2. amps-preamps
  3. 131762-99335

Troubleshooting balance issues

I'm hoping to get help troubleshooting balance issues I'm having with my system.  

Pre Amp is Parasound Halo P5.  Amplifier is Emotiva XPA-200.

I'm getting between 1.5-6dB less on the right channel than the left.

Below are the troubleshooting steps I've taken. I'm hoping you might have a couple other ideas:

  • All testing either with Mono recordings or single channel pink noise
  • Tried different interconnects
  • Ensured all connections good
  • Tried balanced and unbalanced connections into the emotiva amp
  • Tried through two different preamps
  • Swapped L/R output from amp to speaker and balance issue stayed on R output and switched to other speaker
  • Moved/swapped L speaker to the R side and vice versa
  • Measured L and R put with single channel pink noise
  • Swapped L/R 
Occasionally on a power cycle on the amp it will come back centered. Occasionally I'll get a full day centered. More often than not the R channel will be off -1.5 to -6 dB. The about of gain loss seems to stay stable (i.e. If -1.5 it will stay -1.5 for a while).

Would appreciate any additional ideas!!  

Thanks :)
otherones

Showing 1 response by folkfreak

folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,349 posts
 
Well it’s not a problem with the OPs ears if it moves speaker when the channels are swapped 😉

i had the same problem in my system and it turned out to be worn out tubes in my phono stage. I suspect you have a hardware problem, especially given what you say about power cycling. Unfortunately this likely means a repair is necessary, and yes one channel can fail before the other
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