psaudio.com It might seem like using an XLR to RCA adapter should be alright, but in reality, what's going on? Is it wise to do that and what's the cost benefit to sound quality?
XLR is for really long runs like 20m~100m or you want a more smoother sound and darker background. This actually comes not because it's immunity to common mode noise. But because of it's natural of rejecting uncommon signal. The so call balance circuit is never going to generate the exact perfect opposite signal let it be true balance or not. Just like anything in life not thing is perfect. And there is always a little difference, those difference with in phase and out of phase signal which will get rejected as "noise". That is why you hear some reviewer prefer RCA it bring out more air, detail and 3D sound stage. RCA or XLR is a matter of personally taste.
yes, RCA will sound better at some aspect. Balance is not better in ALL aspect, comes with certain drawback. Just check with Accuphase system will know.
Converting balanced signals into RCA kills their advantages as Paul says. Two points to add are that if the equipment is not truly balanced throughout the signals path it will cause the same problem which is very typical in tube amplifiers, even if it has XLR inputs. The second point that maybe an advantage is XLR runs at 9v which is why long cables are better than RCA which are 3v. If your preamp receives a 9v signal then less signsl amplification is needed and has a higher signal to noise ratio
It is Clarksville TN, 40 minutes out of Nashville. Ft Campbell army base is there. Song is about a draftee going there. The Monkees wrote most of there last ( unsuccessful) album. They were put together for the show. Neil Diamond and Carol King were two of the many songwriters. Come on Paul, your an ole Rock and Roll deejay.
According to the Rhino Insider... "Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, “Last Train to Clarksville” was recorded at RCA Victor Studio B in Hollywood and released less than a month later, on August 16, if that gives you an idea how quickly things were moving for the group at the time. (Hey, that’s what happens when you’ve got the combined power of Don Kirshner and Screen Gems in your corner.) According to Hart, he had originally referenced Clarksdale in the lyrics, having recalled a town in northern Arizona that he’d passed on his way to Oak Creek Canyon once upon a time, but it became Clarksville by the time all was said and done. Was it really a protest song about a soldier going off to Vietnam? Micky Dolenz once described it as “an antiwar song about a soldier going off to war,” but Peter Tork said he’d never actually heard the Vietnam aspect confirmed by Boyce or Hart themselves."
According to lore, it refers to Clarksville, Tennessee. It was an anti-war song. Clarksville was the home of Fort Campbell and home of the 101st Airborne Division.
You can't always use an RCA cable Paul, if you are taking advantage of a balanced input connection (from say a DAC). Some preamps don't have direct paths from balanced to RCA. Also, someone might have a balanced preamp and a single ended amp. It's most important to use XLR from a low output DAC signal where any noise will go through many amplification stages in the preamp and amp. Thus, people should use an adapter cable from preamp to amp if they don't have an option to run a direct signal path from the balanced input on the preamp and RCA output.
I would use an XLR/RCA Adaptor. I'd locate it as close as possible to the RCA-jack equipped device, running an *absolute minimum length* of 'RCA' cable.
That won't work. XLR connectors don't make something balanced. Using adapters makes no difference at all. To get the benefits of balanced, the signal has to be balanced on both ends. An easy way to think about it is an rca connector can only support two conductors, and for balanced you need three. When you use adapters, there's no signals to go on the third pin. Since it doesn't get used, it's no different than using rca cables.
I'm trying to run a balanced mic signal into a DJ Mixer that only takes RCA inputs. When I use a XLR-RCA adapter, my output is often too too low. If I use a DI that converts balanced XLR to unbal TS, then use a TS-RCA adapter, would that be the best way to get my XLR signal into an RCA mixer? seems complicated to go XLR-TS-RCA, but not sure how else to do it! Thanks!
