Receiver Audio Balance

[curtispan]

Hi guys

I've recently inherited an old receiver (70's and I believe I was told it was all metal or something like that). I also got a set of Bose speakers with it. I know some people here don't like Bose but hey, free is free.

Anyway, now to the problem. The previous owner had set the speakers up so that 1 speaker was much further away from the receiver, and I now have a much longer speaker cable. Now the left speaker was using the shorter speaker cable, and the right speaker was using the much longer one. When I hooked them up, they played at the same volume at first. Now when I play music, I can only hear sound coming from the left speaker, and barely anything from the right. Even with the balance knob, I can't get the right speaker near the same volume as the left.

Need help, would cutting the wire to the right speaker increase the volume at all?

Edit: Wow that was fast. While I was fiddling with it, there was a slight pop and now the speakers are equal volume again... Could it be that the receiver was warming up and had not warmed up both channels equally? :S I really don't know too much about this stuff and my friend who is very knowledgeable in this area is off on vacation :(

[Arinoth]

It could help, though unless we're talking about an insane length of cable difference i dont think it should make a difference. It could be one speaker is going, it could be you may need to go into more settings if you have them, or you may need to tweak your audio source

[1Tanker]

Probably dust in the volume pot. Try taking off the knob, and blow some compressed-air through it..do the balance knob and all others(Treble, Bass, etc)..while you're at it. My Dad used to spray them with Carbon-Tet..not sure exactly what it is...but it lubes them and it worked(especially at eliminated the crackling)...probably isn't very popular anymore. GL

[curtispan]

Well right now I have my receiver connected to a SuperCD Player and my computer. All I can do is connect it via 3.5mm to RCA because the receiver does not support any digital. :P It's quite old.

How would I go about taking the knobs off exactly? I'm not sure what I did but the audio is the same volume again.

Also, I was wondering if was advisable to leave my receiver running 24/7 since it takes a little while for it to warm up and even produce sound if I have it off all night.

[SugarJ]

It's a tube amplifier. They take time to warm up, which was probably why you had the initial problem. And no, I wouldn't leave it on 24/7, the tubes can burn out eventually like a light bulb.

[Arinoth]

Originally Posted by SugarJ

It's a tube amplifier. They take time to warm up, which was probably why you had the initial problem. And no, I wouldn't leave it on 24/7, the tubes can burn out eventually like a light bulb.

+1, tube replacement can turn into being a major pain in the ass

[JD]

I'd say consider buying a new receiver when you have the cash or if you see a good sale.

[1Tanker]

Originally Posted by jdrom17

I'd say consider buying a new receiver when you have the cash or if you see a good sale.

If it's a decent receiver...i would keep it. Tube amps have a really warm sound that's hard to beat...though they tend to not put out much wattage.

[curtispan]

Actually, I just found out the receiver is actually solid state. I've tried letting it warm up for 45minutes, and when I start to play music, one speaker plays and the other is extremely quiet. The speaker that plays music also produces a hissing noise. Could it be a poor RCA to 3.5mm connection?

[1Tanker]

Originally Posted by curtispan

Actually, I just found out the receiver is actually solid state. I've tried letting it warm up for 45minutes, and when I start to play music, one speaker plays and the other is extremely quiet. The speaker that plays music also produces a hissing noise. Could it be a poor RCA to 3.5mm connection?

Switch speaker wires..if the hiss moves to the other side... then it's the speaker...if it stays on the same channel...it's the receiver. GL