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Balanced cable, is it a stereo?

T

thebas

Aug 22, 2008
90
0
#1
Hi,
I need help regarding balanced cable.
I want to make a balanced connection between Behringer MIC100 DI/PREAMP and E-MU 1212m PCI audio interface in my PC.
1212m has two (L and R), 1/4', mono balanced/unbalanced line inputs.
Mic100 has one mono, 1/4' balanced/unbalanced output and also 1 XLR balanced/unbalanced output.
So, I want to make balanced connection between them. It's not a must, but I want to.
Problem is, I cant find balanced cable. Question is: is balanced cable the same thing as a stereo cable? Can I simply buy stereo 1/4' to 1/4' cable and be sure connection will be balanced? Or I would need to make some mods to the cable?
Here is a shot from MIC100 manual regarding balanced 1/4' jack.
Thanks
 

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#4
A balanced cable is one that has three wires instead of two.
A stereo cable is one that has three wires instead of two.
The only difference is in what you plug them in to! So for example, if you plug a 3-wire cable into two balanced in/outputs, then it's a balanced (and mono) connection. Plug the same cable into two stereo in/outputs, then it's a stereo (and unbalanced) connection.

Plug the same cable from a balanced in/output to a stereo in/output, you just get a mono and unbalanced signal, missing half of its original content.

In terms of "type of signal", there's no difference between a TRS plug and an XLR plug.
 
#5
PhiDeck, here are the requested links:
MIC100:
manual
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
spec
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
E-MU 1212m
manual :)
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
i think the spec is inside
 
#6
Yes you can connect you Behringer Mic 100 to your E-mu 1212m with balanced TRS 1/4" cables. A balanced cable and an stereo cable are basically the same but as Bongomania explained they work depending on what you connect them to.
So in your case the TRS 1/4" Cable will give mono balanced connection.
 
#8
thebas said:
Hi,
I need help regarding balanced cable.
I want to make a balanced connection between Behringer MIC100 DI/PREAMP and E-MU 1212m PCI audio interface in my PC.
1212m has two (L and R), 1/4', mono balanced/unbalanced line inputs.
Mic100 has one mono, 1/4' balanced/unbalanced output and also 1 XLR balanced/unbalanced output.
So, I want to make balanced connection between them. It's not a must, but I want to.
Problem is, I cant find balanced cable. Question is: is balanced cable the same thing as a stereo cable? Can I simply buy stereo 1/4' to 1/4' cable and be sure connection will be balanced? Or I would need to make some mods to the cable?
Here is a shot from MIC100 manual regarding balanced 1/4' jack.
Thanks
Click to expand...

I think i understand what you're wanting to do here but im wondering what results are you expecting from this???

Are you trying to split your signal at the DI to record simultaneously into the 2 mic pres???
 
#9
In a balanced cable you usually have this
Tip---------------------------------- Tip (Positive-Hot)
Ring----------------------------------Ring (Negative-Cold)
Sleeve-------------------------------Sleeve (Ground)
Now this "for connection of balanced and unbalanced plugs, ring and sleeve have to be bridged at the stereo plug" means that you bridge or connect to the same point one of the ends of the mono cable. In this case the ground.

So you wire
Mono Stereo
Tip----------------------------------------Tip
Sleve--------------------------------------Sleeve
Sleeve l-----------------------------------------Ring
 
#10
Another way to think about this: the cable itself doesn't known what signals are being transmitted through it. You could take a balanced XLR cable and run two voltages down it, and use it as a power supply cable (if you really wanted to!).

First some terms:

'stereo' versus 'mono' - describe the number of independent signals making up a sound source

'balanced' versus 'unbalanced' - describe the transport mechanism for moving a given signal from point A to point B.

'Stereo' conveys the fact that there are two independent signals that make up the sound, one for the 'left' and one for the 'right'. 'Balanced' conveys the fact that two polarities of any given mono signal are being transmitted down the cable.
'Unbalanced' signals take a balanced signal and 'throw away' one of the two signals making up the balanced pair (in reality the act of unbalancing a signal doesn't 'throw away' the second signal, but it works for demonstration of the difference).

If you wanted to have a balanced stereo signal, it would make up 4 total signals, meaning your cable would have to have 5 wires: two per signal, and a ground.
 
#11
Hi,
I just want to use balanced connection between Mic100 preamp and 1212m interface.
My English is not so good, terminology also sucks, but my question was: Is stereo 1/4" to stereo 1/4" cable ok for balanced mono connection, or do I need to solder something on the cable connectors (like I understand from the attachment in first post) or do I need special balanced mono cable.
Thanks for answers, I'll try to find simple stereo 1/4"to 1/4" cable to make mono balanced interconnection between Mic100 and 1212m..
Regards.
 
#14
thebas said:
Thank You.
Click to expand...

Just to add, the 'bridged' thing is referring to when you have to plug a mono balanced signal into a mono unbalanced socket. When plugged into the unbalanced socket one of the connectors (the ring) will be floating there doing nothing, so its good electronic practice to connect that to the ground (ground is sorta the final destination for all electronic signals). It would work fine if you didn't do that 9 times out of 10 though!

For balanced > balanced just a normal TRS cable is needed with no soldering!
 
#16
Hi,
I found a XLR female to 6.3mm jack cable 3 meters in a local shop. The seller says the 6.3mm jack is mono jack but the cable is balanced. Is this possible? I mean, it need to be stereo jack for a balanced cable, right? Am I better using 6.3mm jack to 6.3mm jack cable or XLR to 6.3mm jack cable out of my Behringer MIC100 preamp?
 
#18
So difference in balanced cable is that balanced cable has SHIELD that is connected to the ground and all interference simply dont get to the positive wire in the center of the cable? So, the ground is all way around + and- wires, right?
 
#19
No. Balanced has one ground/shield wire, and two + signal wires. The two signal wires are in exactly the opposite polarity from each other. This means anything that exists one one wire, that doesn't exist in perfect inversion on the other wire, gets canceled out. So noise, hum, etc. that might have been picked up along the length of the cable gets canceled.
 

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