Trying to repair my right channel my self

I've had a problem with my right channel not playing as loud as my left.Happens with car rca's and home rca's.If i shift the balance to the right 2 bars from the end the the level is equal(just for a point of reference).Well it's snowing out here in Mass. so i figured I would take the cover off and look for any obvious problems.I followed the instructions in the drive upgrade and removed the drive tray to look at the main board.Man I can't believe how small all those components are!!Anyway ,does anyone have any idea where I should be looking?I figured I could trace the right channel connections from the wire harness along the main board to try to find any broken/burned out components.Is there a schematic available for the main board that I could use to help me?
I contacted support some time ago and haven't heard from them.I'd be willing to send it to someone who is familiar with it to have a look at it and maybe repair it.Are any of the components in that signal path still available?I'm guessing the DSP chip would be the most expensive.
Your comments and suggestions appreciated

Hmmm...

Just as a reality check, you swapped the connections between the channels as a test, right? I just want to eliminate an external cause or perception. You may also want to check your MP3 files and their encoding. There are some test tracks floating around out there that are specifically for calibrating balance - it might be a good idea to look at those first. Because, to be honest, there is not very much you can do (that I know of) to adjust the gains on the RCA jacks via hardware...

Yes, I did swap the connections and the problem switches to the left channel.On a rare occasionally the right channel will play as normal but then slowly fade in volume,indicating(I think)a faulty component and not a loose connection.

A bad solder joint can cause a loss of signal. I suggest check the connections or give the RCA connections on the board a good resolder.

Cool. I hope it works out that easily!!!

In reply to:

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On a rare occasionally the right channel will play as normal but then slowly fade in volume,indicating(I think)a faulty component and not a loose connection.

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I wouldn't say that. I had a problem like that with the right channel that only existed in the harness, but anyway, it would fade in and out and it definitely was a loose connection and not a faulty component. Your problem sounds like a loose connection to me. As the others have said, check for bad solder joints.

No, there are no schematics for the general public.

Stu

The problem occurs whether I use the harness or the home rca's on the player itself.So I don't believe it is a loose wire as there doesn't appear to be any wires that connect the home rca's to the board.It certainly could be a bad solder joint as I had to send the player in for the IDE header problem.There doesn't appear to be any obvious bad solder joints but then again they are so small it's hard to tell.I'm going to get a magnifying glass and look a little closer.
If I can't locate the problem and support seems out of commision till at least the end of Jan 04 what can I do?I have lived with this problem all summer but I recently got a new pair of speakers and am itching to try them out.There is a shop in town that does assembly of miniature component boards and such and they offered to take a look at it.However they no nothing of the Empeg and I am hesitant to turn over my baby to them.The player is out of warranty so that shouldn't matter.If it's a bad solder joint I think they are capable of repairing that as that's the kind of work they do.
Well the snow storm seems to be over so it's time to head outside for the big cleanup.

Where in MA are you?