[studiotech]

Until recently I had the same room layout problem of one speaker basically being right next to the wall and the other 4-5 feet away from the side wall. 

My imagining was never very precise and not stable either.  Once I added some good broadband absorption with rigid fiberglass and Bonded Logic, the results were excellent.  Last weekend I flipped my room around by 90 deg and now have both the speakers 7ft from the nearest side wall.  Even better.

Greg

[Hipper]

Once you get this sort of problem it drives you nuts. You start listening for left or right deviations all the time and you will find them.

I had such a left - right problem but it turned out to be some nuts that had worked loose on a driver panel. I didn't know that at the time though so spent lots of time changing speakers, cables and equipment. It was compounded by the fact that I use a digital equaliser and wasn't sure if I'd messed something up there.

In these circumstances, a test CD with channel balance test is invaluable. I use Stereo Reviews Gold Stereo and Surround Sound Set-up Disc but there are others.

[michael green MGA]

Hi Vedder

Left drift is common among systems that have their wires on too tight.

[Bear]

Hi, I made a quick read through this thread, maybe this was suggested already....did you try swapping the left and right speakers themselves?  I read the suggestions of switching cables and gear, if this has been attempted/mentioned already I apologize.

[glynnw]

I am a bit late to this party, but this is a subject dear to me.  I have experienced this in many different rooms.  Even with awareness, a month ago I discovered my chair had slowly moved to the right a few inches, causing a reoccurrence of the problem.  As my gear gets better, I notice off-balance situations more often.  Many engineers seem completely unaware of small imbalances as they make a recording.  A couple of years ago I decided I couldn't live without remote balance - I have to make adjustments as different songs play - especially if it is a compilation.  I now can set the balance on some of my often played songs before they start to play, getting the singer right in the middle when it starts. 

to Michael Green - if tight wires cause movement to the left, is movement to the right a sympton of having a screw loose?   

[michael green MGA]

What tight wires do is shut down the signal traveling through them, and makes it a lot easier for the system lock into one side or the other. Remember when you are squeezing the dielectric on any wire you are causing a change in the way the signal is flowing through. This isn't just speaker wires. This is every wire in the system. Look through your systems and you are going to find tons of wires that are tightly wrapped or being squeezed by connectors. if you go through your systems and start to loosen these wires you are going o hear your system start to open up.

I know here we go again according to some of the comments I'm getting on audio circle, in the open. but maybe you should see the comments I'm getting sent to my email saying "wow this stuff works".

[JerryM]

if you go through your systems and start to loosen these wires you are going o hear your system start to open up.

Me:    >  >  >  > >

Thanks, Michael; I needed that. 

Have fun,

Jerry

[michael green MGA]

hi jerry

Actually I do have to admit. We are kind of having fun. You guys are over here laughing at me and we are over there saying "these guys don't know this yet?"

guess it depends on what side of the speaker you are

[Ethan Winer]

What tight wires do is shut down the signal traveling through them

I agree with this:

--Ethan

[rollo]

Thanks Mike for trying to help out. Your hands on findings over the years as radical as they are make differences to be heard. Saying that it amazes me that laughter instead of trying is present. I did not notice you trying to sell anything. Just offering things to try.
    Years ago an Engineer friend of mine who worked for Sperry Rand suggested to use bare wire for our speaker cables and strongly suggested using a torque wrench to tighten down. He babbled on with some sort of testing Sperry conducted on pressure of connectors and lost me. The other suggestion he gave me was never let one wire come in contact with another with all cables elevated off the floor. Especially powercords. After suspending every cable with bakers string [ looked really weird] there was a difference. The sound opened up with more info available.
   At first I laughed as well., not anymore. I'm glad that we experimented. If not no learning experience.  So my advice before laughing try it you will have the opportunity to laugh it off or be very pleased with the results. BTW all ICs in our system that use locking RCAs connectors sounds more open when the barrel is removed. Try it ya never know.


charles
 

[michael green MGA]

I agree with this:

--Ethan

Oh really Ethan, obviously this is something you haven't tried. Any expert in this biz should know this stuff before stamping the expert label on themselves. Here's the thing buddy, to be ignorant of something is cool till you learn. No ones going to boo you for that. no ones even going to care if you find something you like that is different. But to laugh at folks in your field before exploring for yourself is not so cool. It shows that you haven't gone far enough in this field to be an expert. Expert means you know something about your trade and go beyond the norm. I can see if someone who claims to be a novice makes a "this seems weird" statement but to have someone laugh at something that is a pretty sweet thing to share is a little telling. Doubting till you do it is cool but laughing at something that is excepted by the "experts" in the biz is a little as I said telling.

[michael green MGA]

Thanks Mike for trying to help out. Your hands on findings over the years as radical as they are make differences to be heard. Saying that it amazes me that laughter instead of trying is present. I did not notice you trying to sell anything. Just offering things to try.
    Years ago an Engineer friend of mine who worked for Sperry Rand suggested to use bare wire for our speaker cables and strongly suggested using a torque wrench to tighten down. He babbled on with some sort of testing Sperry conducted on pressure of connectors and lost me. The other suggestion he gave me was never let one wire come in contact with another with all cables elevated off the floor. Especially powercords. After suspending every cable with bakers string [ looked really weird] there was a difference. The sound opened up with more info available.
   At first I laughed as well., not anymore. I'm glad that we experimented. If not no learning experience.  So my advice before laughing try it you will have the opportunity to laugh it off or be very pleased with the results. BTW all ICs in our system that use locking RCAs connectors sounds more open when the barrel is removed. Try it ya never know.


charles

Awesome post Charles This in my book and the ones who practice this is one of the biggies in serious tweaking. right on

[Russell Dawkins]

...  Doubting till you do it is cool but laughing at something that is excepted by the "experts" in the biz is a little as I said telling.

Michael, are you saying that "What tight wires do is shut down the signal traveling through them" it is accepted as true (I presume you meant "accepted") by "experts in the business"?

I'd like to see some - any - verification of that, beyond vague hearsay. Seriously.

[Ethan Winer]

I'd like to see some - any - verification of that, beyond vague hearsay. Seriously.

I'd like to see some verification too. If tightening wires beyond what's needed to make a stable connection actually changes the sound, this would be easy to prove with the standard measurements.

As for "experts," one of the most important things a true audio expert understands is the frailty of hearing and perception. Once you understand that, you understand that people often believe the sound changed even when it didn't. This article was written mostly for recording engineers, but it's equally applicable for audiophiles:

Perception - the Final Frontier

--Ethan

[stevenkelby]

Thanks Ethan.

This is a good one to show easy our ears are fooled too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0

[Ethan Winer]

^^^ Yep!