# Where can I find a good stereo channel tester?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-stereo-channel-tester/179436>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 3, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-stereo-channel-tester/179436 "2003-06-03T19:41:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hauky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@Hauky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hauky)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-stereo-channel-tester/179436/1 "2003-06-03T19:41:16Z")

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That’s probably the wrong choice of words, but what I mean is some form of audio (WAV, MP3, CD, whatever) that lets me test the channels on my stereo to see if they’re hooked up correctly. For example, it might say “left, right” with the word “left” coming from just the left speaker and “right” coming from just the right speaker. The closest thing I’ve found is my old 1080 Snowboarding game for N64 (who knows why they stuck a test in _that_), which isn’t exactly ideal.

Bonus points for something that would test a full 5.1 setup, which I plan to obtain in the near future. 😉 (Although I’m thinking that would have to be in a DVD audio format or something.)

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-stereo-channel-tester/179436/2 "2003-06-03T21:16:13Z")

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Why not just use your balace control. You’re using Windows? Double-click the speaker icon in the system tray, and just move the balace control full left and full right while playing anything.

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**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-stereo-channel-tester/179436/3 "2003-06-03T21:46:26Z")

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or…

Play any song from the Ramones’ first album. It was mixed with all the bass in the left channel and all the guitar in the right channel.

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**Author:** ![Hauky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@Hauky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hauky)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-stereo-channel-tester/179436/4 "2003-06-04T04:38:20Z")

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… It’s always the simple stuff one overlooks, isn’t it? Balance controls.

Never though I’d be able to use :wally on myself!

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**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-stereo-channel-tester/179436/5 "2003-06-04T13:30:43Z")

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For the 5.1 test, I think that any of the THX DVDs have the audio/video setup that is used by the THX engineers to verify the settings. The audio portion tests the location of each speaker and you should hear the same volume from each location to determine that the setup is correct.

I think there are some DVDs that are dedicated to testing the audio and video response. Go a-googling…