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In Reply to: RE: Vocals inboard of left speaker most of the time. Explain this. posted by audiophilewannabe on May 30, 2016 at 12:20:41
This unbalanced presentation can be quickly and easily remedied by just turning the balance knob a little to the right. For some reason this seems to be anathema to the audiophile community, yet many vintage and very good sounding amps have a balance knob.
What gives? I get it is you have a modern preamp/integrated/receiver that is lacking this feature but if you have a balance knob, why wouldn't you use it?
Follow Ups:
Because using the balance knob is masking a setup/gear problem? I have a balance knob, I use it mostly to diagnose "issues", if it's not centered in normal use I go into convulsions. Or something like that... Seriously, you're asking people *here* why they don't run with an off-center balance control? You are far too balanced my friend.
or, let 'em est cake.
"let 'em est cake."
That's what I always say.
;)
Haha. I guess I am. But I look at it this way; if my 19 dollar thrift amp needs to either turn the balance knob a tiny bit to center the image and sound good, or a time and/or money consuming repair, guess what I am doing?? Aren't we easentially doing the same thing by moving speakers around?
However... If it requires more than, assuming 12 o clock for no adjustment, 11 or 1 then even I start to get disconcerted. More than just a little nudge either way is, at least to me, a problem that requires fixing. I don't think that makes any sense either but my audiophile gene, though stunted, stilll excretes some "phoolery"
It's about the music baby!
Depends on the balance control. I use mine when I am off center, sitting at my desk, in the corner.
MY CJ CT5's balance is resistor controlled, so not evil. The balance control on the Tara Labs Passage preamp does some weird things, does not function like any other balance control I have used, so seems evil.
I also use the CT5's balance control on the rare LP or CD, that seems to be recorded favoring one side. Or if the dog beats me to the sweet spot, so I am off center by a foot or two. He's a big dog.
In my opinion balance controls get a bad rap do to the quality of those controls often used on cheap equipment, removing those type usually improves sound quality.
That's my opinion, anyway.
Depends on the balance control. I use mine when I am off center, sitting at my desk, in the corner.
I have the same situation in my home office and the balance control is pretty much always set to favor the left speaker, which is further away.
I completely understand the audiophile-nuerosis with balance controls as it never leaves dead center in my main system. But in my office, music would not be as enjoyable without it.
I would never buy an integrated or pre-amp without one.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
I am in a room right now where the balance control is very off-center, mainly because I'm sitting at a desk and I'm much closer to one speaker than another. Fitting the stereo/speakers in was much more "important", period, than good setup. Likewise for the bedroom system, aesthetics trump my ideals.
I do realize balance controls have a real-world purpose. But it really would bother me off-center in the main system, I wasn't kidding about that. The balance and stereo/mono preamp controls are very useful basic diagnostic tools for any level questions.
Well to be perfectly frank, if my main system were to need the balance to be off center independent of any room or speaker placement issues I would probably also be bothered.
But the balance is there to help setup in conditions that are less than ideal which IMO is over 90% of most setups. It can easily and quickly improve the sound that would take all sorts of rigmarole and equipment (room treatments, etc.) to remedy. So why not just use it?
That's what I do! But then again, we are in this hobby because we like the hunt. And part of that is the hunt for perfect sound without any crutches!
But that doesn't mean we shouldn't just relax and turn the balance knob 2 degrees once in a while... :)
If your system is set up correctly, a mono recording should come from the center between your speakers. If it doesn't then you probably need to figure out a better layout of your system or use a different room.
Another reason why one might want a balance control would be when playing a recording that is out of balanced. This is extremely rare. Usually if the recording is out of balance it has worse problems and may not be worth listening.
I had a problem with balance in my present room because of a closet and a wall that stuck out because of it. I fixed this by hanging two layers of a heavy blanket on the offending wall.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
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