2. amps-preamps
  3. 1001651490

Go balanced or unblanced that is the question

OK. I think that overall having an extra length of cable between the pre-map and amp is a nice thing.no matter the romm rule of thumb will be i would like to keep the elctronics out of the center.So I have a Mac preamp with XLR outs but whose signal path is not truly balanced.Likewise my Mesa Baron has blanced inputs but it's circut topology is not true balced.But because I have an MIT XLR I use as my single ended stuff is lower cost (quality?I don't know!) wire.Also because of a sub output I need the vaiable main out of my main pre out for my sub.The question is should i be converting the signal back and forth?In Hartley's book he say's that converting back and forth cann screw things up.I have alwasy thought that balanced or unbalanced all the way through was the way to go.I might change to a balned pre but like my amp and want to keep it.But if i need to make a 20 ft. run am i better off risking distortion with an RCA or staying with a reasonabley priced XLR from pre to amp?All my sources of course are RCA.Thoughts?
chazzbo
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
marakanetz, another interesting comment from you:

** unbalanced though will certainly have greater transparency and details**

based upon my obervations, i can not agree with this proposition. do you have any experiential or other support for it?

-cfb
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
I am running 40 feet of RCA (single ended) from a tube preamp to a tube amp. My system absolutely does not suffer any technical problems from this configuration.

As far as the argument as to single ended being better or worse than balanced, there are too many factors to make a statement based only on that part of the system.
mcne
113 posts
 
Using a balanced connector from my preamp to my amp gave a welcome 6 db and gave a sharp punchiness to the amp, very tight. It was definitely happier. Then the same cable but with s/e sounds betters from the CD to the pre. It was much smoother and cleaner. This was the best combination for my setup. Dale
newbee
4,767 posts
 
i have long runs from pre amp to amps. i use unbalanced without any problem w/noise so long as i keep the interconnect away from transformers etc. i had a buzz when i carelessly stuffed some excess interconnect under the output transformers of my amp (looped it no less!)
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