If you’ve used the eq mic and it did the calculations try adjusting the levels and distance a little till it’s centered
If you cup your hands behind your ears, is the image centered? That centers the image in my room, which is open on to my left. It reveals how much the room acoustics influence the imaging. What to do about it? I don’t do anything. But I also don’t listen too often from the listening seat.
If the sound is 25% off-center it’s got to be more than just room acoustics. Especially as he has things measured out, even with some room anomalies (none of which are probably any more than what all of us contend with). I’d start looking at equipment.
It seems hard to say, as it could be so many different things. I'll share that I was noticing a similar problem (in the other direction), and I finally figured out that it was mainly my own hearing that was unbalanced (which you can check by standing backwards, facing your listening position, and seeing whether the balance switches sides or stays the same). If it's not your hearing, I imagine that it could be any piece of equipment, including connection points, and possibly your room (though others have said the room alone shouldn't be enough). I personally solved my issue with my preamp's balance control, and I don't notice any degradation in the sonics that way (unlike, as you say, tone controls). I'm really picky about needing an absolutely centered and balanced image, so not using the balance control would probably drive me nuts.
As mentioned above, I think we need to know whether you've had your hearing checked for left/right imbalance. It's very common. As to the question of a balance control compromising the sound quality, if the imbalance troubles you enough to start this thread, how much other damage could a balance control do? In my opinion, it will likely fix your problem without causing any others. I use mine all the time with no ill effects. (And no, tone controls also do no harm, in MY experience.)
The room is the big controller of the image. So is furniture and their locations relative to the speakers as is the open areas of the room (doorways, open area to one side). Adjnust toe-in angles to compensate for this.
I had this exact issue in my last listening room, nothing would help, it was clearly just something about the geometry of the room. Sounds like you've tried pretty much everything to fix it, my advice would be just tweak the balance control until you're happy it sounds perfectly centred and don't worry about it any more - believe me, you can drive yourself up the wall trying to fix it in other ways, and you won't be enjoying the music until you do.
not that i have heard. also toe angle for each speaker should be as close to equal as possible. i use a laser measure on the side of the speakers and aim to a piece of tape equal distance from center. it helps. try more toe in to solidify the center image.
In and of itself, the balance control is acting as a ‘negative-only’ volume control so if you bring it ‘down’ in one channel you’re reducing the dynamic range in the corresponding speaker simply because the loudest point is now lower. If at the listening point it’s equal to the other channel I guess it doesn’t really matter though. And this is assuming the issue is 100% room based, not equipment based.
A balance control is usually always in-circuit, so adjusting the position from center doesn't have further detrimental effect. It might be used for a phono cartridge with channel imbalance, or a recording louder in one channel. However, a balance knob can't compensate correctly for high frequencies absorbed by a sofa on one side, higher-level reflections from a wall on one side, or a tweeter that has reduced output.
I have a friend whose system is off center. It’s due to the room. Simple solution is to move the speaker. If the center image is off to the right … pull the left speaker close to you. Move it about 1” at a time till it’s all centered.
This is, in fact, the correct way to begin the troubleshooting process. This will narrow down the possible problem.
Written by Leonard Cohen, so how lame can it be? I'm not a big female vocal genre fan, but this song isn't as bad as most of that stuff (that I have heard, and I have not heard much). Had an on-again-off-again issue with off-center images, but I really dialed things in recently when I went through the Sumiko Master Set set up process. There is a thread describing it in detail at Audio Circle. Not saying it'll solve the OP's issue, and it's a bit of a pain going through the process, but it really got my speakers to sing. Basically, push both speakers up against the wall (remove spikes, if any). Right speaker facing outwards. Then play Ballad of the Runaway Horse (Jennifer Warnes) on repeat. Gradually move the left speaker into the room. When the bass pops and sounds smooth and natural (I also focused on vocals), that's when you stop. Do the same with the right speaker until the image is centred and the sound is smooth and clear, and the speakers really just sound like they are playing together. I guess this method really focuses on listening to where your speakers work best with the room rather than fight it, and also with each other. There is no need to measure to the mm to ensure everything measures exactly the same (which assumes walls are perfectly straight, a big assumption). One thing I ensured was that my speakers were at least 85cm from the wall in order to reduce reflections that interfere with the original sound. This was pulled out a little farther than the Master Set process would have been ok with, but not by much, and I still got the sound I was listening for at this distance. I don't know if this process can fix all ills (probably not) but it might be worth a shot and all you'll lose is time.
Long shot....but is it possible you are using loudspeakers designed not to be toed in? They do exist.....
