Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Crack => Topic started by: Colonl_Charisma on January 01, 2021, 02:20:12 PM

Title: Minor channel imbalance
Post by: Colonl_Charisma on January 01, 2021, 02:20:12 PM

I discovered that I have a minor volume discrepancy/channel imbalance between the left and right channels. Left channel sounds louder/clearer and the right channel sounds quieter. This is causing the music to sound shifted towards the left. I discovered this when bass was hitting harder in the left channel vs the right during an Aphex Twin song that I know.

I thought that I was going crazy (or losing hearing in one ear) until I decided to plug in my solid-state amp and do a mono and stereo test on both my solid-state and Crack amps. Everything sounds fine on my solid-state during the mono and stereo tests, but not when I conduct the test on the Crack. The mono test sounds as if the music is shifted over to the left instead of being in the middle. Stereo also reveals this imbalance. I even flipped my headphones around on my head to make sure I was not imagining this haha.

I should state that the LEDs on the small board of my Speedball do not glow as bright as the LEDs on the large board or the ones at the 9-pin socket. I have not thought much about this because voltages on the large have checked out fine.

Title: Re: Minor channel imbalance
Post by: Paul Birkeland on January 01, 2021, 03:10:23 PM

If you turn the pot up on the Crack all the way and turn the level down at your source, does the imbalance go away?

Title: Re: Minor channel imbalance
Post by: Colonl_Charisma on January 01, 2021, 03:54:37 PM

Thanks for the response PB! Yes, I am nearly positive that when I turn the source down and turn the pot up the imbalance goes away. I played around doing several mono tests just to be sure. Is this imbalance from the volume pot?

Title: Re: Minor channel imbalance
Post by: Paul Birkeland on January 01, 2021, 03:58:25 PM

See FAQ 3/4:
https://forum.bottlehead.com/index.php?topic=4295.0 (https://forum.bottlehead.com/index.php?topic=4295.0)

Title: Re: Minor channel imbalance
Post by: Colonl_Charisma on January 01, 2021, 05:09:07 PM

Thank you PB. I did that on the PEC pot that I bought. There's noticeable imbalance at the low level. My knob starts around the 7 o'clock position. I have imbalance that is definitely present around 8 o'clock and lower. If you lower the volume fast you can distinctly hear the volume fade to the left channel starting below 9 o'clock. I usually listen around 9 o'clock and a little lower depending on the music.