I unearthed a NAD 302 amp to upgrade my home-office stereo system some months back, and I listen in a chair that is on an angle in the room, which required my setting up the speakers on two different walls; just imagine that I'm sitting in one corner, and the speakers come from the two walls adjacent to the opposite corner.
In any case, I've noticed over time that I have to change the balance. My hearing is far from perfect, but I'm wondering if this need to change the balance means the amp is on its way out. Any thoughts? (If anyone still pays attention to this blog...)
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Yes - still dropping by from time to time.
ReplyDeleteDepends what you mean by balance: too much high, or low, or unevenness left-right...? Corner positions can set up funny reflections and knock your stereo imagery for six as well.
I mean left-right balance.
ReplyDeleteHard to say. My old Sansui drops out one channel now and again and I have to whack up the volume to get it to kick back in, though this doesn't happen with the headphone output. I'm sure a service and a good clean would probably do the trick so this might be your solution. I have a few reference recordings which I drag out to check if everything is OK of see how many octaves I've lost from my hearing from last time. Non-symmetrical speaker positions will always be a cause for doubt, so you could move them about temporarily just to test the equipment and reassure yourself that you're not going mad.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've done is tested playing a mono recording; I can clearly hear that it's the balance, not the speaker positioning.
ReplyDeleteKirk
ReplyDeletei ahd one of teh first NAD amps, the old 3020, and remember a similar problem. The build quality was a bit iffy, but I'd be surprised if it weren't fixable.
'A bit iffy' - rather like my typing :(
ReplyDeleteYou could try this test:
ReplyDelete1. adjust the balance for optimum perceived sound image;
2. swap the connections to the amplifier from the source, feeding the source LH into the amplifier RH and vice versa;
3. similarly, swap the connections from the amplifier to the speakers, feeding the amplifier LH to the RH speaker and vice versa;
4. listen.
If it still sounds optimally balanced, then the problem lies with the amplifier, otherwise it lies with your ears - the idea being that, if your ears are "out of balance", you've adjusted the amplifier balance to compensate, and the effect of swapping the connections will be to feed the stronger amplifier channel to your "good" ear instead of the "bad" one.
Mind you, if it's six of one and half a dozen of the other . . .