[KuKuBuKu]

Ok, I received a pair of Sennheiser HD650's from Mark FOR FREE! Huge shout out to him! Spontaneous act of kindess! He even paid for shipping!
 
But here's the thing; It seems like the left channel is dominating over the right. I've switched the wire around and tried various sources, amp and unamped, and none of those are the problem. What can I do? Changing the channel balance on my receiver acts like a temporary solution, but I can't use my receiver to drive these forever!

 

[Argyris]

You can test this for sure by playing anything in mono through them. If the sound is not centered, then there's an imbalance somewhere. It's also not outside the realm of possibility (though probably unlikely) that your own hearing might be imbalanced. In fact, I hear slightly better out of my left ear than my right. I never noticed it much before, but headphones with a wider soundstage seem to exacerbate the problem. The HD650 would fall under that category. This is of course really easy to rule out: just wear them reversed, and if the imbalance follows the left cup over to the right side, then you know it's an issue with the cans.
 
Others will likely have more to say. Just thought I'd throw my thoughts into the arena in the meantime.

 

[JeckyllAndHyde]

put on the headphones left to the right to be sure its not your hearing
try other tracks/recordings - most are slightly inbalanced
play mono track

 

[KuKuBuKu]

Quote:

You can test this for sure by playing anything in mono through them. If the sound is not centered, then there's an imbalance somewhere. It's also not outside the realm of possibility (though probably unlikely) that your own hearing might be imbalanced. In fact, I hear slightly better out of my left ear than my right. I never noticed it much before, but headphones with a wider soundstage seem to exacerbate the problem. The HD650 would fall under that category. This is of course really easy to rule out: just wear them reversed, and if the imbalance follows the left cup over to the right side, then you know it's an issue with the cans.
 
Others will likely have more to say. Just thought I'd throw my thoughts into the arena in the meantime.

Good Idea! My receiver has a mono switch. 
 
I've tried switching the headphones around before. It is not my hearing. 
 

 

[KuKuBuKu]

Quote:

put on the headphones left to the right to be sure its not your hearing
try other tracks/recordings - most are slightly inbalanced
play mono track

I've tried other tracks, and the radio... also I don't think some tracks like Daft Punk can even be unbalanced...
 

 

[KuKuBuKu]

I feel kind of dumb now... it was unbalanced because my ipod was set on mono left, so everything was messed up.
 
I tried mono. They sound balanced.
 
I might be going crazy...

 

[Argyris]

Quote:

I feel kind of dumb now... it was unbalanced because my ipod was set on mono left, so everything was messed up.
 
I tried mono. They sound balanced.
 
I might be going crazy...

Don't worry about it too much. I'm glad you sorted this all out, and I figured it had to be something like this. Also, with those old receivers you haven't had your rite of passage until you've flipped the tape monitor by mistake, wondered why you can only barely hear some tinny sound even when the volume is set full blast, and then switched back the monitor before turning the volume back down. Perhaps the very definition of "ear rape."
 
Anyway, I hope now that you've got everything fixed you enjoy those cans. Let us know what you think after you've had some time with them!