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funny thing happen on the way to sonic heaven....

Posted by jeromelang (A) on December 7, 2009 at 01:29:02

I had this problem of stereo image shift to the left side with my main system (SACD player, pre-amp, power-amp, 3-way speakers). This problem persisted for the last 3 – 4 years.

I tried replacing each and every component and cable one at a time to determine which component(s) in my system is causing the problem – but just cannot isolate the offending component. I even changed the high and mid drivers of the speakers....but to no avail.

Somebody suggested maybe it is room acoustics problem. So I tried repositioning everything in the room (rotate 90 degrees) – but still cannot find the problem. And then I discovered the problem happening also with another system in another room (using another same pair of speakers with an AV receiver).

I went for a hearing test but the doctor said my hearing above average and found nothing wrong. Then later I discovered a third system in my house is also having the same problem….!

What the heck is happening?????


Suddenly I discovered the cause of it all.
The solution is so simple, and so unbelievable….

How I solve the problem – actually it happens just by chance.

I placed my CD onto a clear transparent CD jewel box and play it, and voila! The imaging shift problem is solved. If I place the same CD onto the more common CD jewel box with the more common greyish black base and play it, the problem of imaging shift to left will occur again. I tried this with many CDs over the last 3 months on both type of jewel boxes, and this is repeatable EVERY TIME.

So, just by placing CD on clear transparent jewel box, and playing this disc – imaging restored to centre again. In my collection, I probably have only 25 clear transparent CD jewel boxes out of 1200 plus CDs. There was never any problem with my players, my amps, my speakers, my cables and my room acoustics. It seems that the problem is somehow my system has become sensitive to some physical changes on CD discs after it came into contact with different CD jewel case materials.

After playing an “infected” CD, the problem remains in my system (amps, speakers, cables) even if I playback another source like cable TV, vinyl LPs, or cassettes. (I also confirm this with a different system in a different room). That is why I couldn’t pin point the root of the problem for the last 4 years – every item in the signal chain of my system was already “infected” and they all retain this problem. Substituting each component one at a time to isolate the problem didn’t help, because the additional component gets “infected” as soon as they were introduced. But if I run a “clean” CD sound into the system (need to playing at least 2 tracks), then the whole system gets “disinfected”. Even when I run another source like cable TV, vinyl LPs, or cassettes into the system, this problem doesn’t occur again.





Anyone having the same problem....?

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