[John Williamson]

On 21/07/2020 00:52, geoff wrote:
On 21/07/2020 8:45 am, geoff wrote:
On 21/07/2020 2:13 am, John Williamson wrote:

while a high end home audio person will want to set stuff up once and
for all, so the convenience of a Speakon isn't needed. Just bear in
mind very few of them even run line level audio through balanced
leads...



Something to be iad for unbal though. One lot of line-driver
distortion rather than that of two devices.

geoff

Ooops "iad" = "said".

I got that, but the use of a balanced line reduces other problems, and
line driver distortion now is as close as makes no difference to zero.
Balanced lines at 600 ohm impedance are long established, very mature
technology. In some circumstances, a transformer is used as a special
effect to get that "warm", distorted, "analogue" sound. Even digital
signal transmission benefits from being balanced (or optical) if the
line is long, as it means the error correction is easier to do.

Unbalanced's only benefit is that it is (much) cheaper to make.

For professionals, the advantage of balanced signal connections is that
we can connect any pair of balanced items together, and it all "just
works", even over long connections (I use 25 metre microphone leads,
often with a couple of joints in them, for instance, running parallel to
a line level return in the same loom. Some on here have mentioned using
microphone leads a quarter of a mile long with no major problems.). The
only noticeable distortion is from the diaphragms inside the microphones
and monitors. Using that length of connection on an unbalanced wire only
needs someone to turn a fluorescent light on in a nearby room, and you
have interference on the signal, and as for cellphones...

The circuitry inside most professional equipment is generally balanced
all the way through, so there is no place where the circuit is unbalanced.


--
Tciao for Now!

John.