No preamp 'Balance' control?


Are preamps made without a Balance control? If so, can you live without control of balance (happily)? Depending on the recording, I make slight balance adjustments to lock everything in balance. Is this some sort of purist approach (if so, why not use a seperate volume control for each channel), or what's up with no balance control?
In advance, thanks!
louisl

Showing 1 response by kurt_tank

Yeah, it is a slight compromise, (for convenience sake), to be without one, to be honest. But it is the best way sonically to make a preamp, IMHO. (My Ayre K-1xe preamp does not have one either.) It basically means that those recordings that are slightly off center, (or that you think are slightly off center), have to be listened to in that way regardless. Occasionally I do wish I had one. But, my preamp sounds so good, that when the soundstage and imaging are centered, (which is almost all of the time), I don't even notice that I am lacking a balance control. Of course this means you have to put in a lot of effort to get your room setup to truly present a centered image and soundstage, or else it will bug the heck out of you. (And I will be completely honest, that it took me awhile to get to that point, but now that I am, man am I happy!)

And I agree with those that don't like dual volume controls, (which can act as a sort of balance control), as they are kind of a pain in the butt. (And, I have found that most of those preamps with dual volume controls don't have a remote because having dual volume controls, while the best way to put in a volume control, usually prohibits the use of a remote control, which means either constantly getting up to fiddle with the volume control until you get it perfectly balanced, or just living with it being very close to perfect. (Which is pretty much like living without a balance control in the first place.)

One of the only true dual volume control preamps with a remote, (that controls the volume), that I know of, is my Ayre K-1xe. And, admittedly, the control mechanism for said remote's volume control is a true Rube Goldberg device. (An amazing piece of machinery, but very complex, due to its use of dual stepper motors, and hence why it was only used in two preamps, the top of the line Ayre K-1xe and the now out of production Ayre K-3xe. And one of the reasons for the K-3xe being out of production is that it was very expensive to make the volume control, when it was only used in a mid-level preamp.)

As a side note, Charles Hansen, owner and designer of Ayre, gave a couple of the remote control mechanisms to his friend and fellow audio designer, Ken Stevens, (of CAT fame), to use in his preamp, (as Ken never uses remotes due to their sonic impact), and while Ken said they worked great, he also said that he reluctantly decided against using them as they were both too complex and too costly to put into his units.)

So basically, it is one of those "You pay your money, and you take your choice" kind of things.
My two cents worth.