XLR to RCA Adapters

Kirk, thanks very much for the OUTSTANDING explanations, all of which ring true as far as I am concerned, pun definitely not intended :-)

Ralph (Atmasphere), Seakayaker, Tim (Mitch2), thanks for your good inputs as well.

Best regards,
-- Al

Seakayaker, the issue with the use of a transformer is one of loading. If the transformer is not loaded, it may well be that it will express the inter-capacitive qualities of its windings rather than the turns ratio of the windings.

IOW the frequency response could go to hell. Loading of the transformer is paramount if you want to get the most out of it.

This type of application would normally use a line out transformer.

Mitch2, I appreciate that with some equipment the artifacts of the transformer will be less audible. The area I hear the most problems is in the bass- my speakers go down to 20Hz so if the bass is drying up due to low frequency phase shift its pretty audible. That is why I prefer to direct-couple.

Kirkus: just to set the record straight, the reason I advocate 600 ohms is not to improve CMRR (we have pretty good numbers there already as our gear is fully differential with very effective constant current sources) but to swamp out the inductive, resistive and capacitive effects of the interconnect cable, rendering it inaudible while the signal remains intact. I do agree and it is one of my frequent beefs that most high end audio products do not support the balanced standard and so fall right flat on their respective faces when trying to drive 600 ohms.

Just a couple of quick points here.

First - the notion that only one-half of the internal circuit will be used when supplying the single-ended signal is total nonsense. While it indeed might be true in case of some (I presume rare) products, all BAT preamps have differential inputs and internal circuits.

Two - converting the single-ended signal into balanced with a transformer most likely will be counterproductive, as the preamp itself will do that conversion just fine - see item #1.

Three... balanced circuits have other advantages besides the interface noise immunity. A very important one is the nature of interaction between the gain stages and the power supply - it is many times easier to build a **good** power supply for the balanced circuit than it is for the single-ended one.

The adapters will work great, your loss will not come from them, but from the fact that you will not be using your preamp to its fullest potential.

Regards,

Victor Khomenko

Uh, Victor, he was talking about an single-ended source driving a balanced amplifier...

Chipmunk,
I have one of your VK 40 Pre Amps currently driving a VK200 amp.
I will be putting a single ended tube Amp in my system next mounth on a trial basis and will use XLR to RCA adaptors.

Do tou see any problems with this?

Thanks Gary