SP2200 left speaker louder

Hey all, first post here.

 

Just bought the SP2200 to replace my 9 years old 5.1 set. Overall really impressed by the sound. At first I wanted to go with the SP2500 but living in an appartment filled with 80 years old people going to bed at 8pm...let's just say that I wouldn't ever use the full potential of the 232W!

 

So I went with the SP2200. For my use they're great.

 

The only problem is at "stock", the left speaker is louder than the right one...it's mostly audible at low volume. At normal/high volume there's still something wierd...you feel the left on is louder. I can correct this by going in the Win7 control panel and adjusting the speaker balance and to get a good balance I have to set the Left speaker at 75 and the right one at 90...

 

The wierd thing is that even when I plug my headphones in the front jack of the right speaker, I still have the left ear louder.

 

I read what was available on the web and some have this issue...I don't really want to RMA the speakers but if I have too I will...last resort though.

 

Do some of you have found a way to get this thing balanced?

 

Thanks a bunch all!

Ok, I played with the settings in the Windows Control Panel and Creative Control Panel and found everything that I needed to tweak these little beast to my liking.

 

About the balance problem, it's not that audible with music and games anymore and all speakers are at equal values, except at very low volume but that's not even to consider.

 

All in all, for the 80CAD I paid i'm really impressed with this set.

 

+1 Corsair...in fact +2 for the PSU too!

This is the first that I have seen this with the SP2200. If its not a driver balance setting that is doing it and it looks like its the speakers themselves then we definitely have the option to replace them.

 

Request an RMA

 

Thanks for the post RAM GUY. The thing is even reviews are talking about this so in my understanding it's "built in" the speakers so to speak. But I tweaked them last evening anf found it was working corerctly...but when I plug my headphones directly in the right speaker I can definitely hear the left louder than the right.

 

If I end up RMAing the set, should I do the process with Corsair directly or with NCIX.com wher I bought them?

 

EDIT: Here's the quote took from overclockersclub.com:

 

There was one other problem that was particularly noticeable. As mentioned on the previous page, the SP2200 is marked to be in specification if the drivers perform within 5dB of one another. This is an easily noticeable difference in sound output levels, and it was very noticeable when the master volume knob was positioned at less than 1/4 of the knob's turning arc. Below this point the right channel is much lower in volume than the left, and at below 1/8 of the turning arc the right channel nearly cuts out entirely. Between 1/8 and 1/4 of the turning arc are the sound levels suitable for quiet listening, and unfortunately, the severe imbalance makes listening at these levels nearly impossible.

Ok it's official, those speakers rocks! I set the volume between 50 and 70 in the windows audio control panel so the volume knob is at least at 1/4 turned. No more difference in both speakers and no more difference when I plug my headphones.

 

It's only when the volume know is under 1/8 that I can hear a difference...and to be honest I couldn't care less since metal sound so much better at high volume! :P

 

Anyways, RMA is out the question.

 

Thanks again RAM GUY for coming in.

 

Peace!

Came here to say I had the exact same problem with my set I just got this week. Was able to balance it out to acceptable levels. Overall very disappointed that I even had to do that. Unlike you I am not so forgiving and will not be purchasing speakers from Corsair in the future.

I have the same problem, except my right speaker is louder then the left one. I had several 2.1 systems before, the last one being ******** 2300. The sound quality of SP2500 is definitely an improvement over 2300, which makes this that much harder to accept the problem. I mess around with FL Studio from time to time, so i made a simple MONO drum pattern and the sound is definitely not centered (about 10% to the right). Having basic knowledge about music production and mixing sounds, i can say this problem won't go away by balancing the sound from windows. You can center it this way but it won't feel the same way. With movies and games it might not be a big problem, but when you listen to music it's definitely not right. Most songs have centered drums and hearing kicks and snares slightly to the right is unacceptable. When you balance from windows to the left (to make things sound like they're supposed to), you can hear the right side is more compressed or something, like the "soundstage" is wider to the left and shorter to the right. This is also unacceptable, therefore it's not a solution to the problem. It's frustrating because i like the sound quality of the system and imo it's the best sounding PC system on the market. RMA is out of the question in my case (paying for shipping and waiting a month for a replace is something i just won't have). This comes almost 2 weeks after having a serious problem with my H70 cooler. The pump made that horrible noise everyone is talking about, like a wire touching a fan. I send it back to my local store and got an air cooler instead. Needless to say i am disappointed with these faulty products, even though the audio system sounds great and i was getting outstanding CPU temperatures with H70. But these "little" problems make your otherwise great products not worth buying. I won't try my luck with Corsair products ever again.

Hey there! Thanks for your reply.

I live in Romania so im pretty sure if i RMA i will have to pay VAT and another fee charged (24% + 9%) when i receive the replacement. I will return it to the local stored i bought i from, but i still have a few days to test it and i wanna make sure there's no other solution.

I tried swiching the speakers (connecting the right one to the left cable and vice versa). It seems the problem is still there, the stereo image is slightly inclined to the right side. So i think the speaker are fine ... it must be something wrong with the transmissive signal (coming from the subwoofer or maybe the cables?). Then i tried switching the cables and the sound is still inclined to my right side (wich is now the left speaker and cable). Then again if i keep the balance from windows centered, and i pull the left speaker slightly towards me, the stereo image is now centered but the sound coming from the right speaker is not as clear as the one from the left speaker (like the middle and high frequencies are blurred or something). I can't explain it better than that because i have no knowledge on how a speaker is built. All i can say is that i am standing right in the middle and the stereo image is inclined to the right. I will keep it a few more days for testing, but i'm running out of ideas. I also connected it to my mobile phone and to another pc and the problem is still there. If you have any suggestions ... or maybe you can ask your colleagues for a solution, i will be happy to try anything because i really like how the system sounds and there's no other option on the PC speakers market that even comes close to this. If i return it i will be forced to try a hi-fi solution and that's a lot more expensive for my needs.