Balanced in phono stages preamp?

Your conception about what is happening to the output from the cartridge when interfaced with a balanced input is flawed, insofar as you see it to be a negative. The signal is not "cut in half" per se, and there is no conversion of the signal from "two wires" to "three wires". The ground in a balanced input is independent of the + and - inputs. The cartridge sees only the + and - inputs and does not know the difference between +/- vs hot/ground in an SE input. One could make an argument that the output of a cartridge is inherently balanced in the first place; the choice of hot and ground is arbitrary, really.

However, your impression that your BAT phono sounds best with an SE input is not one I would challenge, since I don't know the particulars of that unit and you are entitled to your opinion. You might discuss your finding with BAT, however. Nor is it my intention to argue that all truly balanced circuits are better than all SE circuits, not by a long shot.

Jeff_jones:

I've heard from others that some people do like the SE ended inputs better if you are using the transformer step ups. I'm curious if you are? Also, are you using the single ended outputs or balanced out to your preamp...

I am not challenging your observations...just more curious.

Thanks.. good luck

Jfrech - No step up. Gain switch to high. Balanced output to pre (full balanced through pre to power amp). Shelter 90x. To my ear the main difference is reduced background noise. Lewm - didn't mean to say that balanced was bad just that there were trade offs. Circuit wise, balanced ain't balanced unless it is balanced :). Do not have the Bat schematic but at some point they have to split the signal from each channel with something like a center grounded resistor to get equal strength (balanced) + to ground and minus to ground signals. It would be interesting to look at the schemativ or ask Victor, the signal splitting might occur exactly the same way regardless of which input connection you are using, so in this particular case we may be talking about no difference except in cabling between the table and phono pre.

Not to beat a dead horse, but you wrote, "Lewm - didn't mean to say that balanced was bad just that there were trade offs." Not only did I not say that balanced was bad, but I was trying to say that I prefer it and why. Also, I was trying to convey the idea that one must be cautious in interpreting what manufacturers claim about their equipment, especially now that balanced circuits seem to be in vogue as never before. Try to find out whether the circuit inside is truly a balanced one (if you care about the issue at all), because in a lot of gear an XLR input or output is derived from what really is a single-ended circuit internally. Many CD players pull this trick by adding a chip at the output, which not only is a phony way to do it but also will likely degrade the sound a bit compared to the SE outputs on the same piece of gear, due to the added active device which is typically a middle grade op amp, at best. Even my former Accuphase DP75 (a $10K cdp when new) and the Sony SCD1 used this approach to obtain a balanced output. For this reason, when someone says they don't hear any advantage to a balanced output, I have to first wonder what they have been listening to.

Anyone have access to a VKP10 schematic? My curiosity is tweaked now, I'd like to see if there is any difference to the balanced input connection downstream of the connectors.