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Post by board on Jul 31, 2016 7:01:31 GMT
Regarding unbalanced (phono) to balanced (XLR), there are a couple (or 3 or more?) ways to go about it. 1. From unbal, you can usually just send the signal conductor to the hot (usually pin 2 of the XLR) and the shield conductor to XLR pin1. Ground pin 3 (Cold or inverted signal) to ground (pin 1). I imagine you might find a pre-wired adapter but I don't believe I've seen one. 2. If you want to get fancy, you can use a passive inline transformer, doing this can eliminate ground loop hum you might otherwise have. OR 3. There are active level converters you can buy too. Here is but one example: www.parts-express.com/art-cleanboxpro-stereo-balanced-unbalanced-converter--245-868 Cheers, Rock So, can't I just plug my own phono cables into one of these adapters: Or use one of these cables? If not, I might buy that Art CleanBox you suggest. Ethan, thanks for your response. It's too bad you didn't have those sound files anymore, so I will probably never get to hear this product. But really, who cares? :-) The amp John Atkinson measured actually also blew up in the end and filled his room with blue smoke. But probably more than one amp has done that. But I assume that John Atkinson was the one you visisted then. Actually, from what I read both Michael Fremer and Mike Lavigne have the DarTZeel combo of $140,000 power amps and $18,000 pre amps, and they both blew some of it up. I'm ordering one right now! ;-) Anyway, thanks for all your help, and on an unrelated note thanks for suggesting the Bill Maher film "Religolous" in another thread as well as giving your thoughts on how your Mackie Speakers measured up to Alan Silverman's Revel. I'm going to listen to the Mackie ones at some point.
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Post by Ethan Winer on Aug 1, 2016 20:32:24 GMT
LOL, you got it all. It was John Atkinson and his reviewer John Marks. Just don't blab it around.
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Post by rock on Aug 1, 2016 21:14:26 GMT
Sure, those adapters should work. Cheers, Rock
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Post by board on Aug 23, 2016 22:58:43 GMT
I'm responding a bit late, as I've been out travelling for three weeks. So, I just want to make sure I fully understand everything: If I run a phono cable from my phono stage into that adapter that is phono in one end and XLR in the other (the first picture in my last post) I can plug it into the equalizer, then plug another one of those adapters into the output of the equalizer and then plug a phono cable into that adapter and run the other end (which is phono) into "line in" on my amplifier? If so, that seems easy enough. Thanks for your help, both of you. Now I'm off to buy that DarTZeel amp ;-)!
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Post by rock on Aug 24, 2016 12:22:50 GMT
Yes, those adapters should be fine but I must admit, I try to avoid adapters only because they sometimes make poor and intermittent connections and can be plain troublesome. For that reason, I like the second picture that is pre wired to the plug (one less connection) but you can have a problem with any wire/connector so try whatever you can get.
The EQ may probably have input and output level selectors, you'll want to set them to -10dB instead of +4. -10 is the level of most home stereo equipment and +4 is the level of studio gear.
Cheers, Rock
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Post by board on Aug 24, 2016 20:42:32 GMT
Okay, great. Thanks for your help :-). I'll try it out and see how it works out.
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Post by arnyk on Aug 25, 2016 12:47:02 GMT
Yes, that's what my phono stage is, so it should work fine by mixing phono and XLR cables? I've never used XLR's, so I was a bit worried about mixing balanced and unbalanced cables/products. Mixing RCA and XLR-based systems can work really well. My main audio system is a mixture of pro and consumer gear, with expected mix of equipment with both kinds of connectors. As a general rule, simply hooking the equipment up with commercial adapters has yielded good results. My preference is to wherever possible use adapter cables with mixed connectors rather than the one-piece adaptor plugs. Adaptor plugs can put extra stress on the plugs and jacks by creating mechanically long, rigid stacks of connectors that can cause damage if the cables get tugged on or struck sideways. Right angle connectors can help this by putting the long lever arm right next to the piece of equipment where it is partially protected by being right next to the piece of gear. Low cost, good quality sources of cables and adapters include Orange County Speaker repair AKA GLS audio .glsaudio.com/\ and Monoprice . I also build my own adapter cables when I can. The length is then right and the hook up is as tecdhnically ideal as I can make it. The industry standard technical references for this kind of work include Sound System Interconnection andr HUM & BUZZ IN UNBALANCED INTERCONNECT SYSTEMS
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Post by rock on Aug 25, 2016 17:21:13 GMT
I completely agree with arnyk. He gives detailed reasons why it's better to use cables designed for the specific connections rather than use adapters. In a pinch, for testing or temporary use adapters are OK but in the long run, you're better off with cables with the specific connectors.
Cheers, Rock
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