Originally Posted By: rockstar_not
...Right now I have a couple of really cheap T/S 1/4" to RCA cables I bought from Radio Shack probably 10-15 years ago - you know the crappy gray plastic sheathed type that they sold then and perhaps still do today.

Is there a way to take advantage of the balanced jacks when the monitor system is really just +/- with the RCA connections?


Those cables are already wired properly to use the TS to RCA as Unbalanced, which is all that your monitors can take without rather expensive alternatives that are likely not needed.

And - the old gray RadioShack "Lifetime Guarantee" cables may still be of good enough quality to use here. If, when the cables are hooked up to your system, with system turned ON and idling, as in no sound, and you mechanically disturb those cables by lightly slapping them on the desktop or the likes and you hear not too much noise from doing that, and provided you don't hear any buzzing, humming, or other noise from the idling system, things will work just fine over the short distance you are sending the unbalanced signal.

"UnBalanced" Line does not inherently sound worse than Balanced Line connection, Internet Gurus and such be damned and ignored, they don't know what they are pontificating about, many confusing the fact that along with the Balanced connection often comes the higher amp;itude of the pro level Line voltage. So they hear "louder" and think, "better". In reality, all the user of a good clean unbalanced connect from sound device to monitors has to do is set their output level accordingly and enjoy fine audio.

Balanced Line automatically rejects certain types of noise.

The amount of noise you would pick up from a short run, such as from the sound device to the monitor input is and should be minimal to none in the properly designed system.

The one thing to avoid with unbalanced cabling is having more length of cable than actually is needed to perform the connection between the two units with a bit of extra cabling left over for the sake of common sense. In other words, if your unbalanced cables are so long that you have to loop them up in order to do something with that extra cable length, go purchase two shorter unbalanced cable sets that can do the job and be done with it.

Avoid the overpriced 'monster' cables and such that are just there to take yer money, too. Many of these actually have "features" such as RCA pins that are larger in diameter than specification. That may insure a tighter connection, but it also insures that your RCA Jacks will get stretched to the point where the standard size plugs will no longer be able to make good contact. Replacement of the jacks is a rather common problem today for the audio equipment service desk, a needless and rather expensive repair that could be avoided by simply purchasing a good quality middle of the road cable set.

If the advertising for the cable mentions the word, "oxygen" - brother beware.




--Mac

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