Balanced amps

[Stills]

Aesthetix Atlas although I'm running mine SE - all my kit has a choice of balanced and SE connections. Anyone know if there is any point running balanced if you have no noise problems.

I think that depends on how much effort the manufacurer of the amps has put into the balanced circuitry or single ended circuitry for that mater. Some power amps have xlr to rca adapters to allow SE use. Sounds horrible. I know , I've tried it.. If you haven't got any noise problems and are using short lengths in interconnect then stick with SE throughout. I have been advised to either use SE or Balanced throughout, but try not to mix them. Not sure if there is any practical gain from following that advice. Never tested it.

 

[uncl_nigel]

The problem is finding a dealer who can actually loan/demonstrate two sets of two interconnects (SE and balanced) in the same cable...

That sort of stock in three or four brands ties up a huge amount of cash.

 

[cjr]

You should only be running balanced for long lead applications .... 3m+ and above. Add Primare, NAD & Cambridge Audio as SS amplification with balanced topology.

 

[uncl_nigel]

You should only be running balanced for long lead applications .... 3m+ and above. Add Primare, NAD & Cambridge Audio as SS amplification with balanced topology.

That is the sort of opinion that reinforces my reticence about buying cables that are not "universal" (you guessed right, I felt I was a prisoner to Naim with their DIN sockets).

It would still be re-assuring to actually have a comparative demo.

 

[old_school]

I run balanced between my phono and preamp, and CDP/DAC and preamp, but my amps are SE. The phono to pre link is 3m (could probably shorten it to 2.5, but a 3m cable was what I got). The CDP to pre is only 50cm. The only difference I noticed using balanced or SE between CDP and pre was the 6db increase in gain. I didn't have any noise issues with cables that short. More or less the same with the phono. However, I do have noise issues with the 5m run between pre and power amps. I figure I'll see what I can find for quality balanced to SE transformers and use those to convert the signal near the amp connection.

Kit in question is Aesthetix Calypso and Rhea pre and phono, and Cambridge 840C CDP. Amps are VAL MP-211a. Cables are mostly Van Damme with Neutrik connectors.

An acquaintance of mine who has run multiple systems with all sorts of cabling combinations over the years told me that balanced cables don't seem to have the differences that can be heard with SE cables, regardless of price. I haven't tested the theory myself, but as you can see, I'm not sinking a lot of cash into cables.

 

[Non-Smoking Man]

What sort of noise?

Hum..sort of slightly buzzy hum. One SS amp I installed exhibited more noise on one channel and we could only get it down and equal by inserting Atlas Navigator with XLR/RCA converters. I inserted long Canare L-77S i/cs between the crossovers and a big valve amp and got a slight reduction in hum.

Speedysteve is coming over this p.m. to help troubleshoot..

 

[Tenson]

It does sound like a ground loop, rather than pickup from the cables. Pull the RCA connectors out partially from the back of the crossovers so that only the centre pin is connected, but not the outer ring. You'll need to do both channels for each of the humming amps.

I have seen hum pickup from cables going near the big power transformers of a valve amp though.

 

[hullevad]

Many fabricated cables has a very poor screen. I would try using professional microphone cable with lots of copper screen and heat up the soldering iron myself. I got rid of induced hum using this approach!