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Shindo Monbrison balance issue?

hi

anyone experienced this with their Monbrison (or other Shindo preamps)?

When playing at low volume, the sound is biased towards one side but once the volume is turned up, the level seems to balance itself...... i discovered this when I was burning in my set at low volume and when vocals are played - the voice will "shift" from one side to center as the volume is increased!

I have swapped the interconnects (left -right) going into and then out of the Monbrison to check if source or power amp could be the problem but the results seem to confirm that it is the Monbrison.

Another issue that I encountered accidentally was when playing cd and switching the input selector to other inputs, I can hear the music albeit at very low levels throught the speakers!! is this normal?

aside from these two worrying discoveries, the Monbrison sounds great!

thanking you in advance for your feedback.

best regards
fudgeo

Showing 7 responses by fudgeo

fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
I bought it brand new from dealer.....
fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
Hi Lokie
I'm driving WLM La Scala floorstanders at the moment in a medium size room. sounds great even though still running the pre & amp :) i was also considering the Cortese but decided to go for a 300B amp as it gives me more opportunity to roll the tubes.....
fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
thanks Jhardy for your feedback.

it's bothers me a bit as I do play at that low level occasionally when i leave it on for background music....

yes, I did set the vol dial at 8 o'clock and adjusted my amp's vol level to my normal listening level. did notice that the Monbrison's vol dial is quite sensitive and i hardly play above 9 o'clock but thats not an issue for me :)

anyone else with similar experience? thanks.
fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
Hi
thank you for all your responses. I wanted to find out from fellow owners first if this was peculiar to the Monbrison and will no doubt be pursuing this with my dealer.

i suspect that this "imbalance" at low level does occur in some systems and for most people it is not an issue but as I've mentioned earlier, it bothers me at i do periodically leave my system on at that level for background music. btw, i'm using an Airtight ATM300B and have tried playing with the attenuators at various positions without avail.

thanks again for your comments.
fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
Hi Dbjain

yes, apparently this imbalance at low volume seems to be an inherent characteristic of Shindo preamps... i've learned to live with it. thankfully the problem disappears once you turn up the volume.... i was told that this is due to the type of vol pot that is used.....

With regards to the cross-talk, I've solved the problem by inserting shorting plugs into the unused rca sockets - i used Acoustic Revive's SIP 8F Short Plug and that eliminated the crosstalk completely - its now totally silent!
fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
Hi
Is there a preferred method if you have the option of adjusting both the source (dac) output and the power amp output? i read somewhere that the power amp output should be close to its max to get the best out of the power amp.....
thanks again for your feedback.
best regards
fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
Hi

Anyone tried swapping their original pots with with a TKD pot? i know that most dont recommend altering their Shindo preamps (even tube rolling) as it has been carefully voiced with its specified components.... just wondering whether changing the pot will cause any noticable change in the Shindo sound.... I'm not trying to improve the sound but this volume imbalance issue is becoming more noticable and beginning to irritate.... I'm going to send the preamp back to the dealer but am wondering whether to ask him to change it to a TKD...
many thanks.
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