[superdragon]

I made a stereo speaker set from two mono amplifiers. The left channel output goes to the left speaker and the right channel to the right speaker. I am getting true stereo separation, but want to get an accurate channel balance. The amplifiers are identical and each amp has its own volume control knob. If the knobs are turned the exact distance, will the balance be perfect, or am I missing something? I can buy dials with numeric readouts, but I'm not going to throw that kind of money at the project. Even without the precise knobs, I'm sure I can get close enough

 

[MindsMirror]

The speakers and/or the amps might not be perfectly matched. The room will also affect the loudness from each channel. It's best just to measure it. Use a SPL meter, a free app for your phone should be good enough. It doesn't need to be absolutely accurate, it just needs to be precise enough to tell you if one channel is louder than the other. Play a sine wave through each channel, one at a time, put the mic at your listening position, adjust accordingly. The sine wave should be quite loud so that you get a good measurement without background noise interfering. Try it with a few different frequencies, you might get different results.

 

[bigshot]

The answer is maybe. The volume level indicators on amps aren’t always calibrated perfectly, even with digital read outs. But the odds are if you have two amps that are identical, they’re close enough for government work.