So I take it being "balanced" is not about having the same length RCA cable... Although "Clarksville," a common U.S. place name, is in the song title, the video accompanying the song on the Monkees' TV show showed a sign pointing to "Clarkesville", which is a much more rare spelling, now used only for a town in Georgia even though the song was written about a town that didn't exist and the name just sounded good. Stolen from another site, For the first two albums The Monkees (for the most part) only sang on their recordings. But they did (at least Mike and Peter) make instrumental contributions here and there. There is a very detailed book by Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval and a separate book by Andrew Hickey which further explains which Monkee was involved directly with what track. So here goes… On “The Monkees” Peter plays (inaudible) guitar on “Papa Gene's Blues” and “Sweet Young Thing” as well as “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love” and “So Goes Love” (eventually recorded and released by The Turtles)-outtakes from the same sessions. There is also a good chance that Mike played a guitar part on all the songs he produced for the first two albums. On “More Of The Monkees” Peter plays once again (inaudible) guitar on “Mary, Mary”. Mike plays pedal steel guitar on “The Kind Of Girl I Could Love”. After they wrested control from Don Kirshner the group wanted to record an album of songs that they had chosen themselves and would play on themselves (albeit with a little help here and there from friends and the occasional studio pro) but for the most part “Headquarters” is primarily The Monkees playing as a group. And they go on from there...
Ι was watching this and started laughing out loud by myself like an idiot when you demonstrated the "rejection" that is happening with the adaptor!! 😃🤣
Most tube equipment that have balanced inputs and outputs are actually just unbalanced using XLR connectors that have one of the pins left open. Solid state Class A or Class AB tend to either use full balanced input to output, or an input stage that combines the out of phase signals with some benefit. Class D amps tend to use full balanced input to output.
i havew a yamaha MG24/14fx mixer board that has a dedicated mono out with fader/crossover to separately control lows but my velodyne sub that i am using is RCA in only, really would like to avoid spending on a new sub as the ve;lodyne is a beast but reading up i see impedance problems with xlr to rca cables.. what can i do without any danger of frying equipment ?? thanks
in HAM radio, antennas are often fed with either balanced or unbalanced lines, depending of frequency, antenna configuration and input/output connections. It is possible to switch between the 2 properly with a small transformer called a balun. The impedence matching and switching from unbalanced to truly balanced line is achieved. I'm not sure if that correlates to what is produced for audio gear, but it IS possible.
Hi Paul, it's actually Michael Nesmith on guitar, Mickey Dolenz on drums, Davey Jones vocals, and Peter Tork bass, actually it was the Wrecking Crew most of the time.
Bette Nesmith was the inventor of the correction fluid Liquid Paper (not to be confused with competitor White-Out). She was the mother of musician and producer Michael Nesmith of The Monkees.
Most of the Monkees was written by Neil Diamond they did a couple of their own tracks can't remember which ones. I don't think really balanced or unbalanced is any difference on a short run less than 30 feet long as long unbalanced has good shielding and the same for balanced
As I understand it, the way that common mode rejection works is that the 2 lines sent from the source over a balanced cable carry 180 degree out-of-phase signals, as Paul said. In theory and practice any spurious signals/noise picked up by the cable will be the same for both lines. At the receiving pre-amp/mixer/amp, one of the lines will go through a 0 level gain stage that will reverse the the phase of that line so that both signals can be recombined in phase. This also causes the increase in effective gain of the recombined signal. The phase of the spurious signals/noise picked by the cable will also be reversed in that line so that the unwanted waveforms will then be 180 degrees out-of-phase and will cancel each other out when recombined. Cables can act like antennae, especially for longer runs. This is why balanced lines have long been popular in pro-audio. It's not absolutely perfect, nothing made the hand of man is, but it is a well established and effective technical solution. While unbalanced cables also can act as antennae, this is commonly not as much of a problem for the shorter runs found in the domestic environment. If you have the misfortune to live in an electronically noisy environment, a balanced system is definitely the way to go. If it's not a problem, I wouldn't worry about having an unbalanced system, but that's just me. Any real electronic engineers may feel free to correct and/or elaborate on this simplified explanation.
