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toomanyhelicopters wrote: if you have a kick-ass mixer, you may see balanced XLR outputs for the mains out. in that case, you're not likely at all to find the cable at rat shack, nor anywhere else for that matter. 1/8" to 2 x XLR is not a normal cable, i don't think. you would maybe need to get it custom made at that point.

I have a Tascam M-2516. The "Main Outputs" are both XLR and 1/4 (there is a l/r for each).

Is there an advantage to having a special cable made and using the XLR? Would that just give a louder/cleaner signal or what?

magritte wrote:

toomanyhelicopters wrote: if you have a kick-ass mixer, you may see balanced XLR outputs for the mains out. in that case, you're not likely at all to find the cable at rat shack, nor anywhere else for that matter. 1/8" to 2 x XLR is not a normal cable, i don't think. you would maybe need to get it custom made at that point.

I have a Tascam M-2516. The "Main Outputs" are both XLR and 1/4 (there is a l/r for each).

Is there an advantage to having a special cable made and using the XLR? Would that just give a louder/cleaner signal or what?

XLRs provide balanced outputs (or CMRR), which is pointless unless you plan on running over 20' to your computer, and running out to buy some very expensive balun transformers to make it work.

Just use the 1/4" outputs.

and as i said, if you're not going past the local radio shack level, if they don't have the 1/8" stereo male -> 2 x 1/4" mono cable that you ultimately need, you can get the 1/8" -> 2 x RCA cable with two RCA female -> 1/4" male adaptors that they will most likely have.

geiginni wrote:XLRs provide balanced outputs (or CMRR), which is pointless unless you plan on running over 20' to your computer, and running out to buy some very expensive balun transformers to make it work.

Just use the 1/4" outputs.

gotcha. I guess I just don't understand what a balanced output does. I know when to use them (vocals, mic an amp, etc)...but that's about it.

toomanyhelicopters wrote: 1/8" to 2 x XLR is not a normal cable, i don't think. you would maybe need to get it custom made at that point.

can somebody in the know confirm or deny the accuracy of what i've said here?

I've never seen one, but as someone who makes their own cables, let me tell you that going from 1 XLR to 1/4 inch is such a royal pain in the ass. I've never even attempted 2 XLR to 1 1/4 inch but that would be such a pain in the ass, which makes me think that having someone build 2 XLR to 1/8 inch would be pretty expensive...and a huge pain in the ass.

Thanks guy. I don't want to hang around and ask stupid questions.

Maybe I'll post the songs when I get them on here.

magritte wrote:Thanks guy. I don't want to hang around and ask stupid questions.

if you have time, you may find it useful to browse through the archive pages of the Tech Forum, and look at subject titles that sound in any way relevant to what you're doing. there's a *lot* of information there.

Unbalanced outputs, like a 1/4" tip-ring or an RCA use a single conductor plus a ground conductor to carry the signal. The single conductor carries the signal, the ground provides a return to ground (of course). The problem with this is that any RFI, EMF, or other signals in the air can be picked up by the cable an amplified in your equipment, causing you to hear Mexican radio, buzzing, or other wierd shit.

Balanced outputs, like a 3-pin XLR, use two conductors to carry the signal, plus a ground conductor. Each of the conductors carries the same signal, but with the polarity reversed in the second with respect to the first. How this works is: if there is interference in the cable, it will have the same polarity in each conductor. When the signals get to the mixer, or tape machine, etc... The polarity is electronically reversed in the second conductor to match the first and they combine, OK. The interference that was travelling in the cable is now reversed in the second conductor with respect to the first and when it is combined with the first will be cancelled out. That is why balanced signals are so important for microphones, long cable runs, etc... - where interference is more of a problem.

Hope that makes sense...

great explanation. thanks.

or, to try and put it as simple and clear as i can for anybody who's new to signals...

the guitar-type plug (called 1/4", or a mono 1/4" phone plug) has 2 wires inside it, and your audio signal is sent along those 2 wires. along the way, the wires can pick up noise from any number of places.

the XLR (the one with the three pins) has three wires inside it. it has the same two wires as the 1/4" does, but also, a third one, and on that wire is the exact *opposite* of your audio signal. it is "180 degrees out of phase" with your audio signal. if you combined those two signals, they would cancel each other out completely and you would have nothing.

so with the XLR cable, along the way, any noise that gets picked up, it actually gets picked up twice, once on the normal signal, and once on the opposite of the signal. that way, at the end of the cable, your gear can flip that 3rd wire's signal back to normal, and now the signals both match up, but the noise on that 3rd wire is now the *opposite* of the noise on the other 2 wires. after your gear at the end of the cable flips that opposite signal back to being the same as the normal one, now the signals add together, and *the noise* will cancel itself out.

hopefully that makes sense to any folks who are first starting to learn about signals.