left and right speaker does not sound the same, quality and level

[DRA]

hi i am having trouble with my setup and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions.

I have a harmon kardon 3480 hooked up to my computer and a pair of infinity p162 speakers. I have it hooked up with the same length of 14gauge speaker wire from monoprice as well as a 3.5mm to 2rca cable.

The amp is new, sort of (been sitting in my garage unopened in the box for several years and i just opened it a couple of days ago) and the speakers (and i'm thinking this might be the problem) are refurbs bought from infinity through ebay at separate times (didn't come as a pair). (if you can still follow this then awesome...)

Ok so the problem is that the left speaker sound slightly muddled, also not as loud as the right which sounds pretty crisp and louder that the left. I just adjusted the balance to accommodate the difference in level but when i switch back and forth from the left to right balance i can clearly hear a difference in sound quality. The best way to describe is it that the right sounds clearer than the left?

So is it that the speakers are refurbs? or is it the amp? (i heard some shady things about this amp) or am i losing my hearing and mind? also this is the first time i've set it up and i am using all the components for the first time. could it be it needs to be broken in or something? (again the speakers a refurbs so maybe one was broken in already and the other wasn't? maybe?)

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please

 

[GranteedEV]

A few possibilities I can think of

- You do indeed have a speaker that's not working properly - try putting the left speaker on the right and the right speaker on the left (and wire it that way) and see if your problem now
- they are in fact different generations of the same speaker - infinity may have made crossover/driver/etc design modifications that aren't readily visible.
- your computer software has some balancing issues
- your 3.5mm out isn't in right
- a wall on your left is causing reflections?

the only way to really find out what your problem is to isolate it.

-Try adjusting speaker placement, preferably equally and well away from any walls
-Try both of the speakers on different channels of the receiver not only in stereo but also in mono
-see if both speakers are equally stuffed with dampening material - the "refurb repair" shop may have accidentally taken one set of dampening out. This is easy to replace if it's the case.
-Give both speakers the "knock" test to see if they're equally inert. They should be, but you never know what's gone on
- Try different inputs to your receiver, not just the computer

 

[Knucklehead90]

Swap the speakers - left to right and right to left. Does the bad sound still come from the left? Then it's the receiver. If the bad sound travels with the speaker - repair/replace that speaker.

Make sure you have the speaker polarity right. This will usually affect both speakers but could affect just one.