OK, first a long-shot of my system / room...



I'm experiencing a disparity in apparent loudness favoring the right speaker... Using basic Decware gear, there is no way to change the balance... Even my Decware CDP has a ganged stereo output pot...

Another thing is that I have zero leeway in moving the speakers, as they must be on the console table in the shown position...

Any ideas here?... (m.)

Right... I swapped ICs, output tubes, speaker wire, and even swapped the speakers themselves... The volume still favors the right side...

Tang Band D3-1 back loaded horn speakers... They come in a kit form directly from TB...

I think your right speaker is adding the amplitude of resonance from the right hand side wall to the original signal.  Your left hand speaker is less constrained by walls, comparatively speaking.

Try to hang some kind of cloth on that wall, and see if this balances out the volume bias.  If it does, there's need to put some absorption material there, permanently, with an acceptable 'WAF'

(@ Fireblade)  I have no wife... Do I need to get one before I do the mod you suggested?...

Good idea... It might make a small difference... Only thing is, the cone point metal discs are seated pretty well on the table... I'll have to unstick them...

If you can't trace it to the equipment then it is the room. Looking at the room it looks like thr rt. side is closer to a wall then the left.
If you stand between the speaker the sound should be very focused and from the center. If it sounds diffused try swapping the +- on one speaker only. If it sounds more difussed switch it back.
It maybe early relections coming from the right wall. For a fast test hang a heavy blanket on it. Although it is not the best way to test it, it may show you what the problem is.
I would place some broadband absorbtion on the rt wall to help balance the room anyway.

Quote:


Maybe, but the toeing test is still relevant. It will cause reflections to change pattern, and possibly combing cancelation. 3db is notable alright.

Oddly enough, my avatar kind of mirrors the problem I think I have... The early reflections from the nearer (rt.) corner, plus the extra wall behind the right speaker may be causing the difference in percieved loudness...

Mark,

If you really want to check the side wall proximity, for test purposes, you could put the system centered on the long wall briefly. This is likely the best start anyway if there is any possibility of changing the furniture into a nice configuration this way.

Mark,
  I know you don't have much flexability to move you equipment but you could try this. Move the rack to the corner where the lamp is and place it on an angle. This will give both speakers the same reflection points. I have set up systems this way with good results there placement like yours is differcult.
John

My not without cost suggestion: order a CSP2+* . . . or see if you can get Steve to add dual volume pots on the ZCD (mine had them).


* The sonic benefits of the CSP2+ far outweigh perceived loss from other interconnects, pots etc. and you'll have balance control via the trim pots, you can either adjust the input, output or both.

The CSP2+ would allow you to add the tuner. Worth considering. . . . Before adding on vinyl listening to my daily repretoire (something I can't think of doing without now) I kept trying to do without my CSP2 or CSP2+ in the chain, but I have stopped resisting, it's just part of the magic, and it's so flexible.

As a preamp (and headphone amplifier) the CSP2+ would match up wonderfully with your current amp, and allow you switching between two sources.

Mark,
 I don't think other thean a heat issue placing the system in the corner would be that bad. I would add loudness.
Where do you sit when you listen? Is the table in front of you?

Mark,
 When you set up the system you need to keep in mind symmetry.
To get good balance and imaging both sides need to be the same.
Putting in a fales wall would help as long as you are sitting between the speakers. Can you take pictures of the entire space or draw the layout. That would give us a clearer idea of what you are dealing with.
John

Mark,

I recall your interest in 944s. I can't say for sure, but from experience with mine, up against the wall, without some symmetry, and without room to tweak their toe and placement, they would very likely be very challenging.

I wonder if, with the right speaker stands and rack table if you could not work around the baseboard thing being a problem?

I agree with John that corner placement could be your best solution. Even without the frequency combing and amplification that appears to be happening, and after manually balancing the channels somehow, soundstage is so dependent on symmetry and minimized reflection issues. It seems corner placement is probably the easiest way to do both at the same time...evening everything, and dispersing reflections most quickly from all the walls bouncing them around.

There is one of Steve's papers that discusses corner placement  fully. Worth a look.

Edit:Sorry, responded before reading Js last. I am slow!

Mark, the first thing I would do to make sure it was the wall proximity.
Just remove the sp cables from sp`s. Put the speakers on the floor centre room, connect up again. You should hear a balanced sound, ruling out amp probs.
Nice looking speakers, I`ve seen mini floorstanders as big.
The white finish on the amp and light blue sp cbls are very cool.

My room is not good either, but you can minimize problems by listening in a near field equilateral triangle.

Mark,

I was in a similar situation and opted for the speaker stands and the difference was abysmal.  My speakers need to be away from walls and obstacles to perform at their best, so I put the stands well into the room and the sound is great.

In addition, the speakers sharing the same table with the amp does not help the amp's sound, especially a small one like yours (even with anti-vibration devices, I presume).

That decision was the best I could have made after choosing my Decware gear.  The height of the stands ought to be about 26" or close to that, depending on your ears' height at the listening position.

Good luck!

But I have never used horns. What is the theory of speaker height with horns...probably different and more flexible?

Sounds like a good solution x-ing the the table! Speaker cables are a slippery slope in my experience, different ones having soooo much impact of the sound. What are you thinking of?

Mark,

I think making the stands is a great idea. Since you already have system synergy, the efficiency of the horns has got to be a good thing. And by being able to move around and toe the speakers, say in the corner area, I bet everything will get pretty satisfying fast.

Sounds like interesting cables. So far I keep returning to Zen Styx with my 994s and HR-1s.

I am breaking in a pair of Morrow SP6 I got a good price on, to test now. No idea, but some SP4s I tried sounded quite good to me once they finally broke in (600+ hours!!!!) and I tuned the system to their sound. They do seems to successfully solve smearing, but with warmth. Not recommending them yet, but.....

The styx had notably more flow, but also, I could hear the smearing from the thick stranded cable. After I got used to it again, it sounds great, the smoothing not being offensive in any way, being quite musical. The silver on copper gives quite a nice blend of detail and warmth too.

I bet your cable sounds very clean.

Sounds very interesting. What about the silver tarnishing!

I made ICs from VHaudio silver formula, and they are really good. Here the silver comes with a cotton sleeve on it, you wrap them with a specific turn onto soft teflon tubing, and finally wrap the whole in teflon plumbers tape. Pretty slick design including ways to deal with dielectric while being protected.