Balanced ----- Unbalanced----

The more information you don't loose, the better

Ralph; what "information" will be lost when using an SE connection?

As a manufacturer who builds only balanced equipment I would take Atmasphere's advice with a grain of salt.

Because I have already a considerable amount of cables running by that side wall, I was concerned about noise and interferces by adding two or three more rca cables. That the reason why I thought balanced cables would prevent undesirable surprises. Are XRLs unnecessary?

Are XRLs unnecessary?

Yes, in a typical home application XLR connections are not needed. The only way to tell in your system is to try it.

Herman, the reason we make balanced equipment stems from my experiences in college, setting up Neumann microphones in the music hall. We ran 150 feet of interconnect. That's not something you can do with single-ended- too much high frequency loss. It was a simple leap to see that there would also be an advantage to balanced operation in the home. You'll note that I am not trying to sell this guy anything- he already has the equipment.

Even if the highs are rolled off out-of-band, phase shift occurs in the audio band. This can be audible. Additionally, SE cables are more prone to noise pickup, Maab has an opportunity to prevent noise pickup (which can obscure detail).

To run balanced lines you either use XLR connectors or 'stereo headphone' connections. The latter are more commonly seen in semi-pro gear for musical instruments and recording. XLR is the preferred connection.

I didn't accuse you of trying to sell anything to the guy, but as manufacturer of balanced equipment you have a vested interest in promoting that format. Someone considering SE or balanced should be aware of that.

We're not talking about 150 foot mic cables, we're talking a few feet of wire. Your concerns about noise and phase shift do not apply.

I do agree that an XLR connector is a much better device than an RCA phono jack or 1/4 inch jack