What position is your balance control set at and why?
For best balance and sound mine is set at 1-1:30. The right channel always seems lower. I have some hearing damage in my right ear from listening to car stereos in my youth. I’m 56. I do have ringing in my right ear but not the left. I have very bad sight out of my right eye which surprisingly make a difference in hearing. The left eye sees the left speaker most of the time and there must be some pyscho acoustic effect because if I close my eyes some of it goes away. My clip light used to comes on and stays on maybe every 2-3 weeks and I would unplug everything and it would go away. Until I discovered if I stomp my foot hard it goes away! Funny like a plumber coming in and beating a pipe with a hammer and charging you $150!!!! The sound doesn’t change when that happens. Go figure that. When I had a cable with a network box it would light up quite often. In the last 3 months I have changed out all cabling with Pangea interconnects and Canare 4S11 speaker cable. Is there some kind of low voltage issue with the right channel that would make the clip light come on even with any music playing???????
Kept centered "exactly perfect". As to why, my amp doesn't have a balance control. Even if it did, I sit dead center to the speakers so wouldn't make use of it anyway. I also believe my hearing is essentially the same in both ears. I'm unable to answer your question regarding the clip light coming on.
always 2-2.5 dB higher to the right side to center image. Has been this way since I was in college many years ago. No matter the equipment used. Have never understood it so always buy a great pre with a balance control preferably available on the remote. Interestingly enough an audiophile cohort has the same issue.
On my secondary system, I sit off to the side of the speakers and the right speaker is twice the distance of the left speaker. For that reason, I have the balance control turned 1db more towards the right speaker. It gives me perfect balance.
Excepting hearing loss or unmatched tubes, the most common reason not to use a centered balance control is if your room’s rear or side walls are not symmetric with regard to placement of your speakers. This also happens if one side wall has openings, or is more absorbing than the other for some reason. The central image will shift to that side as there are stronger speaker reflections from the opposite side wall.
While you can use a balance control to offset this, it still never really sounds quite right because the reverbarent fields of the left and right speakers are different even though the apparent volumes have been equalized. You also can see this difference if you use measurement programs like REW.
One other way to deal with this is to use a moveable reflective surface near the speaker on the problem wall if room layout/decor is the problem.
In my dedicated room, I was constantly fiddling with the balance control because the soundstage never seemed balanced, until I placed acoustic panel treatments. Problem solved. Perfectly balanced soundstage, every album, every time (unless it was recorded poorly). Happy camper.
So dig this: Quad ESL speakers, nearish field and a Croft preamp with separate volume pots. If ever there was a more sensitive rig to center image placement!
Hopefully this is of some use. One thing to keep in mind about recordings is every studio has a slightly different absolute center. Some are dead on and others drift to the left or right in playback. There's a ton of reasons why this happens, mostly being mechanical settings within the equipment itself. Another very important fact is, if you have a system that throws a nice halo in your soundstage, more than likely you are experiencing more of the spatial content than the engineer did in the control room or mastering room or reference playback room. Don't be surprised when you have your system setup so it has a bigger soundstage that you hear drifts more easily. Having your favorite Flooring Standing acoustical tool, along with your systems balance control and speaker/chair placement are part of the method of balancing, but there are other tricks you can do to make adjustments. One of them is setting your system free to mingle with the fields in your environment. I get into more on TuneLand, but for a quicky, take the chassis top off of your components and listen to what happens. Next, snip the wire ties and unscrew the transformer. Your equipment is tightened down to make it through shipping. It's not part of the signal design. Once you loosen these things your system is going to open up a lot, and it will after some breakin start to balance itself out and give you a bigger picture of the actual signal. Once you free up your components you'll want to rethink what your system is sitting on and how can you better start tuning in your sound. If you have specifics you can always visit me on TuneLand, but give some of these a try and discover how good your system really is.
What with the loudness wars that have been going on for the last 20 years or so there is no volume level that you can reply on. Every CD and even LP is different. The level of one CD can be twice the level of another CD. Sorry about that. 😢 not to mention amps have widely differing output power and speakers have widely differing efficiencies. Not to mention the listener distance is very uh, variable. So it’s a little silly to compare volume control positions.
geoffkait - .....and speakers have widely differing efficiencies.
The scenario you describe might apply to completely different speakers. Two of the same speaker (brand/model) would also have differing efficiencies, but that should be extremely little, like less than one half of one db.
geoffkait So it’s a little silly to compare volume control positions.
gdhal, did you forget to take your smart pill this morning? Even if two customers have the same speakers the amps are probably not the same (power) and they don’t sit the same distance from the speakers, etc. Are you pretending to be obtuse or are naturally that way? Earth to gdhal...👨🚀
"The scenario you describe might apply to completely different speakers. Two of the same speaker (brand/model) would also have differing efficiencies, but that should be extremely little, like less than one half of one db."
.....when you place one speaker on the left and one on the right there is a huge balancing difference. For those who have expansive soundstages the balancing act is crucial. Here's how big of a difference it is. Take a Martin D-28 and tune it up on the left side (where you would place your left speaker). Now take that Guitar to where you would have your right speaker. Do it with exacting measurements to how you have your speakers setup. Listen to how different the same guitar sounds in both left and right positions, it will amaze you.
I have a major problem with systems that do not have balance controls. Makes no sense to have every recording different and a system that is not able to play it correctly. I know High End Audio sold you a bill of goods saying no balance and no equalizing, but they were dead wrong and are paying the price for it.
Blueranger: As said above, all LPs or CDs are not mastered the same. It’s very common for me to have to adjust my preamps balance, with the playing of a different CD or LP. I used to think I had a circuit problem. As far as your clip light goes and that it changes with your floor tap, I would say you have a loose connection in the amp. Maybe a “cold solder” joint.
Thanks for everyone’s input including Michael Greene! It does sound more balanced at the 2:00 position. Because of my room furniture and electricical outlet I have place my speakers along the long 20’ wall the speaker on the left is 3 feet from the side wall and the right one is 6 feet from its side wall. There is a bass trap in the corner behind my right speaker but not in the corner of my left speaker. There are 2 acoustic panels on the long wall and on the ceiling . Room is 20X12X8 high. There are 3 bass traps positioned on top of record cases. I have carpeting and drywall with windows behind me but covered with acoustic blankets. My speakers set out 29” from the wall and sit between my double wide audio rack. I know that’s a no no. Thanks for everyone’s input especially Michael Greene’s
elizabeth - ....I actually twist it back and forth now and then to make sure it does not get noisy from lack of use.
+1
I do this periodically with any kind of switch, knob, button, etc. In general, this is a good idea - IMO - for the longevity of the systems "health". :)
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