I need to connect the two 1/4 inch outputs of MC to A 3.5 MM input on a speaker.
Should the 1/4 inch outputs be balanced (2 rings) or unbalanced (1 ring)? Of course the 3.5mm jack is balanced. Thanks
Unbalanced is fine.
Not in this example
It’s probably not balanced, surely it’s a solitary stereo input for the pair !
a 3.5mm TRS to dual TS 6.35mm (marked tip/ring each) is what it sounds like you need - easy to source - the Elektron CV kit handles this arrangement too
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Yeah, you’re confused. A TRS connection can be used for either balanced mono or unbalanced stereo. In your case you want two unbalanced mono (TS) outputs going into one unbalanced stereo (TRS) input. Nothing is balanced here.
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Thanks so 1/4 inch unbalanced fo they have on or two rings ? The 3.5 jack has rings right for stereo.
I know I’m confused thanks for helping
Just curious, that’s great pic
Just curious why does it matter shielded or non shielded.
Shielded, very much like balanced, only really matters if you’ve got a lot of long cables all over the shop, like in a live venue or club, where you’ve got lots of cables and other shit creating lots of interference.
Twin ¼ inch TS (Tip/Sleeve, so one black ring) to single ⅛ inch TRS (Tip/Ring/Sleeve, so two black rings) will do for you, everything else isn’t worth worrying about.
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- TECHNICAL INFORMATION ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS Impedance balanced audio outputs Main outputs level: +10 dBu Output impedance: 33 Ω unbalanced Headphones output Headphones out level: +6 dBu Output impedance: 1 Ω Unit power consumption: 2–4 W depending on LED/ LCD brightness Recommended power supply: PSU-4/b, 5V DC, 1.2 A
It says balanced outputs, this confused me.
Is shielded the same as balanced?
Looking at a cable how can you tell by looking if balanced or unbalanced?
Shielded and balanced are not the same.
A balanced cable has jacks that look like stereo jacks (two black rings). I’m probably wrong about how balanced cables work exactly but it’s something about the third connection carrying a weaker version of the signal that helps to reduce interference.
Shielded just means that the cables are shielded better with whatever they’re covered with, probably.
However, shielded and balanced are both aimed at dealing with interference and noise relating to having long or lots of cables.
If your cables are less than a few metres it really doesn’t matter. You can plug unbalanced cables into balanced outputs, no problem.
The advantage of balanced outputs is mostly that your gear won’t need to go through a DI box to connect to a venue’s mixer, as long as you use balanced cables.
Seriously, don’t worry about it, just get the cable from the picture above, it’ll be fine.
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Yes it sounds like you know about this about as much as I do.
Ok, good luck.
Good luck to you my friend
It means it can send balanced signals on the outputs, but your input needs to be able to handle that too. If it can’t, there’s no use trying to use balanced output.
Is shielded the same as balanced?
No
Looking at a cable how can you tell by looking if balanced or unbalanced?
Read my answer again. A TRS cable can be used to carry a balanced mono signal, or an unbalanced stereo signal. It’s not the cable that’s “balanced” it’s the signal you send through it. The cable is just some wires, it’s what gets sent over those wires that matters. A TRS cable can carry a balanced signal, if the output and input both use balanced signals.
But since your input is an unbalanced stereo input you can’t send a balanced signal to it. Just get the cable in the picture above.