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Shindo Monbrison balance issue?

hi

anyone experienced this with their Monbrison (or other Shindo preamps)?

When playing at low volume, the sound is biased towards one side but once the volume is turned up, the level seems to balance itself...... i discovered this when I was burning in my set at low volume and when vocals are played - the voice will "shift" from one side to center as the volume is increased!

I have swapped the interconnects (left -right) going into and then out of the Monbrison to check if source or power amp could be the problem but the results seem to confirm that it is the Monbrison.

Another issue that I encountered accidentally was when playing cd and switching the input selector to other inputs, I can hear the music albeit at very low levels throught the speakers!! is this normal?

aside from these two worrying discoveries, the Monbrison sounds great!

thanking you in advance for your feedback.

best regards
fudgeo
restock
831 posts
 
Almost all carbon-based volume potentiometers have problems in the very
low volume setting (7-8 o'clock). Ideally you want to have regular listening
volume in the 10-11 position, loud volume in the 2 o'clock position. If it is an
issue for you really should be talking to your dealer.

My Monbrison is pretty close but I had problems with several previous
preamps (Fi Y which has extreme gain and forced you to listen at 8-9). Also
most potentiometers I measured have severe channel imbalance at low
volumes. Here is a thread I started on Asylum about the Fi channel imbalance:

Channel imbalance and attenuators

There is a reason why so may manufactures use dual volume controls for
carbon based pots or use a resistor based ladder. The problem is I don't quite
like both of those approaches either; a dual volume would be a deal breaker
for me (e.g. Lamm preamps, Verdier preamp, several others).
mikeyc8
174 posts
 
Fudgeo you don't mention what type of amp you have? I have a Shindo amp as well and my dealer told me to have the amp's volume at the 12 O'clock position. As a result I have no issues with my Shindo Auriege's volume control.
chashas1
596 posts
 
I'm missing something here, why don't you ask your dealer?
Also, to Lokie, why couldn't you get a preamp serviced or retubed if you bought it second hand, I'm assuming that's what you meant by non-dealer?
bpwalsh
1,195 posts
 
I agree with Chashas1: ask your dealer, and if necessary pursue it with the distributor. It sounds most likely to be a volume pot issue, i.e. channel tracking issue. There shouldn't be more than a few tenths of a dB difference throughout the volume range, hopefully less, but if you can readily hear the difference it may be an order of magnitude higher, which is unacceptable. If you can measure the output voltage on each channel at various volume levels it may help your case.
fudgeo OP
9 posts
 
Hi
thank you for all your responses. I wanted to find out from fellow owners first if this was peculiar to the Monbrison and will no doubt be pursuing this with my dealer.

i suspect that this "imbalance" at low level does occur in some systems and for most people it is not an issue but as I've mentioned earlier, it bothers me at i do periodically leave my system on at that level for background music. btw, i'm using an Airtight ATM300B and have tried playing with the attenuators at various positions without avail.

thanks again for your comments.
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