Recently it was pointed out to me that my right speaker was dominating the soundstage, in this case Diana Krall's voice was biased toward the right speaker instead of being centered. I had noted this condition generally but it meant nothing to me; now I am interested in the cause. My room is asymmetrical so the right speaker has more space around it than the left and this might be the cause. I have corrected the problem by using the balance control on my Dartzeel 18NS preamp which raises the gain on the left speaker while lowering it on the right, thus balancing without affecting volume.
Imbalance in stereo soundstage
- Thread starter Cascais
- Start date
Perhaps the best approach is to first make sure the electrical gain of both channels is equal and then measure the speakers acoustical output.
Alternatively, by reversing left and right channels at both input and output of the amplifying chain one can also eliminate an electrical disbalance as being the root cause.
Alternatively, by reversing left and right channels at both input and output of the amplifying chain one can also eliminate an electrical disbalance as being the root cause.
Empirical Audio
Industry Expert
The asymmetrical acoustic environment you describe can easily cause this. I have a slightly asymmetrical room and it happens in my room. I solved it by moving one of the speakers about 3 inches closer to the listening position.
You can also try to toe the weak speaker directly at the listening position and then toe the other speaker that is too loud outward a bit.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
You can also try to toe the weak speaker directly at the listening position and then toe the other speaker that is too loud outward a bit.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Toe in will never fix it. You can only screw things up by trying to do that. It is nonsense to try and fix it that way. All you'll do is make two different EQ patterns for each speaker, because where you sit will have different volumes in different frequency ranges as you toe in or out. It doesn't move things right/left.
Move the speaker in the bigger space back and forth. The distance from the back wall/area of it is the primary factor in imbalance r/l. Generally a few inches will do the trick.
This use to boggle my mind. Then when I figured it out/read about it, all was well.
Move the speaker in the bigger space back and forth. The distance from the back wall/area of it is the primary factor in imbalance r/l. Generally a few inches will do the trick.
This use to boggle my mind. Then when I figured it out/read about it, all was well.
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