Channel Imbalance


Can an anti-skate misadjustment cause a perceived slight channel imbalance from phono signal. Assumptions: phono stage and cabling eliminated as a cause. A singer who normally comes out smack in the middle is now slighly to the right.
divo

Showing 2 responses by 4yanx

Marakanetz is correct that either can be an issue. Have you tried other sources such as CD or tuner to see if the problem is specific to the vinyl front end? In vinyl, have you listened to a range of records to isoloate perhaps a bad recording or three? Did this happen all at once, gradually, or come about after a change in components or component placement, especially speaker placement or placement/addition/removal of other large objects in the room?

On a side note with respect to azimuth, a few of us recently purchased a Wally azimuth tool and I found that, after testing, my Graham 2.2 was stunningly spot-on eletronically speaking. Then, as a lark, I adjusted the azimuth both ways beyond the tolerances that Wally suggest as tolerable. The most immediate impression invloved a shift in the soundstage from left to right and vice versa. Luckily, my Graham is very easily adjusted for azimuth. This might not be so easy to test with other arms.
Divo, if you have the Graham (I have a 2.2), use a small bubble level and place it across the front of your head shell to set your azimuth initally. If the head shell is level based on this, it should be close enough that you don't have the imbalance problem. You can fine tune it from there if you want. If you do this and still have the problem, I would suspect a defective cartridge or something else in the system chain. Are you sure you haven't moved the right speaker forward a couple-o-inches? :-)