Articles Index                       

Know Your Cables 
By  Brookdale Music Store Manager Mike Patterson

Brookdale Music Store and Education Center is located at 1550 N. Route 59, Naperville IL 60563
We are a full service, locally owned store serving the Chicago suburbs since 1993.

WE HAVE THE LARGEST SELECTION OF PRINT MUSIC IN THE AREA!!

Do You Know Your Cables?

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was wireless? Those days are coming, just not soon enough (and probably not in my lifetime). I receive questions about different cable types more than anything else here at Brookdale Music. I thought it might be helpful to clear the air.

A: An unbalanced connector is made up of two points. One carries the signal and the other is the shield or ground. With this type, the longer the cable, the more prone you are to getting noise and/or hum in your signal. I do not recommend going more than 30 feet, so as much fun as it would be to have a 50’ guitar cable to run around the house in your boxers, stick to around 20’ if you can (and please stay away from the windows). The quality level of these cables is not as good, sound wise, as a balanced cable. Unfortunately, on some gear you won’t have much of a choice. You can plug an unbalanced cable into a balanced jack but the signal will remain unbalanced.

- Typical applications for an unbalanced cable:
¼" output on a guitar or most inexpensive keyboards, anything RCA connected such as CD players and tape decks

A balanced connector is made up of 3 points. One carries the audio signal, another carries an out-of-phase version of that signal, and the final point is the ground or shield. Being that the cable is setup this way, you are far less likely to get hum and noise in your signal. This also allows you to go much longer distances (hundreds of feet) without interference. A balanced XLR cable can also carry phantom power for higher quality microphones, but that is a discussion for another day. I do not recommend plugging a balanced cable into an unbalanced input.

- Typical applications for a balanced cable: Standard XLR microphones, most pro audio equipment such as EQ, compressors, pro effects processors, pro mixer inputs and outputs.

A: This is a very common problem for schools and churches who have to run audio through a snake (a means to connect many audio signals through one cable run to desired destination). What you need is a Direct (D.I. for short) Box. A direct box takes the unbalanced signal and "transforms" it to a balanced signal.

There are two types of direct boxes, passive and active. Passive direct boxes, which are most typically used in live situations (as opposed to recording), do not require power or a battery and are only as good sounding as the transformer inside. Active direct boxes, which are typically used for recording, require a battery or power, can handle and output higher levels, and have an all around better frequency response. Another nice feature of the direct box is the ability to lift the ground to help eliminate hum.

Q: Are all cables with an XLR (3 pin) end balanced and are all ¼" cables unbalanced?

A: To start with the first part of the question, no, not all XLR cables are balanced. All XLR to XLR cable are typically balanced but a ¼" to XLR cable may not be. You can check this by looking at the ¼" end of the cable. If it has two rings on it (whether black or white), that indicates that the cable is balanced and the balanced rules apply. If there is only one ring on it, that indicates that it is unbalanced and the unbalanced rules apply.

As far as ¼" to ¼" cables are concerned, they do make balanced versions for pro gear. You can tell this by following the instructions above (the two ring thing). For balanced ¼" cables, the balanced rules do apply. Just as a reminder, guitar output jacks typically use an unbalanced ¼" cable.