Balanced versus Unbalanced

craigpsu
craigpsu Posts: 106
edited February 2009 in Basic Hookup/Wiring Questions
I am due to receive my XPA-5 on thursday and I want to buy the cables needed for it. Should I hook up the Amp balanced or unbalanced? It should be a short run and I will be using my Yammy 2500 until I get the Pioneer SC-05 in a week or so. Any recommendations for cable manufactures and speaker wires? Thanks
LSi15s, LSiC, LSiFX, LC80F/X, microPro 4000, Pioneer Elite SC-07, XPA-2, XPA-5, PS3
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  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited February 2009
    Balanced always trumps Unbalanced. If your componenets are each fully balanced circuits it would best to run balanced.

    Signal Cable. Mention Club Polk.

    Ding.
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,203
    edited February 2009
    craigpsu wrote: »
    I am due to receive my XPA-5 on thursday and I want to buy the cables needed for it. Should I hook up the Amp balanced or unbalanced? It should be a short run and I will be using my Yammy 2500 until I get the Pioneer SC-05 in a week or so. Any recommendations for cable manufactures and speaker wires? Thanks

    Does your Yammy or the new Pioneer have balanced inputs and outputs........if not then balanced won't work anyways. If yes, it certainly won't hurt to run balanced. You don't truly get the advantage balanced has to offer unless every component in the chain is balanced.

    Don't get hung up on it. Balanced has the advantage of being quieter in certain situations over single ended RCA inputs/outputs.

    Some components are designed to run in balanced mode....Monarchy amps and Pass "X" series amps are designed in such a way that they benefit greatly from running balanced and are intended to do so and actually loose a bit of performance when using single ended RCA, but these are exceptions and usually reserved for higher end components.

    Your typical gear such as Emo, Pioneer, Yammy, etc, etc there is no issue running balanced or RCA. In fact unless ytou have a large noise issue you would never hear a difference.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • craigpsu
    craigpsu Posts: 106
    edited February 2009
    Ok, Thanks for the information. I am going to start buying today, as I have had my speakers in a box for almost two months and I want to get the LSi's out to replace my older RTis. I will definately look into the AVR for balanced/unbalanced. By the way, this forum has been extremly helpful (except for the one thread with the bad EMO story, that has made me a little worried about my choice) in giving purhcase guidance and imparting technical knowledge.
    LSi15s, LSiC, LSiFX, LC80F/X, microPro 4000, Pioneer Elite SC-07, XPA-2, XPA-5, PS3
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited February 2009
    The people over at BAT say running balanced to single-ended results in worse sound than RCA to RCA. They know what they are talking about with this stuff. That being said, I have run XLR to RCA with good results. I am presently all balanced and do notice a difference when compared to XLR to RCA, but that also may be the better quality of my new cables compared to my previous cables.
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  • ben62670
    ben62670 Posts: 15,969
    edited February 2009
    With "Balanced" there is a lot of equipment out there that has an XLR jack on it, but converts the signal to unbalanced;)
    Please. Please contact me a ben62670 @ yahoo.com. Make sure to include who you are, and you are from Polk so I don't delete your email. Also I am now physically unable to work on any projects. If you need help let these guys know. There are many people who will help if you let them know where you are.
    Thanks
    Ben
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,203
    edited February 2009
    ben62670 wrote: »
    With "Balanced" there is a lot of equipment out there that has an XLR jack on it, but converts the signal to unbalanced;)

    That is true and why I made the statement in a previous post. It's just a fact that more price conscious gear as well as more compromised designs offer an XLR connection......but are NOT truly balanced.

    Those that are truly balanced input to output have a definite sound advantage as is the case with BAT, Pass, Monarchy, Classe, etc, etc, etc.
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited February 2009
    ben62670 wrote: »
    With "Balanced" there is a lot of equipment out there that has an XLR jack on it, but converts the signal to unbalanced;)

    Like the Odyssey Extreme Monos for example:rolleyes: . . . they use a "bridged" XLR connection.
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  • ShinAce
    ShinAce Posts: 1,194
    edited February 2009
    ben62670 wrote: »
    With "Balanced" there is a lot of equipment out there that has an XLR jack on it, but converts the signal to unbalanced;)

    There it is. Just having the XLR plug doesn't mean the source outputs a balanced signal. A balanced amp is designed slightly differently(differential input).

    You really need to do a decent amount of research to make sure the components are truly balanced, and even then, it's like a 3' run.
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  • Goth child
    Goth child Posts: 38
    edited February 2009
    Im pretty sure neither the Pioneer or Yamaha have xlr connections,you will need to look at HT processor/pre from someone like ATI/EMO etc. to use the xlr connections.The EMO xpa-1 monoblocks and the rpa-2 are "true"differential mode balanced designs,the xpa-5 is not.
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  • Ricardo
    Ricardo Posts: 10,636
    edited February 2009
    heiney9 wrote: »
    Those that are truly balanced input to output have a definite sound advantage as is the case with BAT, Pass, Monarchy, Classe, etc, etc, etc.

    Marsh, etc, etc, etc, ;)
    _________________________________________________
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  • craigpsu
    craigpsu Posts: 106
    edited February 2009
    I am just going to go unbalanced, I know one of the two Receivers I am looking at is not balanced. If I get one that is, then I will just have to live with it. I am not sure after reading some information if I will hear much of a difference anyway.
    LSi15s, LSiC, LSiFX, LC80F/X, microPro 4000, Pioneer Elite SC-07, XPA-2, XPA-5, PS3
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,203
    edited February 2009
    Ricardo wrote: »
    Marsh, etc, etc, etc, ;)

    Didn't I put that in there.......

    Adcom, Marsh, BAT, etc, etc. :)
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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