balance control tip
Precise balance control is essential for obtaining accurate soundstaging. Output imbalances due to asymmetrical placement of the loudspeakers in the room are common, and degrade imaging accuracy.
To correct this problem, place the Nº380 in mono mode and center the resulting image (which should be quite small) directly between the loudspeakers, using the balance control. Differences as small as 0.1 or 0.2 decibels have been found to be significant. Try it.
Note that this “mono trick” can correct only for differences that occur after the preamplifier in the signal chain, things like asymmetrical placement of loud- speakers or slight mismatches in sensitivity between speakers. If a particular re- cording is out of balance, you will have to adjust the balance more subjectively, as always.
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