RCA to XLR...mismatch?

[Phosphene]

I want to use outboard gear with my VS1880. All the outputs the 1880 has are RCA. Would I just use an RCA-->XLR connector to get the signal to the rack? I'm asking because it seems there might be an impedence mismatch that way? (Unbalanced to balanced?)

 

[Farview]

If you rack gear is xlr only, then you don't have much choice. The connection won't be balanced but that isn't the end of the world. It shouldn't be a problem.

 

[sajs]

Is this what you need?
http://ayre.revealsystems.net/accessories.cfm?accessID=4

 

[Farview]

Those are line transformers. He just needs a cable with an xlr on one side and an rca on the other.

 

[Phosphene]

Yea, but wouldn't I need a cable AND maybe one of those (so the wiring is correct...and it is grounded)?

 

[OhSh1rt]

That's what he needs, run an XLR into the transformer then a very short RCA male to male cable.




-jeffrey

 

[Farview]

You don't need the transformer. The rca will be grounded, it just won't be balanced. This isn't a big deal at all, just get a set of rca to xlr cables, don't bother with the transformers.

 

[nevome]

Looks like you arent the only one with this problem. A quick Froogle search found them in both male and femal XLR ends.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...=HO8RM8XM9&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=407986

 

[dinorocker]

Cabling ref?

Apropos nothing, does anyone have a good reference URL for showing acceptable cable conversions? Like XLR to TRS, TS, RCA, etc?

Would be useful to the OP, and certainly to me and others who have had the need for such info.

 

[Phosphene]

I looked around and this is definitely NOT the link

 

[SonicAlbert]

Apropos nothing, does anyone have a good reference URL for showing acceptable cable conversions? Like XLR to TRS, TS, RCA, etc?

What do you mean by acceptable cable conversions? Anytime you have to connect two different analog input/output jacks it's acceptable. There are a ton of different adapters and adapter cables.

What's truly unacceptable is connecting digital I/O to analog I/O. Like an analog XLR signal to a digital AES jack.

 

[RideTheCrash]

I think you want something like this:
http://www.rane.com/note110.html (scroll down)

It's a chart of how to connect two different connectors together. Either buy a cable, or make one. I needed to go from 1/4" to XLR and all I had was 1/4" to RCA, so I cut off the RCA and soldered on an XLR connector. Problem solved.

 

[Phosphene]

What do you mean by acceptable cable conversions? Anytime you have to connect two different analog input/output jacks it's acceptable. There are a ton of different adapters and adapter cables.

What's truly unacceptable is connecting digital I/O to analog I/O. Like an analog XLR signal to a digital AES jack.

I had thought that going unbalanced to balanced would yield some kind of funky impedence mismatch and you lose dbs or quality. I don't know...I just thought there might be a box you could run through to balance it correctly.

 

[Farview]

Nope, those are just line outputs.

Whether a connection is balanced or not doesn't have anything to do with impedance. It may seem like it sometimes, but they are not related.

It's very easy to confuse the type of connection or connector with the type of signal they are carrying, you have to kind of watch that. Just because it's an xlr connection doesn't mean it's a low impedance mic level input. (for example)

 

[sjjohnston]

As the previous post says, balanced and unbalanced don't really have anything to do with impedance.

Impedance usually doesn't have to be matched.

Matching levels can be an issue, but often one you can deal with.

As noted, Connectors aren't the issue, the issue (if there is one) has to do with the nature of the output signal and the signal the input is looking for. There are examples of:
- Inputs and outputs with the same type of connector that shouldn't by connected together at all, e.g. balanced audio to AES/EBU digital (both XLRs) or unbalanced audio to spdif digital (both RCAs), as mentioned above.
- Inputs and outputs with different types of connectors for which it's ordinarily a trivial matter to interconnect them: unbalanced audio on an RCA to unbalanced audio on a 1/4" TS
- Inputs and outputs with the same type of connector that can be connected by using an adapter in a way that's not obvious unless you understand what's going on, e.g. stereo audio on a TRS to balanced audio on a TRS.