That's a good explanation, Stephen. In many cases in pro audio, though, the "low" side signal is just a ground reference rather than an inversion of the "high" signal. Thus you don't get the advantage of the 6dB signal increase, but the noise rejection still works. The most common noise source that I see in commercial audio systems, is ground differences between equipment locations which causes a significant amount of ground current in the cable shield. The same thing could happen in a home installation if components are connected to different power circuits, but should be a rare occurrence.
@@marianneoelund2940 Okay, thank you. I appreciate 'real' information from those who know. One of Jerry Pournelle's laws: "If you do not know what you are doing, deal with those who do."
" At the receiving pre-amp/mixer/amp, one of the lines will go through a 0 level gain stage that will reverse the the phase of that line so that both signals can be recombined in phase." Not quite. It doesn't reverse the phase of the line. At the receiving end, both phase are input into a differential amplifier (or a transformer) -- which could have any gain. The output of the differential amplifier is obtained by subtracting one phase from another and multiplying it by the gain factor. That is where the common mode rejection actually happens. Suppose that you have a signal in a balanced line such that one leg of the line is +2V and the other leg is -2V (for a difference of 4V). Further suppose that there is a source of interference that induces a +0.5V signal onto both sides of the line. One leg now has +2.5V and the other now has -1.5V. But that doesn't matter because when the difference is taken between the lines, the spurious signals are removed (2.5V - (-1.5V)) = 4V. [or (-1.5V) - 2.5V = -4V recovering the same signal in the opposite phase.] This doesn't do anything for non-balanced lines because they are referenced from ground potential -- which cannot be effected by the interference. If the same .5V interference affects a 2V unbalanced line, the resulting signal at the source is 2.5V - 0 = 2.5V [or -1.5V - 0 = -1.5V]. Thus there is no common mode rejection. Common mode rejection works well for sources of interference that are far enough away from the line. If the line goes past a local source of interference, then there is a much greater chance that one wire will be closer and receive an unequal amount of interference from the source. Then the interference is will not be rejected.
There are PA boxes that converts single ended line signal to XLR if you are stuck with single ended in one end. You could even have a box in each end if it's single ended in both ends. It's a common problem on stages that you have some single ended signals from instruments etc. That is converted to line level balanced for transport to the mixer.
normally balanced connections have 3 conductors: positive, negative and ground. But in the case of eg. cartriges or microphones, which are balanced sources with just 2 conductors - positive and negative. The technical term is floating balanced or balanced without ground. Yes this is TRUE balanced! The positive signal is connected to one dedicated amplifier stage and the negative signal is inverted and also connected to one dedicated amplifier stage = differential amplifier.
Greg video I remember my dad having to build a XLR interface for a professional recording engineer who couldn't understand why he couldn't just take an RCA single-ended and make it a XLR balance output and it wasn't working correctly.
We have too many self-proclaimed "engineers" in this industry who are not truly qualified. It makes the title rather meaningless. I hope the "engineer" that your father helped, never tried to make any mods to the XLR interface. It's very easy to ruin its function. Of course, there are far worse things that can happen. One of the assistants at my skating rink tried to use an RCA patch-cord coupler as a 3.5mm stereo male-to-male coupler. He managed to get the left channel signal to connect, but of course there was no right channel or ground continuity, so I had to find and fix what he had done. Seems every time one of those guys tries to add a cable to the system, I have to take it apart and rewire it to work correctly. Then there are music/announcer teams who arrive for skating competitions and try to adapt their laptop audio output to a mixer's balanced input, just using a 3.5mm to 1/4" TRS straight adapter. Can't even recall how many times I've tried to explain to them why that won't work.
The Monkees were a made up band, but apparently Mike Nesmith had to be a PITA, and wanted to write his own music. I think the label finally shut him up by putting one of his “real” songs on an album. I don’t believe it was a hit at all, even though I’m pretty sure they actually played their own instruments. I think, could be wrong... Oh, XLR to RCA adapters. I’ll tell ya about them next time. Thanks, Paul. You da man! 🎼 “And I’ll meet you at the station” 🎶
There is always an impedance mismatch with audio signals. Sources are low impedance, typically 100 ohms or less, and inputs are high impedance, typically anywhere from a few Kohm to 100Kohm or so. But there is no need to match impedance for analog audio, as power efficiency isn't a concern and all we're trying to do is get a signal voltage from one place to another. Signal reflections due to impedance discontinuities are not noticeable at audio bandwidth.
