[corndog71]

Try swapping cables too.

[nadirmg]

Sending you a pm with photos of my crossover for reference. Just in case.

Thanks! I'm 99% sure my wiring is correct/accurate. My concern is that the connections in the soldering might not be solid...which is weird... if sound is coming through BOTH tweeter and woofer... it wouldn't decrease the volume, would it?

[nadirmg]

Try swapping cables too.

ooooh good idea! I used cheap rockfish banana plugs/speaker wire that I twisted together in about 5 minutes.. maybe when I pushed/twisted the plugs onto the wire it didn't make a strong connection...

[nlitworld]

If it was a question of actual connectivity, it should be on/off or intermittent at best. A volume difference would be something else.

[nadirmg]

If it was a question of actual connectivity, it should be on/off or intermittent at best. A volume difference would be something else.

Lloyd, are you saying connectivity inside the crossover or connectivity within the speaker cable?

It's definitely not on/off or intermittent issue. It's constantly putting out music. It's just constantly putting it out at 10db less volume on the right side than the left side. Both on the tweeter and the woofer. It's not the woofer or the tweeter themselves. I've swapped them. Same issue. It's not the amplifier. I swapped those. Same issue.

I'd love for this to be the speaker cable....

[nlitworld]

If it was a connectivity issue anywhere along the way, there would be intermittent music playing when it cuts out. When I had my crossovers burning in, I had them just touching the banana plugs and crappy plug connections plugged into the drivers. When something wiggled, it would drop a driver or full speaker completely.  Your earlier photo of the crossover before soldering looks correct, and you fixed the weird wire snap spot, so unless you wired your output points differently it should be good. Try Tyson's suggestion of swapping speaker boxes as well. That'll tell you for certain if it's crossover or perhaps back towards the system.

I do remember a while back there was a post where the tweeter was down due to a mislabeled resistor, but that was a fluke and only on the resistor circuit, not the woofer.

[nadirmg]

I just tried swapping out the speaker cables. And same issue - the right side is 10db softer than the right side. Both tweeter and woofer.

On my lunch break I'll switch out crossovers. I'm beginning to think it's something in the right crossover assembly.

[NoahH]

It is worth parts values too. Mistakes happen. When my kit first came, on of the caps was way off in values from the others, but in a way where it was kinda obvious that someone just misread when grabbing from a bin.

It won't help you now as easily, but I also suggest checking each part with a multimeter when you get a kit or when you buy individual parts.

[nadirmg]

Ok, it's the DAC. PROGRESS! 

I switched the RCA cables at the back end of the DAC now the right side is louder than the left side.


It doesn't matter if I use the variable outputs (that let me use the volume knob on the DAC) or the RCA outputs.

So then I decided to plug the RCA cords from my streamer RCA ports direct to the amps.... the volume plays at the same level on both speaker cabinets.

So, it's definitely the DAC. Is the next step to call Musical Paradise and trouble shoot with them since this is a brand new DAC?

[Tyson]

Probably a tube.  Try swapping the tubes on the right with the tubes on the left and see if the problem follows the tubes.

[nadirmg]

Probably a tube.  Try swapping the tubes on the right with the tubes on the left and see if the problem follows the tubes.

So does that mean swapping out the two star tubes for the hexagon tubes?

[Tyson]

Yep.

[nadirmg]

I switched the tubes on the DAC and I'm still having the same issue with volume on the left side being 10db louder than the right.

I'm completely out of ideas. I've emailed the Musical Paradise people and am waiting on a response.

Does anyone else have any other ideas I might be able to try in the meantime?

I'm tempted to return the DAC and go with a something completely different, or even go with no DAC for a bit. $2k for a DAC that doesn't work out of the box is not something I want to deal with.

[corndog71]

Oof!  I would also swap those freebie cables for something better made.  Consider Blue Jeans Cable LC-1 at a bare minimum or for real engineered performance, Iconoclast BAV cables.

[Tyson]

Try changing your IC's for a new set of IC's.  It might be the interconnect itself.

[nadirmg]

Oof!  I would also swap those freebie cables for something better made.  Consider Blue Jeans Cable LC-1 at a bare minimum or for real engineered performance, Iconoclast BAV cables.

Haha, my rig definitely isn’t complete. These are cheap things I’m using for now. Haven’t even soldered the drivers to the crossover yet

[nadirmg]

Try changing your IC's for a new set of IC's.  It might be the interconnect itself.

IC’s? What are they and would one get them?

[sunnydaze]

IC = interconnect = what you referred to earlier as "RCA cords".     

[RonP]

Oof!  I would also swap those freebie cables for something better made.

I'm glad someone went there 

[nadirmg]

lol you guys HATE those cheap/free cables!    I've ordered the Blue Jean cables but this is definitely not where the problem is coming from.

When I go straight from the streamer to the amps (skipping the DAC) I have equal volume levels between the left and the right.

Garry at Musical Paradise suggested the following:

"This should be a signal tube balance issue.
Since you use variable RCA output only, you can swap V1 and V3 signal tubes to see if the softer issue moves to another channel.
You can also unplug V2 and V4 tubes, keep V2 and V4 sockets empty. Put V2 and V4 tubes to V1 and V3."

I've tried all the combos and the right side persists.

What's interesting is when I switch the variable outputs to (left output --> left speaker, right output --> right speaker) to (left output --> right speaker, right output --> left speaker), then the left speaker is the soft one and the right speaker is the loud one.

I know it's not the ICs because if I move the ICs from DAC to Amps to streamer to amps, the volume levels are balanced.

Hopefully Garry has more ideas on what to try with the DAC.