Lop sided sound stage

[SteveR750]

I recall this topic a while back, whereby no matter what you change, the soundstage is slightly off centre, almost as if a alance control was off centre. For many years, my NAD / B&W system was "skewed" to the left, because I believed of the position in my dining room of the speakers.

Then I moved house, and changed my system to the current one, and guess what it was still there! Tried swapping cables, speakers round, to no avail. It's not the amp or CD as its not there in my headphones. It's even there after I moved house 9 months ago, and siting here fiddling with the toe in on the spendors realise that the one constant is the position of the rack to the speakers - it's to the left, and always has been! Maybe the amp / CDP is somehow dragging the soundstage toward it like some mini acoustic moon pulling a sonic tide...maybe there are some small sticky black triangles that would cure it. Eiher way its bloody infuriating. Can't be my ears as the car stereo sounds fine and they all have done over the years.

Im just off to check the position of the kettle and the toaster....

 

[Anonymous]

I've had this problem for years. As I slowly upgraded my kit to stuff that has much better focus, it got worse. I've spent years being convinced that there was something wrong with the amp or then the speakers or then the cables...unfortunately for me it's my hearing. A whole new kit refresh has proven this! I've spent hours swapping stuff around, even the op amps in each amp board!

Now I just have to ignore it but it's the biggest pain in the *** I can imagine. Sometimes it bugs me so much I have to turn it all off and do something different.

 

[SteveR750]

When you stop to think abot it, spending more than £100 on some anonymous beat box is crazy when it is this irritating. My problem isnt so bad that I have to switch off, but its a serious disappointment. Every rock track I possess seems to pace the ride cymbal at about 1/3 into the soundstage from the LHS, no matter whether the drummer is left or right handed, I would have expected it to sit on the RHS predominantly as that's where it is for right handed drummers.....maybe I should check cable polarities yet again for the trillionth time, hoping I can find the rot cause.

Joking aside, is the location of your units a possible cause, as in there is a consistent possible cause and effect?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I still love the sound of my kit virtually all of the time and I can still easily hear changes in cables, op amps, etc. There's zero consistency for me and my kit unfort. I've spent years on this one and have even heard it in a dealer (to the extent that I was put off buying the kit in question, ex-demo).

Looking on the positive side of things, I take amazingly good care of my hearing these days. Your issue might not be your hearing anyway. Get a test done and see what happens.

 

[SteveR750]

I'm pretty sre my hearing is fine, I had it tested about 5 yrs ago and could still hear up to around 17-18K which isn't bad for someone in mid 40s

 

[PJPro]

Hmm. Dual channel wiper pots can be a bit, err, rubbish at lower volumes but do come right at higher volumes. Does the soundstage remain biased to one side regardless of volume setting?

 

[matthewpiano]

This one takes quite a bit of thinking about.

There are two potential problems here. One is a question of balance - one channel being slightly, but perceptibly, louder than the other. This is often caused by poorly designed volume pots as PJPro mentions - and IMO it really is poor design and should be avoidable.

The second (and the one I think you are referring to) is the unexpected location of some parts of a recording within the soundstage. This can be a vocal that seems slightly off-centre, a drum-kit that sounds like it is spread right across the back of the stage etc. It can get quite annoying once you start picking up on it and it has sent me quite mad at times.

I have come to the conclusion that the second is actually down to the recordings rather than the hi-fi. Listen to a CD with perfectly centralised vocals. If your hi-fi can place the voice exactly where it should be then it isn't actually doing anything wrong. So many recordings betray strange use of the PAN control in the studio and place instruments, voices or elements of instruments in strange places within the mix. Listening on a car system tells you nothing - it is a far less critical environment. Even with high quality in-car stuff soundstage just isn't the same sort of issue and you aren't going to pick-up these things.

 

[margetti]

Is the car stereo a useful gauge though? If your hearing is biased to the left, then the car stereo would indeed sound ok as you're seated closer to the right speaker...? (Assuming you're driving and not the passenger).

I have the same problem btw, but know its my hearing as I get the same effect when listening to the ipod... sound stage is fairly central, but left channel sounds are clear whilst right channel sounds are rarely heard... it is annoying but what can you do?

