Sometimes the balance knob solves all

[Jayrosc]

Just saying that we AK types can get pretty intense when it comes to getting the best sound. I've heard about the bass traps, the damping of the back wall, etc., but I gotta say that just using the balance setting on my Marantz 2270 really dialed things in. A couple clicks to the right worked wonders.
Sometimes the simple solution works.

 

[red 111]

i agree...i sit off to the right of the sweet spot...so i set my preamp to 3- & I'm in the sweet spot...enjoying the soundstage.

 

[imral3]

Hmmm...

 

[onwardjames]

Due to a bad left ear, I never hear things truly balanced, yet I never once considered this.

Gahh. I can be so penny smart and pound stupid, to use an old adage in a new way.

 

[goodolpg]

no No NO

I can't do that.
Just as my two speaker cables MUST be the same length, my balance knob MUST be centered.
Anything else just ain't right.

 

[imral3]

no No NO

I can't do that.
Just as my two speaker cables MUST be the same length, my balance knob MUST be centered.
Anything else just ain't right.

Agreed!!

 

[sKiZo]

Waste of a perfectly good balance knob if you don't use it I say ...

Ponder this ... if you do any EQ or tone changes channel to channel, it WILL skew the balance as well. More bass requires more power to keep the field centered ... I'd add a dUH! here, but I'm sure I'd offend someone, so forget I mentioned it.

Of course, this assumes you have the capability to control tone on each channel independently.

(must ............... resist ..................................... dUH!) <G>

 

[restorer-john]

no No NO

I can't do that.
Just as my two speaker cables MUST be the same length, my balance knob MUST be centered.
Anything else just ain't right.

Vintage dual ganged volume pots (and many modern ones) simply don't track well between channels. Often the differences exceed 2dB at various points around the 270 degree travel of a typical vintage carbon track pot.

The OP may be listening at a volume position where the correction provided by the balance pot is absolutely perfect. That is what the balance pot is for after all, balancing the channels either electrically or acoustically.

 

[musichal]

Waste of a perfectly good balance knob if you don't use it I say ...

Ponder this ... if you do any EQ or tone changes channel to channel, it WILL skew the balance as well. More bass requires more power to keep the field centered ... I'd add a dUH! here, but I'm sure I'd offend someone, so forget I mentioned it.

Of course, this assumes you have the capability to control tone on each channel independently.

(must ............... resist ..................................... dUH!) <G>

Glad mine is buried in a sub-menu - no knob wasted!

 

[goodolpg]

Vintage dual ganged volume pots (and many modern ones) simply don't track well between channels. Often the differences exceed 2dB at various points around the 270 degree travel of a typical vintage carbon track pot.

The OP may be listening at a volume position where the correction provided by the balance pot is absolutely perfect. That is what the balance pot is for after all, balancing the channels either electrically or acoustically.

I totally understand doing it.
I'm just not capable of doing it myself.

 

[Beatnik]

I ripped mine out when I removed the bass and treble pots.

 

[restorer-john]

I totally understand doing it.
I'm just not capable of doing it myself.

I totally understand. I used to be the same. That's why power amps with rear mounted level pots are great, you can perfectly adjust the channel gains and not have to keep looking at the pot knob position. Helps with OCD.

 

[Roboturner91]

My left ear doesn't work nearly as good as my right. If I'm listening, like *really* listening, I'll push the balance over a bit to the left. But I have to center it when I'm done.

I also turn all the tone knobs to defeat and turn the speakers off before I power down. OCD is a funny thing.

 

[sKiZo]

One of the advantages of DIY ... I have two volume knobs that give me independent control for each channel ...

If I DO get all OCD about it, easy enough to set the balance the way I want it, then loosen up and match the knobs. <G>

 

[twiiii]

Every have a system where the center image just doesn't quite lock in. Well measure the distance from your two speakers to your listening position, Mine was off 6 inches at a 17 ft listening distance. I corrected with the processor in my HT pre-amp which is accurate to the nearest inch, and the image locked in nice and tight. Oh you can hear the frequency response change as you move your head side to side as the different frequencies cancel them selves with different arrival times but the image stays put.

 

[the skipper]

Not all of us are blessed where our listening position is positioned in exactly equidistant between the speakers and our room acoustics are perfect. That's like saying that anyone who use glasses is not able to see.

 

[quiet]

I only know about the two knobs, balance and volume.

 

[Silentnet]

Just saying that we AK types can get pretty intense when it comes to getting the best sound. I've heard about the bass traps, the damping of the back wall, etc., but I gotta say that just using the balance setting on my Marantz 2270 really dialed things in. A couple clicks to the right worked wonders.
Sometimes the simple solution works.

To say my room is a mess, acoustically, is being kind.

I have to offset to the right by around 10-15% just to make things sound centered.

 

[Todd Dodds]

Glad mine is buried in a sub-menu - no knob wasted!

I have moderate to severe SMD (sub-menu deficit). I understand knobs. But "menus" are just creepy, devious things that usually frustrate me to the point of turning the appliance off.
I had noticed that the image seemed just a little lopsided to the right, so I spent about half an hour making little adjustments to speaker position, fore and aft, toe in, toe out, etc.
Finally I remembered that it was possible to use the remote and find the balance function, and lo and behold, it was set two glowing blue vertical lines to the right. What the hell do you even call those glowing blue vertical lines, anyway? Are they hashmarks...digits...units? They damn sure ain't notches. Notches are real, you can touch them and feel them. These are just stupid little glowing blue things.
Then there's the absolutely goofy thing that came with a passive preamp. It was described as "elegantly simple" Apple remote. It has only three buttons, yet it will do three million different things...provided you were raised in a quiet mountaintop Apple Monastery and the Apple Monks taught you all the Apple lore and secrets. So I shrewdly decided to ignore the Apple remote, and utilize what I know and understand, the single nicely knurled knob on the front of the pre. The knob isn't labeled. All I know is if you push it, or twist it, you can make meaningless glowing blue digits appear and change right before your very eyes. But it doesn't actually do anything, and the glowing blue numerals disappear altogether if you don't constantly tend it.

I like knobs. Labeled knobs.

 

[WaynerN]

That is exactly why I built 2 VU meters for a couple of my systems. It's nice to know that the incoming agrees with the outgoing, or there is a problem.

If I were to live my life with a skewed balance control, my wife might as well wear the "I'm with stupid" T-shirt all of the time.