Yes, there was a Last Train to Clarksville and it featured some fantastic guitar playing by Louis Shelton. It launched Shelton's career which included Valeri (Monkees), I want you back (Jackson 5), Lowdown (Boz Skaggs), many, many more...
From what I remember from the song, the last train to Clarksville refers to Clarksville Tennessee, two lovers meeting at Clarksville (Tennessee) at 4:30 PM before the man (who was recently drafted) must report to Basic Training at Fort Campbell. Ironically, the last train to Clarksville left the station many years ago; there has not been a passenger rail service going to or from Clarksville TN in over 50 years; not long after this song was written. So this song is almost poetic about it really being "the last train" to Clarksville.
that will not help. you need balanced input and balanced output to solve the problem completely. You will never automatically transform single ended to balanced like that.
@@oysteinsoreide4323 Actually it's XLR balanced to trrs balanced jack (so balanced all of the way) but I was wondering if there would still be a loss of quality
Marc Ozor Yes, the connections in both ends is not the point here. The point was single ended vs balanced vs adapter. Where the only real deal is to have balanced in both ends. In headphones it makes sense to have one cable, but if you have two monoblocks, you should have one balanced cable to each monoblock. The TRRRS Is not a commonly used connector for audio signals. Phone plugs (TRS) or XLR are commonly used connectors for balanced signals.
@@AngryChineseWoman No, it is not loss if you have something in your headset that shift the phase of the negative signal. You will get the common mode rejection if your headphones support it.
I have not seen gold plated XLR connectors yet ... RCA yes ! There's nothing to gain by using balanced cables with XLR connectors over short distances 1 metre for example.
Both SwitchCraft and Neutrik make XLR connectors with gold plating. They run about $3-$5 each retail, quite reasonable. And alas there are also plenty of snake oil XLR connectors as well costing up to hundreds but still not better that the industry standard Switchcraft and Neutrik.
If your like me, and you can’t afford to change all of your gear to balanced inputs and outputs, what do you do??????? Most of my gear are rca, my amps ( pro crown amps) use xlr inputs, so the REAL question is this!!! What’s the best way to go from rca to xlr ??? Please don’t tell me to replace all of my non balanced gear or to dump my xlr gear. Just please explain the best way to use what I have and Amy others like myself have
Good question...I'll say kind of yes... although a humbucker has only two leads coming off the coil when used in a strat for example, they do in fact reverse phase on I believe the center pickup which then gives almost silent operation in 2 of the 4 positions...so yes it's a "similar" concept....peace
The Monkees started out as a made up band (actors) but did learn to play their instruments and played live. Mike Nesmith wrote Rio (1977) and was involved with the conception of MTV
Last week I saw a video where he had a computer screen next to him the date was January 12th if I remember correctly. These have been in que for a while
1- crossvilles in many states. I suspect Tennessee in this case 2- Mickey Dolenz 3- fabricated and heavily produced, not completely fake. Mike Nesmith was the only musician in the group. He played his own stuff for appearances and studio and wrote a few. Music was simple enough that even a Monkee could play it with a little practice 😹 Nesmith picked guitar and did banjo-that takes a bit more training. 4- they were pushing for reunion events, I think 2 were there. Nesmith is on the outs with the band, one other died I think. Say what ya want, but you get mediocre band with an ok TV show. With the other groups, you get that, but no TV show. And extra points for giving us something other than Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley to watch during that time slot.
Fat Rat Sometimes I think Paul is still high from his smoking days. Ahhh, some good redbud or opiated hash would help me forget what’s happening currently in the world.
According to lore, it refers to Clarksville, Tennessee. It was an anti-war song. Clarksville was the home of Fort Campbell and home of the 101st Airborne Division.
