[Alcophone]

Balance control addresses:
1. Room anomalies (it's been a long time since Schiit was only for headphones.)
2. Recording irregularities.
3. Individual hearing issues.
4. Individual taste.
You may not need or want a certain control or feature. But it is presumptuous to assume no one else has such a need.

1. Covered by "poorly placed", though admittedly that's the perspective of a snobby audiophile without a WAF as in "You're not prioritizing sound enough, mate"
2. Interesting, I don't think I have encountered that
3. Most convincing reason, didn't think of that
4. Well, sure. But the more rare the need is, the more likely the feature gets cut, especially if it adds to parts cost (pots and knobs aren't trivial), adds manufacturing complexity and reduces audio quality through extra parts in the signal path. That's kind of the neat about the SparkoS Aries with its relay based volume control, the effect of shifting the balance to the right is identical to having different volume levels, not just conceptually, but in terms of the signal path.

I'm not opposed to having balance controls on audio gear, I just think most people don't need it and so it's understandable that it's rare.

 

[Ableza]

I'm not opposed to ANY controls on audio gear. Heck if you want max control knock yourself out buy a full-on mixer and effects rack. But I am also not one that will use much of anything besides gain (and in some cases EQ,) and I do not try to redesign a company's gear. If the designer wants to add a flanger or delay, then so be it. But since I'm not playing a guitar through it I won't use it.

 

[sam6550a]

My Cambridge Audio CXA60 integrated amp has a balance control and defeatable bass and treble. Heresy, I know!

My Citation I preamp has a balance control, a blend control, step switch tone controls, Fletcher-Munson loudness control, channel reverse, and phase reverse. The old guys knew what they were doing.

 

[Paladin79]

My Citation I preamp has a balance control, a blend control, step switch tone controls, Fletcher-Munson loudness control, channel reverse, and phase reverse. The old guys knew what they were doing.

The Citation 1 is quite valuable, it has been many years since I have seen one and it would require someone of your talent to keep it running all these years.

 

[sam6550a]

The Citation 1 is quite valuable, it has been many years since I have seen one and it would require someone of your talent to keep it running all these years.

I changed the caps, upgraded the power supply, changed a lot of resistors to metal film, installed new gold plated RCAs, and changed the volume control to an ALPS. I have owned this thing since 1962.

 

[Mr Rick]

I'm old enough to remember when almost every preamplifier, receiver, and integrated amplifier, had a balance control. Most also had tone controls and loudness compensation.

 

[tin-ear]

Going back--Godzilla Motherf***es! * 26 years ago I has a Golden Tube Audio SEP-1 pre-amp. It had a balance control that had a very minor effect for balance controls. No swinging all the sound to the left or right channel. It was almost hard to detect.
The company explained that in some situations you just needed one, but a mild one would not harm the music very much. It was also defeatable by a little switch inside.
I miss that pre-amp and their SE-40 amp. I don't miss the lack of a remote, and the need to fix things and replace under-spec'd parts within 5 years of buying one on the amp. The pre-amp was much more reliable. Eventually a couple of aftermarket guys came up overhaul kits, or Yahoo group info, and mine worked great after that.

*I had a roommate going back 45 years ago; that was his favorite naughty saying. Catching.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

This is being balanced:

 

[Ableza]

This is being balanced:

THAT is a trap. Touch the white and the trap springs closed around your hand with claws.

 

[G0rt]

THAT is a trap. Touch the white and the trap springs closed around your hand with claws.

Usually, that's a sequencing and permissions issue. If you start with floofy cheeks, then stroke downward to floofy belly with all digits engaged, you may survive. Probably.

 

[Paladin79]

I changed the caps, upgraded the power supply, changed a lot of resistors to metal film, installed new gold plated RCAs, and changed the volume control to an ALPS. I have owned this thing since 1962.

I have an abundance of left over parts if you ever need anything else. My Alps pots are usually 10k to 100k but I do have a couple rare single gang Alps that are 100k as well, they are highly sought after and out of production.

My thanks go out to Sam for my first satsuma mandarins of the season they are a highly appreciated winter time treat for my family and me.

 

[Dogmatrix]

I'm old enough to remember when almost every preamplifier, receiver, and integrated amplifier, had a balance control. Most also had tone controls and loudness compensation.

Separate left / right tone controls on the Marantz PM94 . I have one in the back room in need of repair might put it in for a quote but it is very heavy

 

[corndog71]

Yesterday I mentioned that @sam6550a could most likely take a group of parts I sent him including tubes and build a headphone amp, I realized after the fact that @AudioGal could most likely do the same thing because of her experiences with tubes. The last time I did this I was given some obscure Russian tubes and transformers and the research took about a week before I could get started. I would not do that to friends. I was required to use at least 75% of the parts I was given and build a 15 watt SET amp.

I kept that one and built a decent cabinet for it. Fun and games for me since I like challenges. Oh and I called the amp the Cowen until I was happy with the sound and won the bet, now it is the amp formerly known as Cowen.

Where do you get those transformer covers?

 

[Paladin79]

Where do you get those transformer covers?

I often build my own, in the past I got some out of China or Russia but they get pricey and shipping takes a long time. I do what I can with metalwork including using blank copper plate.

For my last amp build I am considering solid copper.

 

[bcowen]

My Cambridge Audio CXA60 integrated amp has a balance control and defeatable bass and treble. Heresy, I know!

My Harman Kardon 730 has a balance control. Even a headphone jack. And it sounded like I imagined tubes would sound before I knew what tubes sounded like.