Balanced vs. unbalanced audio

[JTK]

^^ Please educate me on this.

I have the basic concepts down and I understand that you get into certain higher end audio gear where you see the XLR connections that are used for "balanced" audio.

Is "balanced" audio really all that? Is it worth considering down the road some day?

EDIT: Here's probably the best, succinct answer I've ever seen on the subject that just showed up in my PM box over at AVS.

Simply put, balanced audio connections send an analog audio signal kind of "two ways" -- balanced on either side of Ground. By combining the two sides at the receiving end (subtracting one side from the other) you get back to the original signal. The point is, any interference induced while the signal is passing through the cable is going to equally affect both sides, and so when you combine the signals at the receiving end it is automagically cancelled!

So balanced cables are all about reducing interference.

As such, they are primarily for low voltage (line level) connections. And they really shine for very long connections in an environment with lots or electrical interference. This is why they are used in pro studios.

Pro XLR connectors are also usually "locking" connectors which help them stay in place as the studio yahoos drag stuff around. XLR connectors on home theater equipment usually are NOT locking connectors. Again, this stuff really is targeted at pro use.

For typical home theater line level connections -- 3 feet of connection between devices in a typical cabinet say -- balanced connections aren't going to have any advantage over reasonable quality, shielded RCA interconnects. There's just not enough interference to worry about.

But there's no reason not to use them if you've got them. They look cool as well.

Many devices run balanced connections 6dB different from RCA connections due to different standards used in the pro world. If you have a mix of balanced and RCA connections you may need to adjust volume levels differently for the two. But other than that, there's no reason why you couldnt' mix RCA pairs and balanced connection pairs as suits you best.