Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
I find that the balance needs to be adjusted for each recording to obtain a full and centered soundstage. My preference is for dual mono volume controls rather than a single balance control.
Last week we picked on tone controls, so this week, we'll put the spotlight on the balance knob. Do you use it in your system? Is it at any setting other than dead center?
The balance control is set at 12 o'clock. If I had right and left pots failing or mismatched then I would use my balance control. I don't use tone controls either. If the room set up is off then the way to correct the sound is through physical adjustment of the speakers. Keep the right and left levels the same and don't screw with the tone which tends to make your imaging go away anyway.
Why wouldn't I use a balance control- it's there for a reason, and if I need to use it, isn't it really odd not to, especially, if the recording will be skewed otherwise? Oh, and getting back to the tone control issue- why do so many people have such a big issue with a tone control when it's on a pre-amp, but think nothing of adjusting a tweeter level control on the back of any number of quality speakers? Not using or providing for a balance control, or tone controls, is something of a dogma within certain spheres. Music direct? Come on- you 'direct' music goes through miles of cable, control panels, etc., until it reaches the storgae medium. What's an extra ince of signal path going to do-
My preamp doesn't have one. If it had one, I wouldn't use it. A balance-control will only adjust the amplitudes of one or both channels, not the phase-distortion caused by the diference in path length between you and the speakers. When it's not possible to sit right between the speakers you have to re-position the speakers, not adjust the balance-control!
The only reason I use the balance control (on the downstairs stereo that sounds like a kazoo). Is to confirm that I connected the speakers properly and to ensure that each speaker sounds as good (or bad) as the other. To be honest, I wouldn't miss it if it wasn't there.