I recently got a Radial EXTC Stereo box for running line signals from synths and my interface through effects pedals. As I was setting it up, I was surprised to discover a 1.2 dB difference between left and right channels in the insert/EFX loop (when the ‘blend’ knob is all the way at the ‘wet’ position. when all the way ‘dry’, left and right are exactly matched).
This is way more than I’ve seen in any other gear I’ve used.
I asked Radial about this and they said that because the single knob controls 2 channels, there can be some discrepancy between them, and they only test for the signals to be within 2 dB of each other. I found this to be rather surprising and it is kind of giving me some pause about using the device.
Has anyone with an EXTC Stereo observed similar numbers?
And along those lines, at what point have you found a difference between left and right channels to make a meaningful difference?
I have one of those and it’s spot on, difference is about -0.1 or -0.2dB. Are you testing with a tone generator to make sure everything going in is the same strength?
Interesting. Yeah, I’m using the test tone in Ableton settings. Nothing connected to the insert, just going from dry to wet with the blend knob which drops the left channel by about 1 dB
For the price, I’d be expecting better personally, stereo potentiometers have a tolerance between 10-20% and for greater precision, trimmers can be used to match the sides to a high degree, that they haven’t bothered on a nearly €500 utility box is a bit of a joke. 1.2dB isn’t huge but enough to be noticeable (by definition) and that’s pretty disappointing for a premium product.
I’m also of the belief that you shouldn’t have to deal with this on something at the radial price tier. If it came down to it and you really liked the radial, you could always replace the pot itself with a more precision oriented unit, but you’d first need to find out the actual ohm value of the main dual gang pot which is responsible for the imbalance and then price check them on mouser or something to see if it was worth it. Some of them have under 1% tolerance but they’re pretty expensive. I’d be more likely to look for something else that was good right out of the box.
Really appreciate all the feedback. I reached out to the retailer I bought it from and they are going to swap the unit out. Keeping my fingers crossed for better luck with the next one.
Hopefully the new unit is better matched. 1.2 dB off is pretty bad. I have a pair of the 500 series units, so I manually match L/R. Great utility for putting stomp boxes into inserts on my mixer.
