should i go for a balanced or unbalanced patchbay?

  • Thread starter Thread starter earworm
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earworm

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here's the story,
i got this old patchbay from a friend but it doesn't work well,
i got bad contacts on several 'channels' and don't like that,
so i'm just gonna buy me a new one,
but ehm,
whats the difference between balanced and unbalanced patchbays?.


is it just...you can't use TRS jacks with an unbalanced one?
:o

thanx,
earworm
 
ok,
and does the patchbay change the sound of the audio you're working with?

i mean, will you hear a difference between a behringer and Dbx patchbay?

cheers,
earworm
 
earworm said:
ok,
and does the patchbay change the sound of the audio you're working with?

i mean, will you hear a difference between a behringer and Dbx patchbay?
Click to expand...
No - you shouldn't hear a difference.
 
But don't cheap-out on it either... Some are made (and therefore last) better than others.

Neutrik comes to mind...
 
yeah , i've seen some neutrik patchbays around, nice,
but i'm starting cheap, and might end up using bantam one day; hehe

but i'm not sure about that balanced thing,
right now i got all the outputs of my mixer running to and from the patchbay,
all the connections in the back of my patchbay are TS jacks,

so is it necesarry to buy a balanced patchbay? i think it will take some time before i start plugging some balanced cables in it

or is it extra important if you plan to use a patchbay on live gigs? since there its adviced that you use balanced circuits..

thanx,
earworm
 
just look at it like this... a balanced patchbay will accept both balanced and unbalanced signals, so you're covered for any type of gear. why not pay a little extra and get balanced instead of having to buy an additional patchbay when you need it?
 
earworm said:
but i'm not sure about that balanced thing,
right now i got all the outputs of my mixer running to and from the patchbay,
all the connections in the back of my patchbay are TS jacks,
thanx,
earworm
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about your board, but all of my ins and outs (except the inserts) are balanced. You might want to check the owners manual to see if you should be running balanced or not.
Get the balanced patchbay, it works on anything.
 
This guy's asking advice, but he's also asking a question:

earworm said:
whats the difference between balanced and unbalanced patchbays?.
Click to expand...

The way I understand it is that "balanced" part is the cable, not the patchbay. a balanced cable has two parallel signals, one out of phase with the other such that any noise picked up by the cable itself is cancelled out. presumably a balanced patchbay allows the cable to be balanced.

As far as advice goes, I'd say: If you have a balanced cable, get a balanced patchbay. if not, get an unbalanced one.
 
so if all my ins and outs are balanced,
and i got an unbalanced patchbay my entire audio chain is unbalanced?
 
Buy balanced.

I bought an unbalanced patchbay for cheap (behringer ultrapro i think is the name) doesn't really fukk up the sound but the volume loss you get sucks and so does the fact you can't use XLR to TRS cables either.
 
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