Balanced Vs Unbalanced Rca Cable

A balanced electrical signal runs along three wires.

Balanced vs unbalanced rca cable.

The structure of a balanced audio cable is similar to an unbalanced cable with one addition. A ground a positive leg and a negative leg. The main difference comparing balanced vs unbalanced cables is a balanced cable has 1 additional conductor. As in the unbalanced cable the ground wire still surrounds the signal wires and is used as a shield against interference.

I demonstrate exactly whats going on under the hood of bal. The diagram above shows how the cable works. Unbalanced cables aren t good for doing long cable runs for this reason in fact you should be using balanced ones if the cable needs to be more than 10 15 meters long. A balanced cable by contrast has three conductors in the connector and three wires in the cable.

Balanced cables and signals. A typical unbalanced cable like a 1 4 instrument cable has 2 conductors. Two signals wires plus a separate ground wire. In consumer audio systems this usually consists of a cable with a center conductor and a shield terminated in an rca phono plug.

Unbalanced line level connections are usually implemented with rca jacks for audio while balanced line level connections typically utilize dual 3 pin xlr jacks for both the input and output. An unbalanced single ended interface uses only two conductors to carry the signal from one device to another one conductor carries the signal and the other is the grounded return. Any noise picked up along the cable run will typically be common to both legs. This video will explain the difference between recording audio with balanced vs unbalanced cables.

In both cases one jack is normally used for each audio channel left and right. Unbalanced cables depending on their quality might be anywhere from 30 60 of the cost of their balanced counterparts. The balanced cable will have 1 hot 1 cold and a ground shielding. Balanced xlr vs unbalanced rca i suggest that you simply make a couple of cables connecting a 1 4 inch trs tip ring sleeve balanced plug to a male single ended rca plug making sure to connect the hot signal on the balanced 1 4 connector the tip to the hot pin on the rca plug.

Both legs carry the same signal but in opposite polarity to each other. In truth the main advantage an unbalanced cable has over a balanced cable is the cost. The 1st conduction is the audio signal itself and the 2nd is a ground and often a shielding.