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Want to Blow Up My Stereo

If anyone has ideas as to the culprit of my issue I'd sure love to hear it.

For I don't know how long I've had an issue with my stereo putting the center of the image just inside the right speaker. This week I decided to "fix" the issue, and began trying everything I could think of. I had previously tried all the usual suspects: swapping the left and right interconnects, swapping the speakers, changing speaker positions. I've added a preamp (no effect on this issue), changed CD players, interconnects, and speaker cables. I thought for the longest the issue was the 24" dropoff in depth of the back wall, as the sound "pools" just inside that dropoff. But this week I've tried even putting the stereo on the flat, long wall instead of the short wall. I've also tried reversing the polarity of the interconnects and the phase on the preamp. (As an aside, reversing the polarity of only the interconnects from CDP to preamp resulted in a mirror image of the image shift, but the sound was very diffuse with no bass at all, and inverting the phase on the preamp had very little effect on the sound.) I've tried moving my room treatments (GIK absorption panels and Echo Busters diffusers) with very little if any effect. I tried moving the speakers completely against the side walls, very close together, and with the left speaker 3 feet closer to the side wall than the right. The image doesn't move. I just want to take a sledgehammer to my entire system. I haven't built a (I don't even want to think about how much money) ridiculously expensive system by sane person's standards (just ask my wife) to have some stupid issue like this that doesn't exist with my "normal" investment home theater.

And if you had any idea how many times I've had to edit this post to remove foul language and inappropriate phrases I think you'd feel my pain a bit more...or maybe not.

At any rate, please help.

Link to system: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vdone&1258245716&view
aggielaw
cwlondon
1,198 posts
 
Not to fuel your aggravation, but unless you have a seriously weird room, I must admit that if the visual and sonic center of my stereo were not the same, I would also want to blow up my system.

Having wrestled inch by inch with the placement of several different sets of Magneplanars and mini monitors over the years in many different rooms, lining up the visual and sonic centers has always been one of my key tests in getting everything to come into focus.

What about your amps?
tobias
1,534 posts
 
Had imbalance problem for several months, had to twist balance control all over, then realized that the time I rolled drivers in the tube monoblocks, I had put a 5751 in one of them instead of a 12AX7. Very nearly had my 9-pin licence revoked.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
You know, I had a similar problem with my phono stage for a short time, and I was going to send the Pre back to Cary when I too realized I had rolled the wrong tube into the wrong slot on the phono section. I had the 12ax7's on one side in the 12au7 slot, changed them back and it sounded perfect again.

I'm not familiar with your preamp from looking at your system, but could that be it? Is it a tube pre? If so, try uninstalling and re-installing all of the tubes.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
OK, now looking at all of the gear and researching it a bit, with all of the modded gear you have, could it be a problem with one of the outputs to that channel, either on the preamp or the amp side (although this is easily checked and I'm sure you did that). Maybe the pre needs to go back to the place that modded it to be checked.
aggielaw OP
264 posts
 
Howdy, guys. Here's the update. I did as Tvad suggested, and connected the left preamp output to the right amp input and vice versa. The sound shifted left of center. Replaced the cables to proper connection, and the image shifted right of center. Did the same with the CDP output to preamp input, with same results - image shifted left of center when cables sent to opposite channel inputs, and went back to right of center when connected properly.

The pre and amp are both SS, but the Ayon CD-2 uses 4 6H30 tubes, 2 per channel. I'm going to assume it's the tubes and try at least 2 of the other 3 sets of tubes I have for it. If the issue isn't fixed with any of the tubes I'll pull out the Opus 21 and make sure the problem is the CDP. If the issue exists with the Opus as well I'm going to be flat mind-boggled.

Again, thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this!
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