Oh oh. Here we have another pro audio misunderstanding. Balanced lines are only needed in some situations. Some of the best consoles ever made are completely unbalanced!, Long runs of low levels such as mics do benefit, however they do *very very very very* (did I mention not much?) little for short runs or even fair at line levels, certainly not anything remotely audible. I had a very long talk with a very famous English gentleman of audio on this subject. No gain for us at all. Know what should have been balanced? Phono cartridges!!! They needed it, never were though as far as I know!
All phono cartridges are inherently balanced.
That's why you have a ground wire which is separate from the signal wires.
You could just replace the RCA and ground connections with two XLRs.
Do we always need balanced lines? No, we don't. Is it the best way to connect sensitive signals? Yes, undoubtedly.
How are your experiences with balanced vs unbalanced phono preamps?
(I use this as an example of where the choice is not clear cut.)
You'll have to wait for SY's new all balanced MM phono preamp, Don. He's getting great results. 🙂
I assume this was meant for me! ;-)
On my Thorens the drain or ground wire is connected to the arm. The arm tube does the same job as the shield on XLR cables I suppose.
That may well be the reason almost all tone arms are made from conductive material like metal or carbon fibre. The wooden arm I've seen was shielded on the inside.
I have always been dubious about the earthing arrangements on typical phono cartridges.
By this I mean, for example on plenty of Shure MM cartridges, a small copper removable strap is typically fitted that connects the body of the cartridge to the ground side (-ve) pin of one of the cartridge channel outputs.
Some cartridge bodies are electrically conductive, and connected to the headshell, and the tone arm.
This automatically ensures that the two channels are not identical 🙄.
Dan.
By this I mean, for example on plenty of Shure MM cartridges, a small copper removable strap is typically fitted that connects the body of the cartridge to the ground side (-ve) pin of one of the cartridge channel outputs.
Some cartridge bodies are electrically conductive, and connected to the headshell, and the tone arm.
This automatically ensures that the two channels are not identical 🙄.
Dan.
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Other than Deccas, I haven't found any that aren't intrinsically balanced. I've looked at Ortofon, Grado, Shure, Audio-Technica, Linn, and Technics. Which ones have you seen that weren't?
I think all phono cartridge channels are intrinsically balanced.
I am referring to the earth strap that connects the cartridge body to one of the channel -ve terminals.
EMI injected onto the earth shield of one channel, and whatever parasitics between channels and shield/case will not be identical.
The actual effect I do not know.
Wrt the cartridge body, balanced floating signal connection ought to be the optimal method to ensure 'sameness' of the two channels.
Dan.
On the Shures, which is the only place I've seen that strap, it's removable, and it should be removed before running balanced.
Same same for various Stanton types (505-680-681-881-890-981)
http://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uplo...standard_phono_cartridge_needs_new_stylus.jpg
http://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uplo...standard_phono_cartridge_needs_new_stylus.jpg
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