Balanced or UnBalanced ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rockem
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rockem

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How important is to run balanced cables, when my cables are
no longer then 2 meters ??

Its just that I can't get here any balanced ready cables and I have to make'em which turn out a bit expensive

and now I'm thinking of a patchbay and I have two options

1. wait for the behringer balanced patchbay (out next month)
here its 80$, and I don't think I could afford all balanced
right now

2. I can buy for 40$ inc. shippment the unbalanced behringer
from a guy in holland

what do you think ? for cables this length, does it really metters
to have balanced cables ??

thanx
 
Is noise a problem for you now? If not, then you may not gain much of an advantage switching to balanced cabling......
 
Balanced cables are the way to go, as a rule of thumb, but there are considerations. It becomes less of an issue with shorter cable runs - but short cable runs don't negate the advantages. Also, consider you gear.... using balanced cables to connect unbalanced inputs to unbalanced outputs won't make a hill of beans of difference.

So, if your gear is balanced, and if you can afford it, do it. If your gear is balanced, but you can't afford it, stick to short cable runs. If you gear is not balanced, don't bother.

Chris
 
Consider the Neutrik NYS-SPP-L balanced patchbay.
Here in europe it's available for €44,- which is cheaper than the Behringer

So:
1) balanced vs. unbalanced
2) cheaper
3) it's a Neutrik. (that alone would make me pick it over a Behringer)
 
Chris Tondreau said:
If you gear is not balanced, don't bother.
Click to expand...
Good point....!

(I had simply assumed he had balanced gear already that would allow some benefit, otherwise I supposed he wouldn't have asked...)
 
I still always used balanced anyway. That way I spend my money on something that will always work on all equipment, and when I upgrade my unbalanced equipment I won't have make new cables.
 
Use whatever cables are appropriate for your current gear. So, if your equipment is unbalanced, then use unbalanced cables. If you are connecting unbalanced gear to balanced gear then make sure you are using the correct cable for that. It really depends on your gear. Using balanced cable on unbalanced gear will not balance it, or make the sound better.

Also, there's no rule that says balanced gear sounds better than unbalanced. It's basically about long cable runs and rejecting RF interference. So if you are using runs only 2 meters long you should be fine with unbalanced unless you live next to some major source of RF interference.
 
SonicAlbert said:
Use whatever cables are appropriate for your current gear. So, if your equipment is unbalanced, then use unbalanced cables. If you are connecting unbalanced gear to balanced gear then make sure you are using the correct cable for that. It really depends on your gear. Using balanced cable on unbalanced gear will not balance it, or make the sound better.

Also, there's no rule that says balanced gear sounds better than unbalanced. It's basically about long cable runs and rejecting RF interference. So if you are using runs only 2 meters long you should be fine with unbalanced unless you live next to some major source of RF interference.
Click to expand...

Hi

Actually there is an area where balanced equipment scores over unbalanced and that's on the matter of ground (earth) loops. In unbalanced equipment the ground/chassis of the device is the return path for the signal. So, if you have a piece of sending equipment, the signal will travel along the signal core to the receiving device and then return, via the shield of the cable, back to the sending amplifier.

If the sending amplifier is at one ground potential and the receiving amp at another, the difference in the two potentials will be superimposed on top of the signal.

In point of fact, in a small room setting, this is unlikely to happen because all the equipment is probably plugged into the same power strip. I just tossed this in to show a further handicap that unbalanced wiring has over balanced. The interference rejected by the balanced configuration doesn't have to be RF... it could be a stronger audio signal. RF can creep into amplifiers in the most insidious fashion... often it can picked picked up by the output of an amplifier and works its way back through the amp via the negative feedback path.

Still, it's a valid point... if the equipment is unbalanced there's little point in using balanced cable except for a little dodge that I do.....

If you use a twin conductor and shield cable, you can use one core for the signal and then connect the other core (at one end only) to the shield. You connect mono jacks (or whatever) at either end of the cable using the signal core and the shield.

The effect of this is that the two inner conductors are in effect a twisted pair. A twisted pair has high interference rejection and then you have a shield around the outside of the twisted pair.

That's one well shielded cable!

:)

Geoff

www.auroraaudio.net
 
I do get my best results with staying unballanced after the first conversion...
 
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