New speakers and amplifier fitted but L&R sound balance is awful...HELP!

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Sport160

CarAudio.com Newbie
Hello all,

A newbie - both to this forum and to car audio modification general, and after a recent install I'm experiencing some rather frustrating issues.

The car: Mercedes C63 AMG (2014, W204 model fitted with Mercedes COMAND Online as standard) Standard Audio, no upgrade.

I then had fitted the following:

Morel Tempo Ultra 6.5" component speakers with tweeters for the front
Focal Impulse 4.320 4-channel Class D amplifier which runs the fronts on two channels, and a little sub using the other two channels operating in bridged mode.
Headunit - standard
Rear speakers - standard

I'm extremely pleased with the sound quality - both when using my phone to play Spotify and also DAB, however the left and right balance is all over the place. Since having the install, it sounds like most of the sound is now coming from the driver side speakers - I really hear them driving most of the noise, so what I've had to do is alter the L&R balance using the head unit to shift the balance to the other side.

This obviously works, but causes other issues, namely:

1. Every song is mixed slightly differently, therefore I am having to change the L&R balance to suit each and every song.
2. Volume also changes where the L&R balance should be - if I'm listening on low volumes I need more sound from the drivers side (respectively), but let's say I'm enjoying that song and turn the volume up, the driver's side will be way too overpowering and I then need to go back into the settings to shift the balance across to the other side to balance it out.

Whilst I appreciate the technicalities of sitting closer to one set of speakers in a car, and it not being "ideal" not sat in the centre, I've never experienced such issue before. With every other car audio system I've experienced (B&O, Bose, Harman Kardon, base set-ups etc) I've always been happy with the L&R balance set to dead centre. I've certainly never had to alter the balance for each song!!!

When the balance is right, and set up to the song the sound quality is great! Also, all wiring/connections have been checked.

Any help or insight would be gratefully appreciated, as it's driving me crazy. Thank you!
 
Just going to add something else into the mix...

Just went to the car because I realised that I hadn't really listened to it in the passenger seat before, so wanted to check that it was the same that side or if one side was blatantly louder (with the balance set to 0), and it was the same i.e. sat in the passenger seat and the noise appears much louder from the side you're sat on.

However, I was listening to the music with the engine off, and with a L&R balance set two clicks towards the passenger side it sounded perfect across over 20 songs. So why when I'm driving does it totally change how the balance sounds?!!??!
 
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Any help or insight would be gratefully appreciated
A simple test would be to swap out the left and right rca inputs on the amp. If the sound changes to passenger side being louder, then issue will be on the right input signal being weak. If no change, then the issue will be the amp/right speaker/right speaker connections.
As for the issue being present only while car is on is an unknown right now. We'll see how your testing goes.
 
Hi 1aespinoza,

Swapped out the RCAs, makes no difference.

I don't understand how when driving the car it can sound so drastically different!
 
Hi 1aespinoza,

Swapped out the RCAs, makes no difference.

I don't understand how when driving the car it can sound so drastically different!
From what you stated, you had to click twice to the right to balance out with the car off. So it makes sense that you have to click more when sitting in the driver's side since you are farther, and with the noise of a running car you click even further right I assume. But that tells us that the problem lies from the amp onward. Since you said all wiring connections have been inspected, I will venture to suspect the amplifier. You may have to mess with the gain input on the right channel. I do not know if the shop gain matched those or left them as is. In any case this is your next easy test, and hopefully the solution.
 
Swapped out the RCAs, makes no difference.
Scratch that, I just found a manual online and it has no left right gain controls. This makes me suspect a bad amplifier. I doubt the speaker is bad, those are hardly the issue. This next test is a bit more involved. It is swapping out the left and right speaker outputs at the amplifier. The shop may have soldered and shrink wrapped the wires, so if you are up for it, have at it. If the sound changes, the amp is the issue. If sound remains low on the right side, the speaker is the problem.
 
put the balance in the middle and put your head in the middle of the car and see if it sounds right

if not, somethings messed up
 
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Sport160

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