Balance controls on stereos, car radios, walkmans, mp3 players, etc. usually have far more prevalence than they deserve. They often compete with the volume control for attention. But how often do you really want to adjust your balance? For me, it's about as often as I mess with my speaker hook-ups and something doesn't seem to be working. Not as often as I adjust the volume. Then again, how often to you go to safe mode? As often as you view web page? I didn't think so.