordings where the entire sound stage is shifted to one side or the other, extremely rare when an entire album has  this shifted sound stage, usually its a single cut or perhaps a few cuts on a single album. In these cases I still generally put up with the irritation. I suppose if I was running balance pot with remote I'd adjust, but having dual transformer volume control, no remote control means getting up and manually adjusting.