balanced vs. unbalanced
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Posted on Feb 03, 2005 02:28 pm
wontdieinPA
Member Since: Apr 27, 2002
wow...im looking at all this new equipment i want to buy with the money from my new job...and im not understanding this one thing,...balanced vs. unbalanced connections...i dont get it...i looked all over, I DONT UNDERSTAND...like...i'm going to have a heart attack...my Delta 1010LT has unbalanced connections...or something, and all the stuff im looking at (compressors, EQ, patchbays) say something about balanced and unbalanced connections...i'm seriously gonna cry im so frustratedd...help...please, ill give you like...5 bucks
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Feb 03, 2005 03:08 pm look at your 1/4" guitar cable...it's got one black ring, which means there are two wires (the ring seperates them) those are unbalanced instrument cables...balanced cables (1/4" Tip Ring Sleve or XLR) have two black rings on them and there are three wires running through them..positive (+) negative (-) and Ground...you can run balanced cables much longer distances without losing signal quality, wheras with unbalanced after 10 feet the signal begins to degrade.
Feb 03, 2005 03:10 pm keep in mind that in order to get the benifits of the balanced cables, they gotta be hooked up to balanced inputs and outputs, so just swiching cables might not benifit you unless the jacks are balanced aswell.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Feb 03, 2005 03:17 pm Lots of people use unbalanced for small studio stuff. Like WYD says, if they're short, I wouldn't worry about balanced. If your using very expensive gear, and have very discriminating ears, then you may hear the difference between bal & unbal. If your like me, mostly doing this stuff as a hobby, and not spending 10k$ and above on equipment, then I wouldn't worry about it.
That said, I would beleive that if you were using unbalanced leads (1/4" TR or mono jacks) then you can plug them into balanced devices and it'll still work, only in an unbalanced fashion. I haven't tried it myself so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Google up a few pages about balanced vs unbalanced jacks. There's tons out there, and read up on them. Understanding the difference and how they're wired and where they're used will surely give you piece of mind (at least a little).
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Feb 03, 2005 03:19 pm Quote:
wheras with unbalanced after 10 feet the signal begins to degrade.
That's why my guitar sounds like butt. My guitar cable is 20 feet long =)
Feb 03, 2005 03:21 pm I used unbalanced everything...I think this is another case of people worrying too much about technicalaties and not enough about just making music...
Obviously, there are benefits to balanced, but eh...
Feb 03, 2005 04:15 pm so then...its not something i should stress about then?
Feb 03, 2005 04:19 pm I certainly don't.
Feb 03, 2005 04:21 pm excellent
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Feb 03, 2005 04:22 pm I would only start worrying about using balanced connections and cables if you are experiencing noise or interference in your recordings. The cabling would be the prime suspect. If you are not experiencing such things, then do as dB suggests and kick back and enjoy making music with your existing cabling.
