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Corner loading/left louder ?

Speakers set about 10-12 inches from wall, toed in to my position on the couch. 
Left speaker is close to an open area which has a staircase, hallway etc etc, right speaker is in a corner about 4.5 feet from corner,. When I sit at my couch position, the right side (corner of room) seems a bit louder. Is this corner loading?  Which the room makes one side sound louder than the other?
 I've tried numerous positions, putting pillows on flor and behind speaker, but right side still seems to be louder, more music from right side compared to left speaker. Help


128x128arcticdeth
arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth OP
179 posts
 
I can't put a photo to show my setup can I ?

soix
2,133 posts
 
If you can I'd pull the speakers another foot or even another two feet into the room if you haven't already done so and see what happens.  It might help and you may find an improvement in imaging and soundstaging although probably at the expense of some bass loading, which may be part of the problem.  I'd also experiment with toe in -- maybe try crossing the speakers a bit in front of you if you haven't already done that yet either.  As suggested you can use the balance control if you have one, but I find this can sometimes compromise sound quality.  If you have the flexibility you could also try placing the speakers so they flank the corner (so the corner would be midway between the speakers).  I've seen this done at audio shows to help mitigate smaller or irregularly shaped rooms.  In all seriousness and if positioning doesn't help at all, you might consider getting your hearing checked just to rule that out.  Best of luck. 
arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth OP
179 posts
 
The speakers have two ports in the back, which also came with foam port plugs, which speaker should I plug with the plugs? Or are the port plugs for something different ????

plug the right side (which has the louder sound??)
top or bottom port?

will this limit my loudness, making one speaker accept less power from the amp, possibly damaging it at loud volume??
audiokinesis
1,872 posts
 

The early reflections off the nearby walls on the corner-loaded speaker have the effect of increasing the loudness of that speaker.

Not much you can do about it in the bass region, but it is possible that aggressive use of absorption on those wall surfaces might make a worthwhile improvement at mid and treble frequencies.

That being said, using the balance control, if you have one, is the easiest and probably best solution, as absorptive material will also act somewhat as a tone control because it will be most effective at short wavelengths and becomes progressively less effective as we go down in frequency and the wavelengths get longer.

Duke

ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
3,718 posts
 
arcticdeth -
I sympathize.  For whatever reason channel imbalance makes me crazy.  I don't know why it can bug me so much.  If you have a balance contral, by all means use it.  BUT first if it were me, I'd be reversing speaker cables at the amp to see if the louder speaker remains on the right.  That should eliminate a component problem as the cause.  For me, knowing it was not gear would make me a lot less anxious.  The room is what the room is.  If you have a mono recording, maybe use that and the balance control to get things centered.  This is NOT to dismiss other suggestions about positioning speakers differently if that can be done.  Experiment with the foam port plugs too.  Seems like using them on the right would be the way to go (intuitively) but upper or lower? can't say.  You would have to experiment.  Hope this helps.  Good luck.
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