PA3X - Right channel lower than left

Veren · Post by **Veren** » Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:21 pm

Hi All

Not sure if anyone having this issue

I have used this keyboard very seldom over the years and have now noticed that audio from output left and right is heavier on the left channel

I have swopped out cables, balanced vs unbalanced, tried into audio interfaces, computers etc and its the same.

When you swop the channels around then the issue is also reversed (right heavier)

I have then selected output to be output 1 and 2 and although no MAX/Waves, the sound is pretty much equal.

Thanks

Veren · Post by **Veren** » Sat Sep 24, 2022 8:51 pm

Hi All

I have done a reload of OS and Resources and issue is still the same.

Bass is even lesser on the low output channel and does not sound so clear.

This board and brand is really turning out to be crap.

Veren · Post by **Veren** » Thu Oct 06, 2022 8:57 am

Hi All

No feedback or experience from the forum? Has anyone recently metered the outputs to test/see fairly equal output from left and right apart from any stereo related effects?

thanks in advance

musiccankill · Post by **musiccankill** » Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:21 pm

Hello!

The outputs are equal when the keyboard is in full working order.
It seems that yours has some issue ,most likely on the output board.
We are talking about a keyboard that is 8 to 11 years old (depending on the date of production) so it is more that logical for some of them to have some issues depending also on the use they had and the conditions they were stored at during all these years.

Still it is not a fault that is unfixable and should be a pretty cheap fix too even if you ll have to exchange the entire output board.

Veren · Post by **Veren** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:10 am

Hi Musiccankill

Thanks for your response.

I'm not sure how to have same repaired here in South Africa (Korg distributor is very far away from where i live) nor do i know which board to replace as online pricing and the Rate of exchange makes the purchasing of these boards quite expensive.

This keyboard basically remained in a cabinet at home and hardly ever used.

thank you for the confirmation that outputs are equal.

Reuben · Post by **Reuben** » Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:15 pm

Hi Veren. My Pa3x has just started doing exactly the same - Left output much louder than the Right output.
My workaround is to connect my amp to the headphone out jack which doesn't suffer the same problem as the main Left/Right outs. I just used a stereo splitter plug to allow me to use the standard cables to the amp and the balance is now correct.
It seems the headphone amp inside the Pa3x is seperate to the main out amp so the problem is solved.

Veren · Post by **Veren** » Thu Oct 20, 2022 6:19 am

Hi Reuben

Thank for the response and i will give it a shot but also wondering impact of audio quality out of headphones.

Thanks again

Reuben · Post by **Reuben** » Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:45 am

I've looked into this a bit further. While I don't have a fix (apart from using the headphone outs) I think I know what is going on.
There is some logic in the circuit playing up. When you have only L plugged in it is supposed to sum L and R to the Left channel for propper mono sound L+R. This it is still doing correctly. But when both L and R are plugged in, L is suppopsed to receive L only (and R to get R only) but what is happening is that the summing to L is still occuring and R level drops (I proved this by plugging in some headphones to R and hearing the drop when something is plugged into L. The same does not happen when done in reverse.
I've opened it up and couldn't see any obvious mechanical problem (Like one of the TRS contacts not touching properly) so I'm suspecting its a circuit problem.

Reuben · Post by **Reuben** » Tue Feb 27, 2024 10:16 pm

PROBLEM SOLVED with a AUD15$ DAC (about USD$10) from Temu.
Bought a DAC that uses the Digital out of the PA3x which has headphone out as well as line out. I can even power it from the USB port in the Pa3x.
The sound is actually better than I've ever heard my Pa3x so the components seem to be of great quality. It also has tone and volume controls and is USB powered.
I bought it from here - which I guess is the Australian version of Temu - but I'm sure is available in any country.

https://www.temu.com/au/192khz-dac-amp- ... 2jxct1l4q4

Left/Right is now perfectly balanced and I have not lost any functionality because it includes volume control - in fact I've gained a simple Bass tone control on the output which I like.

GSM Doctor · Post by **GSM Doctor** » Mon Oct 28, 2024 1:30 pm

musiccankill wrote:Hello!

The outputs are equal when the keyboard is in full working order.
It seems that yours has some issue ,most likely on the output board.
We are talking about a keyboard that is 8 to 11 years old (depending on the date of production) so it is more that logical for some of them to have some issues depending also on the use they had and the conditions they were stored at during all these years.

Still it is not a fault that is unfixable and should be a pretty cheap fix too even if you ll have to exchange the entire output board.

I been have some problem - Right channel lower than left , and sloved already

This is Fault comming from CPU-Board with DAC's , not from Audio Output board !