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Volume Imbalance Cayin TA-30 Tube Amp

The right channel of my Cayin TA-30 is producing slightly more volume than the left. You can appreciate the problems this is causing. The image is slightly dragging to the right since the right speaker is slightly louder. There is no balance knob on the cayin to compensate (not that I would want one). Paul at Bizzy Bee has suggested that it is a half baked cathode resistor, whatever that means. I have a local tech who can do the work but I was wondering if anyone has heard of this problem in their cayin amp or in any tube amp???? Will this be an expensive problem to fix????

Any help you guys could offer would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks in advance,

Randy Doyle
Canada
butterscotchmusic
5 responses Add your response
phd
1,277 posts
 
Question, is there an imbalance only at low listening levels or when the volume is increased do both channels become equally as loud?
butterscotchmusic OP
24 posts
 
Good question,
I find that it is often worse at low listening levels but that it seems to get better (sometimes) at higher volumes. In addition, I have come to realize that it is an intermittant problem that comes and goes.

Randy
phd
1,277 posts
 
The reason I asked is, if the imbalance occurs & is mostly noticeble at lower listening levels then 9 out of 10 times it is the volume pot which is not tracking both channels equally. I've owned preamps that did this & the fix was to replace the volume pot. This is not an expensive fix & only another suggestion to look into.

The other possibility is that the tubes are not matched within acceptable tolerences producing unequal gain.
butterscotchmusic OP
24 posts
 
Definitely not the tubes as I've checked and swapped them for others. The volume pot could most definitely be the cause. I notice that if I turn the volume up very slowly then the right speaker comes on first. Of course, as the volume is then increased it becomes more difficult to tell whether it continues to be louder. However, the image drifts to the right which is consistent with the right channel being louder, wouldn't you say? Also, my spl meter shows that the right channel is indeed louder at times.

Question: can a volume pot cause this problem to be intermittant????

Thanks for your input on this matter, no one has suggested it is the pot.

Randy
phd
1,277 posts
 
Randy, the problem I was having was at very low listening levels the left channel was off and the right was playing however when the volume was increased slightly, both channels kicked in with equal gain. This problem was consistant & not intermittant which makes me now wonder if your volume pot is the culprit unless the connection of the pot is shorted.
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