D
dmbfan1981
New member
which should I get?? I will have a combination of balanced and unbalanced inputs/outputs I am sure. do I need a seperate bay for each?
B
Big Kenny
New member
looking at your setup..... you don't need one
D
dmbfan1981
New member
well I am sure I will be buying other gear. I guess the main question is, can unbalanced be run through a balanced patchbay? I realize if you run balanced through unbalanced you are losing fidelity..correct? but unbalanced through a balanced wont hurt anything, but it wont improve anything either. correct?
A
Adam P
Well-known member
You're not losing fidelity, per se, by running balanced through an unbalanced bay. You're eliminating the balancing properties of the circuit, which are designed to eliminate potential noise picked up by the cable. You also lose a bit of volume.
Farview
Well-known member
Get a balanced patchbay. You can run unbalanced connections through it. You can't run balanced connections through an unbalanced patchbay.
punkin
Univalve & Avatar Speaks
Like Farview says...balanced...can't go wrong.
D
dmbfan1981
New member
thanks guys. thats kinda what I was thinking.
M
MickB
New member
Be aware that some balanced equipment can't tolerate unbalanced connections for long without a dummy load on the 'cold' contact.
However, with your equipment I doubt if that will be an issue.
However, with your equipment I doubt if that will be an issue.
Stefan Elmblad
New member
MickB said:
Can you give us an example of a such unit?
O
ofajen
Daddy-O Daddy-O Baby
MickB said:
I think you have managed to conflate the issues of termination and unbalancing.
Unbalancing balanced inputs is easy, you just plug in a plug that ties the minus leg to ground. Unbalancing outputs depends upon the type. Most transformered outputs can be unbalanced by tying the minus leg to ground, as can most servo-balanced electronically balanced outputs. Most ordinary, active-balanced outputs are best unbalanced by floating the minus leg (i.e., leaving it unconnected).
Then there is the issue of termination. Most gear designed and built these days has a high input impedance (10 Kohm or greater) and a low output impedance. The output voltage is transferred, with little effect from the load of the input being driven.
Much of the older gear operates under a standard of power transfer and impedance matched outputs and input loads, often 600 ohms. So some balanced gear, such as the output stages on my 3M M-79 recorder, have transformered outputs designed to drive 600 ohm loads. Each output on my 3M has a built-in dummy load available and switchable, in case it has to drive a high impedance input. If such an output is "unterminated", then its frequency response will usually be affected and will rise in the high end.
This is because the output transformer usually has a resonant peak above the audio band and the design is made such that flattest response and best phase response result when the output is terminated across a 600 ohm load. Removing that load causes a lift of the high end, due to that high frequency resonant peak.
That effect is something that can be exploited: my GR preamp has the same type of transformer balanced output and a front panel switch to load or unload the output, allowing a choice of flat or brighter sound, assuming the output is connected to a high impedance input.
Cheers,
Otto
SonicAlbert
Super-Sonic "Herb" Albert
Balanced patchbay. You can use balanced or unbalanced gear with it.
M
MCI2424
New member
dmbfan1981 said:
Balanced can be used for both, unbalanced cannot.
I would choose balanced, and so I was taught.
It rhymes too!
Get it?
Last edited:
TragikRemix
I am NOT a Gear Whore. ;)
MCI2424 said:
it rhymes where you are from maybe...
but not on lon' guyland, nu yawk..
tawt and naht don't rhyme
