Channel imbalance - Project Debut Carbon

[Deleted member 108165]

Gents, bought this turntable a few months ago but haven't been able to test it thoroughly owing to a very limited vinyl collection. Had a box-set of vinyl arrive this week so sat down today for some serious listening.

Deck sounds great apart from a channel imbalance, the right channel is more dominant than the left. The only way I can get the audio image dead centre is to turn the balance knob to approx 10:30am, however, to do this I have to disable source direct with an obvious degradation in sq, (amp is a Marantz Pearl Lite so has built-in phono stage).

Is there any way to test whether it is the amp or the tt. Swap out the leads? Purchase another phono stage? If so on both counts recommendations would be appreciated.

Cheers in advance.

 

[nopiano]

First thing to do, Doug, is to swap the phono leads left to right at the amplifier input. Yes, the channels will be reversed but you will know if the louder channel moves. If so, then it will be the cartridge output, which is my first guess as culprit

Much less likely is the amp. But if it is, then the right channel will still be louder.

Next step would be to swap the cartridge, though you may need your dealer's help with that.

I wouldn't be totally shocked if I had to leave the adjustment as you report, but do check visually that the cartridge is vertical in the groove, and if it is twisted slightly, one armature will be moving further and hence be louder. Standing the stylus on a makeup mirror can help here, but unplug the mains first to ensure the platter cannot be started!

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Cheers Nopiano, very much appreciated sir. Played some vinyl the following day and all is back to normal!! This would suggest that the stylus was skewed and somehow righted itself; strange as I'm a vinyl noob so I'm always ultra careful with the stylus and tonearm.

 

[Boffin]

I'd like to continue this conversation if I may as I have been meaning to suss out the very same problem in my system for a while now. I have a couple of Monitor Audio bookshelfs, a Sherwood turntable and a Rotel RA-10 amp. After carting my setup to temporary accomodation, I noticed that in the Rotel's phono channel, the signal was running rather lopsided. My initial reaction that in transit (in my car - nothing too heavy handed), the cartridge of my turntable has gone bung, seeing as while on the aux channels my speakers worked fine.

However it was only after I read this that I might not be so sure. I changed the cables over between the turntable and my amp (first on one side, then both sides) and I got no change in the lack of signal from the same speaker. Could this possibly mean that my phono channel is malfunctioning but the other channels are fine? Listening through the headphone jack on the amp produces the same results.

Cheers

 

[nopiano]

I'd like to continue this conversation if I may as I have been meaning to suss out the very same problem in my system for a while now. I have a couple of Monitor Audio bookshelfs, a Sherwood turntable and a Rotel RA-10 amp. After carting my setup to temporary accomodation, I noticed that in the Rotel's phono channel, the signal was running rather lopsided. My initial reaction that in transit (in my car - nothing too heavy handed), the cartridge of my turntable has gone bung, seeing as while on the aux channels my speakers worked fine.

However it was only after I read this that I might not be so sure. I changed the cables over between the turntable and my amp (first on one side, then both sides) and I got no change in the lack of signal from the same speaker. Could this possibly mean that my phono channel is malfunctioning but the other channels are fine? Listening through the headphone jack on the amp produces the same results.

Cheers

Hi, Boffin, and welcome! It might mean that, but it is more likely to be a connection issue, or even damage to your speakers. Can you test with a CD player or other source?

Obviously, if the turntable was not packed carefully, some damage can occur to the stylus. Have you checked the basics of levelling and tone arm pressure (tracking weight), just in case? Not that those will normally result in imbalance in output... And are the speakers connected in phase, as you might have unintentionally switched + and - terminals when reconnecting.

 

[Boffin]

I'd like to continue this conversation if I may as I have been meaning to suss out the very same problem in my system for a while now. I have a couple of Monitor Audio bookshelfs, a Sherwood turntable and a Rotel RA-10 amp. After carting my setup to temporary accomodation, I noticed that in the Rotel's phono channel, the signal was running rather lopsided. My initial reaction that in transit (in my car - nothing too heavy handed), the cartridge of my turntable has gone bung, seeing as while on the aux channels my speakers worked fine.

However it was only after I read this that I might not be so sure. I changed the cables over between the turntable and my amp (first on one side, then both sides) and I got no change in the lack of signal from the same speaker. Could this possibly mean that my phono channel is malfunctioning but the other channels are fine? Listening through the headphone jack on the amp produces the same results.

Cheers

Hi, Boffin, and welcome! It might mean that, but it is more likely to be a connection issue, or even damage to your speakers. Can you test with a CD player or other source?

Obviously, if the turntable was not packed carefully, some damage can occur to the stylus. Have you checked the basics of levelling and tone arm pressure (tracking weight), just in case? Not that those will normally result in imbalance in output... And are the speakers connected in phase, as you might have unintentionally switched + and - terminals when reconnecting.

Cheers!

I have since tested all other connections to determine where the fault lies. I have reason to believe it isn't the speakers at fault as when running through the Rotel's aux channel for use with my computer, they work fine - and the differences in signal strength are replicated through the headphone output from the amp (that is, fine in aux and about 50% in one ear for phono). Also changing over speaker cables (L+R from back of amp) changes the weak signal, so I am guessing from all of these that it isn't the speakers at fault.

The Turntable doesn't skip or anything so I can't think its the weights. I have tried to re-wire the connection and the results don't change. I tried plugging the turntable into my dad's Quad 22 but sadly it apparently needs a 5 pin cable and I unfortunately couldnt find the cables off his old turntable.

As I say, the main thing that is making me think its the amp is the fact that when I switch one end of the cables over between the amp and turntable, the same side remains less than 100%...

Cheers again

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Nopiano, thank you. After another session of poor playback I took your advice and used a mirror and an illuminated jewellers loupe to take a closer look at the stylus. You were spot-on, the stylus is slightly twisted on the horizontal plane so looks like I need to replace it.

Not a fan of the 2M Red, a bit bright for my liking, so thinking of an upgrade to a Blue or Bronze. As a total noob, are cartridges difficult to replace? I don't really want to faff around with just a stylus as I've got hands like a bunch of bananas so I'm thinking cartridge change would be easier. Is this something I could do or is it best left to a pro-shop?