Well not quite..

Simple question.

You've got balanced and unbalanced cables. Any RCA outputs on a mixer are unbalanced.
TRS outputs are balanced.

I have a TRS cable to TRS cable. It's got a left and right TRS jack for the mixer and a single TRS jack for the speaker input.

My question is.

It's beneficial to use balanced connections as they reduce the Signal to Noise Ratio. However do the TRS jacks that plug into the mixer have to be Balanced (each of them?) The ones i have aren't balanced, presumably because they join up at the other end into 1 TRS jack which is balanced.

Does this mean that i'm not really getting a balanced signal at the speaker end?

Does the cable need to be balanced at the mixer end or the speaker end for the S/N ratio to be improved?

Thanks lads,
Steve

You mean you have a:

Left TRS Plug
Right TRS Plug

One cable

One TRS Plug (mono or stereo?)

Something like that?

Balanced cables don't have anything to do with stereo signals vs mono signals if that's what you mean.

im not sure theres many balanced TRS outputs on mixers, they are usually XLR if their balanced (exception: Xone mixers have balanced TRS apparently). RCAs never balanced. I dont really know what u gain by using balanced cables on unbalanced connections, i dont think u gain anything really as one of the leads is just not connected to anything. the idea of balanced is the have three leads each channel: +, -, and ground. when unbalanced ground and - is the same. in order to get the benefits of balanced u need two balanced cables, one for Left, one for Right, and both your mixer and monitors need to have balanced connections. XLR or TRS doesnt matter, u get cables with one end XLR, one end TRS etc in order to fit your equipment. hope it helps, as i really didnt understand the question.

you gain more analogue

much like an xlr connector, a trs connector, to be balanced needs to have:
positive phase
negative phase
ground

so the cable and connector both have three connection points. You cannot have a TRS on one side and mono on the other, I believe it defeats the purpose, but not 100% sure.

Keep in mind that XLR does not equal having the 3 connections, but usually if it isn't a balanced connector it's because it's a custom job


TRS connections are sometimes non "standard", some mixers will have different wirings like a negative tip instead of it being positive.

TRS output should go into a TRS input. However, you can wire up TRS to TS. Solder your ring to sleeve along with the drain. Never snip the common. Which is typically your ring/pin 3 on an XLR. Another option would be, solder the tip and ring together and the drain by itself on the sleeve. A pseudo balance wiring job. This is how I solder all my RCA cables.

If you're dealing with a single output, you can make a Y adapter. 1 TRS to 2 TS. It's still a mono signal though.

If your going directly to speakers than 2TRS (left and right) to XLR at the other end. Or whatever the input connection is at the speaker. Balance is the key.

Last edited by Brandt Slater on May-26-2010 at 09:59

Sorry for the late reply lads and thanks a million for all the responses.

It's difficult trying to explain yourself with this subject sometimes.

Basically i have a single cable. On one end there are two TS jacks. and at the other there is one TRS.

I have a Xone 92. And plug the two TS jacks in the Mix2 outputs (whether they are TS or TRS i'm not sure but from what was said above I think they might be TRS)

Anyway i know A balanced connection is great to reduce noise. (2 signals, one inverted the extra noise is then eliminated blah blah blah).

I was just wondering whether with two TS jacks going into the mixer and a TRS jack going in my JBL EON 10, would i be benefiting from a balanced connection.

OR Would both ends going into the mixer have to be TRS.

Hope that makes a little more sense.

I'm thinking of buying a bunch of connecters for my mixer. EG. A couple of XLR to TRS/RCA adaptors. I have a TS to RCA (no point in having a TRS as RCA's are unbalanced right?)

I'm just trying to cover my ass for any gig i rock up to and they don't have the connections i need or have a different mixer to mine installed and want to be able to adapt accordingly.

I just don't want to waste any money on this adaptors if there's no point in shelling out for them because the signal will be shite.

theres no balanced stereojack avaliable, it would need 6 or maybe 5 (common ground) leads in the plug, it just doesnt have that. as far as i understand from the JBL EON 10 you should use the XLR input in mono for each speaker. its a really weird monitor imo, i just dont see why they have a stereo input and a mic input there. nor the output.

Last edited by Zak McKracken on May-26-2010 at 16:31

This article might help: http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/05/...-dj-essentials/

@N3lly

Its sounds like the cable you have could possibly be a send/return insert cable. Basically this type of cable is wired with the tip + on one TS, and the ring + on the other TS. In and out type cable. Using this type of cable for the main out would make one side out of phase.

You can use a TS plug on a TRS Jack, however you could run into grounding issues. I would suggest to try to go with a TRS to XLR. I know it's extra money but worth it in the long run. If you'd like, I could solder a couple up for ya. Just let me know.

Last edited by Brandt Slater on May-26-2010 at 21:08

Quick question for all the European brother DJ's. Is all your gear today wired for pin 2 hot on an XLR? Is the tip on a TRS, or TS, wired hot or +? Just curious. It's been awhile since I've been there. Last time I gave through and rented PA, I had to bring a bunch XLR phase reverse.

quote:

Originally posted by xtr3m This article might help: http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/05/...-dj-essentials/

Hi mate,

I actually thought of my question while reading that DJTT article. Instead of asking a question on there I tend to come on here and ask the question instead.

Katmaus i had a look and it doesn't seem that the cable i got is an Insert Cable. Both the TS jacks are identical. But thanks for the suggestion.

Think i've got everything covered. Might get myself a few adaptors still.