Lower gain in left channel.

Jond; I've had the problem you describe for years, and it's why I always use a pre-amp with channel balance control. My left channel output volume is higher than the right channel, so I always have to dial in about 3-5 dB (biased to the right) of volume to achieve good channel balance and proper imaging. I CAN get good imaging by slightly biasing my listening position-- which is then slightly off center.

I've blamed my room, my speaker set-up, my hearing etc, but in 4-5 years in my present room have yet to figure out why this is the case. I've also changed tubes in my pre-amp several times and it has made no difference. Sorry I can't help. I'll follow this thread with interest. Craig

I'm experiencing the same problem. I was getting a constant hum from the right channel of my OTL amp. I took it in for repair. Apparently one of the capacitors (there are 2 per channel on my amp) on the right side had gone bad and needed replacement. After replacing the capacitor the hum went away but, I started to notice this ever so slight loss of gain from the right. I tried the tube switching but without success. What could be causing this? Hope someone can shed some light on this. I know it's not my preamp because I was able to try a different amp last night -- there were no loss on right channel.

I would suggest narrowing the problem to a particular piece of hardware. Maybe you've already done so, but I would swap the cables between preamp and power amp, and swap speaker cables or speakers whichever is easiest. I had a similar problem with a pair of electostatics and it turned out to be the crossover in one speaker was bad. Oddly enough it was the speaker that was loudest that was the culprit.
Jim Robinson

Some music is recorded that way, you'll notice a difference on some recordings from song to song...

Jwrobinson - I tried switching cables (ICs and Spkr cables) but the problem persisted. What it looks like is the right channel of my amp. Wondering what could the repaire man have done to it while he replaced the capacitor, if anything. Or is it possible that a new capacitor could function slightly differently (breakin etc) from the old ones.

Pops - I considered that. I thought it was the recording at first so I tried several cds. They all displayed the same problems - right channel slighty quieter than the left. For a while I thought it was my hearing, especially since I mostly use my left ear to answer phone calls etc. I thought I might just hear slightly better on my left ear. But when I switched amps (a friend's amp) the problem went away. Unfortunately my preamp does not have a balance or separate left/right gain controls. Man it sucks!!!