Balanced- Yes or No?

[Mac6]

According to an E Mail from McIntosh:

"XLR cables will cancel induced noise and give you a quieter signal"

[GaryProtein]

My system has 55 feet of wire from the pre-amp output to the crossover and power amps.

I can't say going from single ended to balanced XLR made a difference when I switched over but I will say my signal lines lines are not anywhere near other devices or power lines that would cause interference.

On short distances there would be no difference.

[Antonmb]

Doesn’t it somewhat depend on the equipment, for instance if the components are fully balanced and designed for use with balanced interconnects?

[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Doesn’t it somewhat depend on the equipment, for instance if the components are fully balanced and designed for use with balanced interconnects?

Tony, they have nothing to do with each other -- Apples and Watermelons.

Best Sir,

Bob

[GSOphile]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Doesn’t it somewhat depend on the equipment, for instance if the components are fully balanced and designed for use with balanced interconnects?

Yes. Some manufacturers take great care with one implementation over the other and will recommend their preferred type (usually balanced) - regardless of distance. Fully balanced costs much more to implement vs balanced connectors that are converted to single ended internally.

[brownbear]

I've seen amplifier specs that state that you can get higher SNR and input sensitivity with the balanced inputs vs. unbalanced. Maybe that goes for all amps for all I know. I guess this could be a reason to choose balanced, but I doubt it translates into anything you can actually hear.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by brownbear

I've seen amplifier specs that state that you can get higher SNR and input sensitivity with the balanced inputs vs. unbalanced. Maybe that goes for all amps for all I know. I guess this could be a reason to choose balanced, but I doubt it translates into anything you can actually hear.

If your preamp is 300’ away from your amp, it does.

[brownbear]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

If your preamp is 300’ away from your amp, it does.

Good point. I was selfishly thinking in terms of my own setup which my preamp and amp are 2 feet away

[damacman]

My .02 is YMMV. I have a fully balanced CDP > C200 > MC2600s bridged all via XLR. Although the MC2600 is not a quad balanced design, it operates as balanced when bridged. Results trump RCAs.

I also had (recently sold) an MC500 in an adjacent room, connected to the SPKR 2 outputs of the C200. Cable length is 6M. Kimber PBJ RCA had a 60 cycle hum whereas WW Onyx XLR is dead quiet.

Try both for yourself before taking someone else's take as gospel.

[brownbear]

I use WW Eclipse 7 XLR/XLR (20 inch) between my preamp and amp and am very happy with the sound. Because of this thread I picked up a set of the same brand in RCA/RCA from Ivan just to compare. I am hoping the single ended are more musical as some have suggested.