Supernait 2

To adjust the balance.

Have I missed a competition for the stupidest thread of the year? There have been quite a few recently but this has to be a contender. 

Halibut, you must be jealous. Halibuts are very unbalanced fishes.

I guess James is spot on :-)

M2BFX, the balance control works in conjunction with the volume control.  There are a few reasons why it's desirable; firstly, not all recordings are balanced correctly.  Sometimes an old tape or treasured LP may have one channel more worn and at a lower output than the other.  The balance control helps to even that out.  Similarly, some rooms have acoustics that can make one channel seem slightly louder than the other.  Again, the balance control allows you even that out.  And even the volume pot itself can present a very slight imbalance at certain points along its track (usually at the lowest/earliest points), so the balance pot is useful here too.

???? M2BFX wrote,...why does this amp have a balance control.?

Good question,..I have never,in all my Hifi life used the balance control.

/Peder ????

Peter, you beat me to it.

Sorry couldn't resist M2. See the more sensible response from Richard...

Whether it's used or not, at least the SN2 has a proper balance control unlike my little Nait 1.

When playing old vinyl its nice to have mono, tilt and balance adjustment options

Peder posted:

???? M2BFX wrote,...why does this amp have a balance control.?

Good question,..I have never,in all my Hifi life used the balance control.

/Peder ????

Well i had no less than two 252 pre amps that had such bad channel imbalance at lower volumes that the balance control was used at 50% adjustment. The second 252 was fixed after a vist to the factory but was still far from perfect and still needed a fair bit of balance tweaking to get right. A total pain in the arse for late night listening where slightly lower volume is often required.

Perhaps the question might be worded differently.  But the balance control is useful, firstly for reasons Richard described.  Also, if you are unable to sit in the middle "sweet spot" but have to sit to one side, then you can adjust the balance so you get a realistic sound stage.  Better to have a balance control than not.

I use the balance control all the time, for the various reasons mentioned by Richard.  My question is, why don't all preamps/integrateds have a balance control these days?  They have been dropped by manufacturers right and left, not just Naim.   I also wish the mono button, found on 552, 252 and so on, had been retained on the SN2.

Richard Dane posted:

M2BFX, the balance control works in conjunction with the volume control.  There are a few reasons why it's desirable; firstly, not all recordings are balanced correctly.  Sometimes an old tape or treasured LP may have one channel more worn and at a lower output than the other.  The balance control helps to even that out.  Similarly, some rooms have acoustics that can make one channel seem slightly louder than the other.  Again, the balance control allows you even that out.  And even the volume pot itself can present a very slight imbalance at certain points along its track (usually at the lowest/earliest points), so the balance pot is useful here too.

Thanks for that ....just all systems I have had didnt  have one ....I know what they are for but thought most recordings are created with equal left and right

gary yeowell posted:

Peder posted:

???? M2BFX wrote,...why does this amp have a balance control.?

Good question,..I have never,in all my Hifi life used the balance control.

/Peder ????

Well i had no less than two 252 pre amps that had such bad channel imbalance at lower volumes that the balance control was used at 50% adjustment. The second 252 was fixed after a vist to the factory but was still far from perfect and still needed a fair bit of balance tweaking to get right. A total pain in the arse for late night listening where slightly lower volume is often required.

Thanks for that response.....unlike some who think it’s a stupid question. Appreciate it

just alll systems I have had did not have one, and I know most older recordings used to split left and right and used it as an amazing effect in putting some instruments on left and vocal on right.

hungryhalibut posted:

Have I missed a competition for the stupidest thread of the year? There have been quite a few recently but this has to be a contender. 

Just asked as most systems didn’t have one 

and thought high quality systems didn’t need one either ......clearly wrong

thanks anyway....but just wondered 

I used the balance control when one of my loudspeakers was closer to a side wall and therefore sounded stronger than the other.

What I found most amazing is that the Nait 5 has a balance control too unlike the successors of it.

Also as you get older you may find that the hearing in one ear goes off faster than in the other. A balance control can be useful in that situation too.

bedt

David

I wish all amplifiers had a balance control and a loudness control for low volume listening. Of course defeatable for the purist..

Oh everyday when I wake up then walk to living room, I always hope my Nait XS also have a balance control.

hungryhalibut posted:

Have I missed a competition for the stupidest thread of the year? 

Apparently yes, but there's always the stupidest response of the year competition.

Thanks Joe, that made me chuckle!

This thread is interesting ........... I have never used the balance control ........... in donkeys years ... apart from testing speakers..........surely there should be a performance gain to omit it ........... even the 552 has one ........ not sure about S1....

Sorry if I started something 

Richieroo posted:

This thread is interesting ........... I have never used the balance control ........... in donkeys years ... apart from testing speakers..........surely there should be a performance gain to omit it ........... even the 552 has one ........ not sure about S1....

 

It doesn't have to cause a loss of quality...

The last preamp I designed had separate L & R volume controls (ALPS 'Blue' from the same batch to ensure adequate stereo tracking) linked by a mechanical slip-clutch so that you could turn one against the other and hence adjust the balance.

A couple of years ago on my old entry system (Nait 5i CD5 + PMC 23s) I noticed the image had started to shift to the left, as if when viewed down a large cone it was pointing off-centre. Moving the speakers etc around didn’t help much, and I eliminated my ears as the cause by separately parking both sons in front of it and asking if it sounded right. Both independently said no, it’s off to [that] side. The Nait has no balance control. Step forward to now with the 272 / 250 into different PMCs in a different room all carefully positioned equidistant from walls and things and the issue is still there, but the 272 has a balance control in the app’s Audio Settings. It really is the most useful thing and I regularly tweak it during a session, never by much but always pushing the image to the right a little to make up for the off-centre sound stage. It varies from 0 to 3 (of 10) at most, and can change song by song. But it restores the full even sound that would otherwise by dominated by the off-centre image that used to drive me nuts. All praise the balance control, esp when it’s buried in the software but easily accessible.

Fair point .........