2. analog
  3. 1182112176

Frequency/Channel imbalance. Help

I'm using a Benz-Micro H3 Ebony on a VPI Scout w/JMW 9 Sig arm. Since purchasing this TT I've mounted 2 carts to it and have noticed a frequency/channel imbalance on both carts so much that the center imaging bends to the left channel. Almost if a bandpass of upper freq are louder. It is mostly apparent in the upper range where the throatiness of vocals reside and I don't know what could be the problem. I can't decide if the left channel sounds a bit too harsh giving the impression it's louder assuming the right channel sounds correct or the right channel is missing the upper presence and sounds to soft. I heard it with the previous cart I used a Clearaudio Virtuoso and am now hearing it with the Benz, with new and used vinyl. I'm at my wits end with this because I love the lushness of vinyl and use it as my primary playback source and I'm not interested in upgrading my digital front end right now. I've meticulously checked the leveling of the table, cartridge loading, VTA, VTF, overhang, etc. I thought it may be the anti-skate but over a period of listening since it's broken in I've adjusted it slightly till I've minimised the sibilance distortion in either channel. I've gone through the whole system swapping channels to see if the cables or one of the preamp devices have a problem and I haven't heard a change. The only thing left is to reverse the pin config from the cart to TT outputs to see if it moves from one channel to the other but I wanted to use that as a last resort. This is actually my second time posting this question in the hopes someone has had a similar occurance they've rectified.

Side question: The dealer that sold me the cart also set it up and put the added weight between the cart and tonearm. I've noticed significant low freq excursions. Sounds like the arm resonance is too low. Should I remove the weight to reduce that?
n803nut

Showing 1 response by undertow

undertow
1,033 posts
 
Honestly if you have swapped left to right channel at the turn table and it does not follow the cable swap meaning it stays still as the problem in one channel.. Then your Phono amp on down might be having something going on... Only other thing is that its possible it is not your equipment or setup..

Its far simpler, room acoustics... something on that side is causing this increased volume or excess of something, and making things sound like they are more targeted to sweep to the left..Or other people I have seen have rooms setup completely with one speaker far further from a sidewall than the other, the room must be mirrored to be extremely accurate.. Also Doorways, or any other obstruction sometimes between the speakers excites this problem as well in my experience, and for some reason the little microphone otherwise known as a cartridge definitely can also feedback this issue more..

I had this exact same issue and it was really apparent when running my turntable, however it could be slightly detected with digital as well having the sound stage skewed off center to one side.. I changed rooms since, put in good room acoustics, and now have zero issue with this, everything is dead center at all times, even if you sit off to one side of the room or the other, you can tell the image is stable to the center still. Some are not willing to address room treatments, so good luck and hopefully it is something else.
More to discover