is 'balanced' and 'stereo' one and the same thing?

[geoff956]

Can anyone clarify this for me?
Is 'balanced' always 'stereo' and is 'unbalanced' always 'mono' or can you get unbalanced 'stereo' or balanced 'mono'?
Any help much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[reshp1]

Can anyone clarify this for me?
Is 'balanced' always 'stereo' and is 'unbalanced' always 'mono' or can you get unbalanced 'stereo' or balanced 'mono'?
Any help much appreciated.

Thank you.

The physical cable is the same (in some cases) but the two are 2 different concepts. Balanced refers to sending the same signal down 2 conductors, but flipped in polarity. This helps cancel out noise along the cable run.
Stereo refers to sending two different signals: one for right, one for left channel.

Both required 3 conductors: 2 signal carrying and 1 ground.

Using two unbalanced cables to carry the left and right channels would be unbalanced stereo

 

[Farview]

Do not confuse the type of cable with the signal it is carrying. reshp1 explained the rest very well.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Both required 3 conductors: 2 signal carrying and 1 ground.

Correction: It's 2-conductor.... one "hot line plus ground" is considered a conductor, so TRS cable is 2-conductor cable while TS is single-conductor....

 

[geoff956]

Thanks very much for your replies.
I still can't follow the 'flipped in polarity thing'.

 

[MadAudio]

OK, think of it this way. On a TRS that's used for a stereo signal, TIP is connected to TIP, RING is connected to RING, and SLEEVE is connected to SLEEVE. Flipping polarity would have TIP connected to RING and vice versa.

 

[reshp1]

OK, think of it this way. On a TRS that's used for a stereo signal, TIP is connected to TIP, RING is connected to RING, and SLEEVE is connected to SLEEVE. Flipping polarity would have TIP connected to RING and vice versa.

He's talking about my comment about balanced cable carrying equal signals but flipped in polarity.

So at any given moment you are trying to send +2V. Conductor 1 would carry +1V, and conductor 2 would carry -1V. Say along the way the cable receives +.1V of noise on the way. So now you have +1.1V on cond 1, and -.9V cond 2. The receiving unit takes the conductor 2 and flips the polarity again and adds the to signals back together. So now you have +1.1 + (-.9) = 2V

Had you simply sent +2V on a unbalanced signal, the .1V noise would be added to the signal at the receiving end, resulting in 2.1V. Since you want to receive exactly what you send, balanced is the way to go.

 

[geoff956]

Sorry to be totally thick, but tip, ring, sleeve - how do you know which wire goes to which ?

 

[reshp1]

Correction: It's 2-conductor.... one "hot line plus ground" is considered a conductor, so TRS cable is 2-conductor cable while TS is single-conductor....

Oops, I wasn't careful about my terminology. I'm an EE first, so when I said conductor, I meant a single strand of metal. You (as always ) are correct about the convention for considering a single+gnd pair as a conductor in cabling

 

[MadAudio]

Here's a picture.

 

[geoff956]

Thanks to you all. I actually understand it.

 

[dinorocker]

This may help you understand it as well:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=1510138#post1510138

 

[vogler]

just anther question:
what will happen if i put unbalanced stereo into balanced mono (TRS or XLR)?? is it risky, will it play stereo finally or it explode?
tnx
Vogler

 

[Farview]

just anther question:
what will happen if i put unbalanced stereo into balanced mono (TRS or XLR)?? is it risky, will it play stereo finally or it explode?
tnx
Vogler

You will hear the difference between the left and the right sides. You will hear nothing that is panned to the center and the things that are panned the farthest will be the loudest.