I just got a couple peavey thumps and the input is xlr. the output on my mixer is 1/4 L and R. Do I get unbalanced or balanced 1/4 male to xlr male??
Without knowing the make and model of your mixer there is nobody in the world who can answer this question! 1/4 jacks may be either balanced or unbalanced (and I’ve even had kit with XLRs which upon opening I’ve found are actually only unbalanced inside (Yamaha Graphic EQ IIRC.))
OK so I checked my manual and this is what I got:
5 STEREO OUT (L, R) Jacks
These are impedance balanced* phone-jack type outputs that
output the signals adjusted by the STEREO Master control.
You can use these jacks, for example, to connect to the power
amplifier driving your main speakers.
6 MONITOR (L, R) Jacks
These are impedance balanced* phone-jack type outputs that
output the signals adjusted by the MONITOR/PHONES con-trol. Connect these jacks to your monitor system.
- Impedance Balanced
Since the hot and cold terminals of impedance balanced output
jacks have the same impedance, these outputs are less affected by
induced noise.
So this basically means that I would purchase unbalanced for this, right?
{edit: if found this:
Simply stated, you use a TRS jack for the connector, and you connect the ring contact to ground through the same resistance as used for the build-out resistor on the tip contact. From the line’s standpoint, the circuit is balanced, driven from a grounded center-tap source. Only half of the circuit is driven from an audio standpoint. It doesn’t matter what sort of plug the user inserts, either way is optimum for that case. For the unbalanced case, no ground current flows.
)
So in reality I can use either one?
Ofcourse you can use either one. The point is, you want to use balanced if it’s possible since you won’t have as much outside noise coming in then.
Ok great thanks, I had never heard of balanced/unbalanced before so alot was a unclear for me, and I didn’t want to take a chance ruining my brand new speakers!!
good to know that sort of thing is out there
Now a proud owner of a BSS FDS-960 and those Yamahas never actually got used. In fact, after it sitting around for most of a year without being installed in the rig’s amp rack I went to test them and found a couple of faults, hence finding out they are really only unbalanced. Would be nice if things were clearly labelled!