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How to go from RCA to XLR?

I've got an Aragon Stage One processor with RCA outputs and two Aragon Palladium 1K monoblocks with XLR inputs. I know there are a lot of RCA-XLR cables available, but a fabricator told me you have to know which XLR pins are "hot" and these have to match the amps' input circuitry or you will damage the amp.
So how do you know which pins to make hot when you order the cables? When you buy these cables "off the shelf" are you just hoping you get lucky and they match up with your equipment?
Thanks
noslop
rwwear
2,880 posts
 
I still think that there will be a loss of power if the Palladium amps are using a
bridged balanced scheme which I suspect. From what I've read the Palladiums
are based on either the 4004 or 8008 stereo amps depending on vintage.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,965 posts
 
Rwwear, if you have only a single-ended source, get a transformer from Jensen to convert from SE to balanced. That will assure that there will be no issues.
rwwear
2,880 posts
 
I agree Atmo. I value your opinion and would like to ask what you think of a plan I have. I have a Citaion II that has been almost completely updated. It sounds great but would benefit from more power. I would like to find another and convert them to balanced mono by using the two separate channels of each amp for the positive and negative. Do you see any problems with this plan? Simply converting to mono is easy but I feel balanced would be better.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Hi Rww -- I'm having difficulty envisioning how that would work at all. What would the output configuration be, in terms of how the speakers are hooked up? And what would generate the inverted input signal?

Regards,
-- Al
rwwear
2,880 posts
 
One channel of the amp will be the positive input the other the negative of the XLR. This will bridge the amp but it will be balanced bridged operation. This is what the Pallidiums and MBLs are I believe. It is a pretty common. One of the outputs to the speakers will be the positve and the other positive output will be the negative or ground. Just like with a bridged stereo amp.
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