Hi
This is normal. If you rotate fully left it goes to about half past 6 but rotate fully right and it goes to about 4oclock. So middle is not vertical but more like 11 o’clock.
Mines the same
When I had my dem of SN3 last week, the store had the balance control exactly as in your photo…
About two minutes to twelve…
Thanks, well this explains pretty much the whole situation. Haven’t tried going fully left or right, general expectation is rotating the knob equally in both directions. Anyway, I am glad this is not due to an issue with the unit, but rather probably some engineering decision taken due to an internal component placement or something of a kind. I wonder whether Naim made any statement regarding the matter, it would have cleared lots of doubts people apparently have. Moreover now with sn3.
1 Like
Struck me as strange too! I only noticed as I think it’s good practice to occasionally sweep all pots over full range a couple of times. Then noticed the sweep wasn’t centred.
Seems odd for a balance control, but there you go!
1 Like
I wish my SN3 could be balanced with a single position of the balance control!
With mine playing at a fairly loud level, around 9 o’clock on the volume control, I have to set the balance control at about 2 or 3 minutes after 12. This is fine - it doesn’t matter where the balance control has to be placed as long as it balances.
With a sweep in each direction mine settles at about 7 o’clock left and 5 0’clock right which is near enough as I would expect. Also, this explains why some are reporting the need to set the dial before 12 o’clock as opposed to mine being just after. Perfectly normal and acceptable so far.
I use mono recordings to Balance the sound between the speakers. This is how I arrived at setting the balance control to just after 12.
However, as I decrease the volume the sound becomes louder from the left speaker. Balancing the sound by ear again requires shifting the balance control to the right a bit more. When I decrease the volume further I again need to adjust the balance control to the right.
I have heard that the ALPs volume control does have an imbalance at very low volumes but balances quickly to be OK at quite low listening levels.
However, my latest SN3 does not balance correctly until it is quite high on the low volume scale if that makes sense. My previous SN3 had the same problem but the bias was towards the right channel, my SN2 did not have the same problem- it balances at very low volumes and my XS2 before that was perfectly balanced at very low levels. All use ALPs.
My speakers are are Neat SX1 with a sensitivity of 86dB, all cabling and other parameters are the exact same.
For those who are interested, this is a 2 photo montage of the absolute Start (Left) and absolute Finish (Right) positions of the balance control on my SN2. You can see the ‘mechanical’ centre of the balance will be just before 12 Noon / North, which is where after several tests, I have actually set it by ear. I have never had a problem at lower volume levels, and does the position bother me? Of course not !
1 Like
Could it not possibly be what position the rotary knob is on the spline of the shaft? like one ‘tooth’ out or something?
Both Naim preamps I own came with the balance knob offset like that, one of which was a 552. There doesn’t seem to be much effort put into getting them central. On anything other than a 552 it is on splines and can be carefully pulled off the and put back in the central position. Care is needed because of the wires for the LED, which also have to allow for rotation. At your peril or get your dealer to do it.
1 Like
Exactly the same here. Thanks for the photograph.
Hi @GeoffC, great pic, and mine would be similar if you imagine the green dots over to the left a little more and the red line just after 12 o’clock as opposed to just before 12 on yours. Not a problem with this whatsoever.
It is the fact that at low volumes I have to move the balance control a lot more to the right to get the sound to balance. The lower the volume the farther to the right that I have to turn the balance control.
If like my SN2 this was just an issue at extremely low levels, it would not be a problem.
1 Like
Hi @Stephen_Tate, yes I imagine it can be taken off and put on more centrally but to be honest it is not too far out so to me, just not worth bothering with.
If it was just the position of the balance control all would be well. My gripe is the fact that I have to adjust the balance. Control at different actual listening levels.
If I understand you correctly, this is now your second SN3 with the first one doing the same? If so? then this suggests to me that the problem may lay elsewhere, in fact i’m willing to bet that you may have a connection issue…
I did explore this and removed then remade all connections. I started with the NDX2 connected via the supplied lavender din cable and just the speakers connected via my usual chord speaker cable. Music was either streamed from Roon or via SSD connected to NDX2. I then replaced the lavender with chord epic interconnects - the problem was the same.
I then disconnected the NDX2 and connected my Oppo 105 with the same attached SSD of ripped CDs. Again the same problem. With NDX2 and Oppo connected the problem remained.
Connecting my Sky Q box to Oppo to watch tv resulted in the same problem.
This SN3 has a louder Left channel at low volumes, my previous SN3 had a louder right channel but balanced out at a lower volume than this SN3 so this SN3 is worse.
My previous SN2 did not have any imbalance at more than a whisper. All connections and gear has remained the same with all three Supernaits.
I really do wish that there was a connection problem that I could find and fix!
Any ideas?
1 Like
Same on headphones?
Yes, same on headphones. However, listening with headphones is seldom for casual/background listening so I would not ever listen quietly enough for the imbalance to be a problem.
Has anyone tried the Hicap DR with specifically the SN3? Have an NDX2 and XPSDR, wondering whether a discounted ex demo HicapDR is worth it…
Also would it only effect playing vinyl (when SN3 is used on its own), or would it effect the whole set up?
Thanks
The HicapDR would affect the sound of the SN3 for whichever source is playing through it however only your ears will know if it’s worth the cost in your system so best to audition it yourself.
I have Hcap with SN3 ,demo’d at dealer and then home,I bought it ,but agree with other comment,you need to listen for yourself to be sure.
1 Like
In the interview piece with Steve Sells I did for the current issue of HiFiCritic, to accompany the SN3 review, reference was made to ‘ALPS Blue Velvet potentiometers for volume control, chosen for their
sound quality even though their accuracy of tracking at really low volumes isn’t the greatest.’
So it’s a known foible of these devices, yet Naim chooses to use them on sonic grounds.
1 Like
Yes, since I have long been using a SN2/HiCap DR: the effect to my ears with the SN3 is a little extra presence and slightly more bass grip, but the change is considerably less than that when comparing SN2 with and without HiCap DR.
Whether you think the gains are sufficient to justify the cost is really only something your ears can tell you.
5 Likes