 

[malthus80]

igglebert:I've had this problem for years. As I slowly upgraded my kit to stuff that has much better focus, it got worse. I've spent years being convinced that there was something wrong with the amp or then the speakers or then the cables...unfortunately for me it's my hearing. A whole new kit refresh has proven this! I've spent hours swapping stuff around, even the op amps in each amp board! Now I just have to ignore it but it's the biggest pain in the *** I can imagine. Sometimes it bugs me so much I have to turn it all off and do something different.

I know what you mean. Ive this problem for years and when i got my naim ie more focus, it only got worse.

 

[PJPro]

I notice that you've a pair of Grado S80s. If the same effect is present using these, you can rule out the influence of the room acoustics.

 

[SteveR750]

I'm pretty confident its not an equipment issue, if for no other reason that it would be extremely unlikely for two amplifiers to exhibit the same condition. With both the C352 and the K2 volume has no effect. I have suspected a hearing imbalance, but I know my hearing is still pretty sensitive, some years ago I went through 4 pairs of Koss HV/X 'phones before I found a properly matched pair. The difference was marginally corrcted by fiddling with the SHB cable that I had as I think one of them that I bought didn't have a great connection. I'm sure it's a cable imbalance somewhere, as that has been the only factor that has an audible effect when I change things. I have now put the Chord ICs back between the Cyrus and the K2 but the imbalance is still there. It sound s like a slight veiling of the right speaker, similar to the effect of having one cloth grille on and one off; subtle but noticeable when you sit and listen.

 

[SteveR750]

PJPro:I notice that you've a pair of Grado S80s. If the same effect is present using these, you can rule out the influence of the room acoustics.No its not see OP.

 

[PJPro]

Sorry, yes. Hmm. The only things downstream from the amp is the speaker cables (assume they are the same length), the speakers, the stands, the room and your ears.

 

[Anonymous]

I guess the moral of the story is.....bring back BALANCE CONTROLS!

 

[SteveR750]

Ears - lots of use of a telephone?

My job over the years has involved lots of time with a phone, both land and mobile jammed into my right ear. Hmm, but then the phones would sound imbalanced, and I'm sure that over time the brain would compensate for mis-matching of the ears is subtley different over time. Am listening to Jet's first album, the one with 'are you gonna be my girl?' on it, and the guitars are strident in the left channel but feeble in the right. It's starting to pee me off now, plsu these chord cables ahve all but muffled the sound - I know the Spendor fabrc tweeter is hardly strident, but it appears to have gone into hibernation!

 

[SteveR750]

They are no use! They work, yes, but like tone controls, did you ever use them? The C352 had one and I just couldn't bring myself to use it, it somehow just wasn't right!

 

[PJPro]

You can rule out your ears if you can confirm that others hear the same effect as you....but try not to influence their comments.

 

[Anonymous]

One of the ways I've found to reduce it is speaker toe-in. The more I toe them in, the less the imbalance is there. Straight out and it's at the worst..

 

[Anonymous]

at last i now know i am not alone with this irritating hearing problem
it drives me nuts at times, i get it slighty off to the right channel
but some recordings are worse than others,
and some are dead centre ,
so it really could be the recodings that are off centre
also my hearing is very good as i hear the slightest sounds at all times of the day, but its good to know my
hearing is ok and i am not going a bit deaf in right ear, so it looks like
a common problem then.

 

[SteveR750]

dvdaudio:at last i now know i am not alone with this irritating hearing problem
it drives me nuts at times, i get it slighty off to the right channel
but some recordings are worse than others,
and some are dead centre ,
so it really could be the recodings that are off centre
also my hearing is very good as i hear the slightest sounds at all times of the day, but its good to know my
hearing is ok and i am not going a bit deaf in right ear, so it looks like
a common problem then.

You know it might just be sensitive rather than defective hearing, I often hear things that others around me don't always. There are a lot of my CDs that are ok, and iggles right about toe in. Shuffling around in the chair and moving the odd couple of inches helps too.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I don't suppose you have done a lot of DJing? Listening to the mix with the right hand headphone cup pressed to your ear?

 

[SteveR750]

No, don't and never done any DJing, but hey presto after fitting the new chord silver screen this evening the soundstage has nicely centralised. How the hell did that happen I wonder, surely can't just be the cables (otherwise why have I had the same problem with different kit, and after several house moves)....anyway I'm not going to ponder anymore in case it returns....

 

[Mike_Schmidt]

I completely agree with your conclusion and blame it on the recording. I have wondered about this and it seems for us to come from the left until you put in a recording that is just right and centered.