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Audio Aero Mark II--using balanced and unbalanced

I have my new Mark II and I do love it. It is a litle curious feeling as I get past the lesser brands that come with the 20+page instruction books that talk about all of the neat settings. Being (perhaps?) typically French, the Audio Aero's instruction tells us: 'the way to do it, and that's that...enjoy(!). There are no alternative suggestions. Anyway, I have the McIntosh 2-channel 2102 tube amp(my God, it sounds good!) and I have a pair of speakers that each has it's own amp in another room. I will be buying a control center, but for now I want to run both from the Audio Aero Cd player. My choice is to run them with a pair of RCA 'Y' adapters out of the unbalanced or to use both the unbalanced and balanced outputs at the same time. I saw in one thread where MAJAMES(bless you, your responses are always great!) seems to be doing this. Has anyone else tried it?
unclejeff
11 responses Add your response
mejames
986 posts
 
both the balanced and RCA outputs are at the same volume level so this is a convenient advantage the Capitol has allowing easy biamping. Works excellent for me. Thanks for your complement also.
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
Mejames- how is that possible? XLR is typically 6dB higher at lower volumes, and that difference becomes less as the volume is increased. I have not tried it with my capitole II(no reason too) but I am curiuos- I would test it right now but my amp does not have RCA inputs :(
mejames
986 posts
 
not exactly sure why but that's what I'm told its either not truly balanced or they adjusted the level in the balanced circuit so they are equal to the RCA sound level. Haven't measured with a meter but they sound the same volume output to me.
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
Mejames- Another possibility is if the amp you are running into isn't truly balanced you will not get the same gain from the XLR side of things. This is interesting I wish I had some way of testing it.
acuujim
207 posts
 
I run the balanced output of my AA direct to my amps and I run the single ended direct to my powered subwoofer
It works fabulously
I think the same would be true of what you are trying to do
Of course the Talon Roc sub I use has volume control
You may need to put a passive volume control before your powered speakers
But the AA hadles itself quite well
mejames
986 posts
 
balanced amplifiers used were Wolcott presence mono blocks Rowland model 1 and VTL 750 REFERENCE mono blocks.
unclejeff OP
1,313 posts
 
Thanks everybody. Since each set of speakers is in a different room, total valumn balance is not what I require. The McIntosh amp runs a pair of speakers in my living room and the other set of speakers is in my office. It is not as though one source is in direct competition with the other. I usually only run one set of speakers at a time. My main question was about the possibility of biamping and if it could adversely affect the AA. I am going to do it and I think I will have fun cross-testing my speakers(the left speaker balanced while the right is on the RCA. I can switch and double-switch and listen for a differance and I might then have an observation for Tireguy. Again, thanks.
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Mejames, the Wolcott and VTL are both single ended products with balanced input jacks serving as built in adaptors. There is no circuitry, just a jumper that leads over to the RCA (single ended) circuit.

I spoke to Wolcott about this a few hours ago and to Luke last year.

This would explain the gain issue, regardless of whether the Audio Aero is truly balanced or not.
unclejeff OP
1,313 posts
 
Okay. Now I have done it. I did an Audiogon search for adapters, thinking that I could order a pair of balanced XLR cables and plug an RCA adapter on one end. My search took me to an outfit called Audioparts(www.audiopartsinc.com). I Emailed my thoughts to them and a fellow named Stu offered to build me a pair of silver interconnects with the female XLR on one end and RCA at the other of a pair of six foot cables. The cost was $150.00. I figured for this experiment, this was a good idea. The cables are here and the improvement is very satisfactory. Oh, and Tireguy, yes it is louder.
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
Thanks for the update! I was curious what the out come was going to be.
unclejeff OP
1,313 posts
 
I think I am going to settle down with the audioparts cable. This solves my problem, for now on biamping. Then again, the Audio Aero only allows me to load one CD in it at a time, which is a bummer when I want to play several CD's without having to get up to change them. I looked at the back of my Yamaha CD player (five disk-loading capacity) and, lo and behold, it has an optical interface.........
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