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Balanced connection from pre-amp to amp--Need help

I was hoping to get advice from the knowledgeable audiogon folks about making a balanced connection between my pre-amp and amplifier. I have a Marantz reference SC-11 pre-amp and Pass Labs amp. Marantz designates Pin 3 as the Hot (+) pin and pin 2 is the (-) pain. On the Pass labs amp pin 2 is the Hot (+) pin. I believe that Pin 1 is the Ground pin on both components. Can I connect the 2 components using XLR cable or am I better off using single ended RCA connections?
apdoc2004
apdoc2004 OP
50 posts
 
Al,

Thanks a ton for all the effort you put into your reply!! Very helpful indeed.

Anshul
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
As Al said it is not a major problem, my CJ amp inverts phase; I think most if not all Conrad Johnson's do; as do many others. Just reverse the speaker leads as he says
gbart
290 posts
 
Marantz Reference is out of touch with other high end audio makers that all seem to use pin 2 hot/pin 3 cold. I have their SA-11S2 SACD player that has pin 3 hot/pin 2 cold, but luckily polarity can be reversed by pressing a button. No such luck with their preamps and amps.
raquel
841 posts
 
Rowland uses the Asian standard as well.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,834 posts
 
Asian Standard??

Originally the balanced line connection standard was pin 1 ground, pin 2 non-inverting and pin 3 inverting. This is now known as the American standard, and was typical of any professional audio equipment made in the US during the 50s and 60s.

Sometime during the 70s or 80s there emerged the European standard, that has the phase reversed (but you can always count on pin 1 being ground).
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