"Balance" setting?
- Thread starter john5220
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I can't speak for any consensus of opinion. I'm no electrical tech.
Just my experiences and thoughts:
If playing mono records with stereo cartridge, I've had one stronger channel.
Could be amp or speaker issue.
Maybe balance knob neutral position mark is just off center. I have an amp with balance knob mark that doesn't line up with center detent position. Maybe was always that way. If you rotate knob all way left and also right. Does mark limit position symmetrical angles on both sides?
Have amp switches and potentiometers ever been cleaned with contact cleaner and lubed with right lube?
Also could be corrosion on RCA input connectors or speaker connectors. Best to un-attach and reattach RCA connectors every few months. Cleaning with Deoxit or other contact good contact cleaner, if corroded. If using bare speaker wire at speakers or amp posts. Cut off ends and re-strip insulation for fresh wire surfaces.
Just my experiences and thoughts:
If playing mono records with stereo cartridge, I've had one stronger channel.
Could be amp or speaker issue.
Maybe balance knob neutral position mark is just off center. I have an amp with balance knob mark that doesn't line up with center detent position. Maybe was always that way. If you rotate knob all way left and also right. Does mark limit position symmetrical angles on both sides?
Have amp switches and potentiometers ever been cleaned with contact cleaner and lubed with right lube?
Also could be corrosion on RCA input connectors or speaker connectors. Best to un-attach and reattach RCA connectors every few months. Cleaning with Deoxit or other contact good contact cleaner, if corroded. If using bare speaker wire at speakers or amp posts. Cut off ends and re-strip insulation for fresh wire surfaces.
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All stereo recievers or preamps I’ve ever seen has a balance control to compensate room acoustics , recording levels speaker differences most are happy dead center but if it’s off a little but still sounds good I wouldn’t worry if there’s a big difference then somethings up try switching speaker leads from Rt to lt no difference try switching input leads no difference probley in the unit preamp or amp
Thanks... I'll try switching the speaker leads...not a big deal, but I'm a "tinkerer"!
Is this channel dominance with all sources?
z-adamson
Addicted Member
Never heard of nor have I ever experienced a situation where the ideal setting of the balance control was anything other than center. Balance has always been nothing but a set-up or diagnostic tool. Once everything is good to go, it goes to center and stays there. Honestly, I think balance control is one of those things that is best NOT to have. It’s just one more useless thing crudding up the signal path.
If it needs to be off to one side, you likely have a problem somewhere and balance is just helping you mask it.
If it needs to be off to one side, you likely have a problem somewhere and balance is just helping you mask it.
My apologies for stating the obvious, but given equal-level signal source to both channels, balance set in middle, you'll have equal level of output to your speakers, IF AMP IS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. If there's a noticeable difference, then time to find out why. With stereo programming, depending on source material, sometimes one channel is going to be louder than the other. Make sure this isn't what you're experiencing before taking further action.
Equipment troubles aside, my seated listening area is not dead center between my speakers...while not as much a problem when I was running Bose 901's, there is more often than not always one speaker dominant...with the balance control, I can even that out so the progam playing is more pleasing.
Just like tone controls, there to be used if needed...I even, occasionally cut/boost the treble and bass...horrors!
Just like tone controls, there to be used if needed...I even, occasionally cut/boost the treble and bass...horrors!
colortrakker
Thinking in color...
The difference from your left ear to your right ear is real. I just found out I have a fairly significant dip in my left ear at around 500 hz with "reduced middle-ear compliance". My right ear is normal. I don't even hear or knowingly perceive this dip in normal life, but it's there on the frequency respose chart. So I guess to one-up things, that's the reason not just for balance controls, but for EQs having separate adjustments for both channels.
Quadman2
Lunatic Member
AC50
Active Member
Volume pots are often inaccurate at low levels. Step attenuators are where it’s at!
Differences in wall construction can impact the sound in your room. Perhaps blowing in some insulation to raise the resonant frequency and applying another layer or two of sheet rock to the hollow side of your wall would help? Or adjust the balance knob!
Differences in wall construction can impact the sound in your room. Perhaps blowing in some insulation to raise the resonant frequency and applying another layer or two of sheet rock to the hollow side of your wall would help? Or adjust the balance knob!
twiiii
Lunatic Member
With my stereo set up with a mono record or other mono source the image is about a foot wide perfectly centered between the speakers on the stereo system. . I use my MQ 107 processor input level controls to achieve this with the balance control centered on the pre-amp. If you sit off center the arrival times will be different from the speakers and even though you correct for levels with the balance control your imaging will cause shifts in the centering as the arrival times between the speakers will be different as you move your head. I have had that issue with the HT system where one speaker on the right is 7 inches further away from the one on the left to my listening position do to the room layout. As my HT processor corrects to the nearest inch I can get a nice very tight mono image when playing a mono source material in the stereo mode, too. Before the arrival time issues were corrected the center image was about two feet wide and drifted with the slightest head movement. So get everything lined up and centered to get the best imaging in all modes. Mono, stereo, and HT modes. It really makes a difference. My early HT processors only corrected to the nearest foot so the issue was never solved. But the current processor corrects to the nearest inch and that makes a big difference for the HT system. Needing a center channel speaker to tighten the center soloists image is no longer necessary in the stereo mode or sith a mono recording. I haven't used the 3.0 or 3.1 capability in years.
I've balanced mine before by switching to mono and running an analog AC voltmeter from speaker + to speaker + on the amps. I have common ground setup so any difference in level shows up as a voltage on the meter. When its balanced it sits at zero volts. My room and my ears happen to work out that if the levels are equal and I sit in the middle of the couch it sounds equal. My shop setup has me not quite centered between the speakers, but I don't have a balance control out there to fix it unfortunately so everything is skewed to the left. At work the right channel speaker is directly behind me, the left channel is about 10 feet away. I just run the tuner in mono, its background noise and doesn't matter.
Some rooms or ears need the balance shifted to one side, some amps have issues that need it. Me being me I have to know which, so if I can do the speaker to speaker thing and verify its even with the balance control in the middle I know the electronics are right and any imbalance is just the rest of the setup.
old ones especially, they tend to start having tracking problems. Have replaced several for this reason, very annoying to have to ride the volume and balance at the same time or deal with things moving side to side as the volume is changed.
Some rooms or ears need the balance shifted to one side, some amps have issues that need it. Me being me I have to know which, so if I can do the speaker to speaker thing and verify its even with the balance control in the middle I know the electronics are right and any imbalance is just the rest of the setup.
old ones especially, they tend to start having tracking problems. Have replaced several for this reason, very annoying to have to ride the volume and balance at the same time or deal with things moving side to side as the volume is changed.
Ever notice that even slight tweaking of old-school balance pots setups really changes the imaging? Tends to make the stereo less "focused?" At least with the loudspeaker setups.