Who here uses the XLR outs on their Pre/Pro?

[slayer]

I have an old business partner/ friend just go to work for MIT. He came by to play with some cables in my system. Speaker cables to interconnects. I have Z series Monster interconnects going from my C2 to my Cinenova Grande amp. At volume setting 19, the system played between 80-84db with dynamics up to 86db. We switched to the Oracle MA XLR cables.($6999)
To play the system at the same SPL as before, I had to back off the volume all the way to setting 25. At the 25 volume setting, I was playing between 80-84db but the dynamics were spiking off my spl meter.
I guess my question is wether this is normal as far as switching between RCA and XLR. Or was it most likely the spun out cables I was using? I plan on going with the Shotgun S1 series speaker cables and interconnects as they are bit more affordable. I used Kimber 4TC Bi-Wire before but can't use them anymore as I have new speakers that are not Bi-Wireable. They are CAT Trinity speakers.

[Vince Helm]

Hey Randy,

I use balanced outputs on my C2 and also switched from RCA. I did not get the same result as you. Did you friend offer you a good deal on the cables? Got to love highend cables!!! Even when they retail for more than the pre/pro.
Hope you get to keepem.
Vince

[Chris D]

Hey, dude! No, you're not seeing anything abnormal at all. The balanced outputs on the C1/C2 are at a higher level than the RCA. This is why many who have efficient speakers have reported higher background noise when using the balanced outputs. Becuase I have very efficient Klipsch speakers, I also chose to go RCA, and haven't even tried the XLR.

If I didn't have my Klipsch speakers, I would also be using balanced.

[slayer]

The insane cables we were using had selectable impedance settings on the modules. I tried all three cables and all 3 had the increase in spl at the given volume setting. I did not notice any noise in the background but I was playing the Eagles "Hotel Calif" DVD Audio stereo tracks. The tweeters on my speakers did seem to be a bit brighter than with the RCA connections. But, the speakers are not broken in yet and I have yet to really set up the room with these new speakers. I'm going to switch out the speaker cables to the Shotgun S1's and let those break in before trying out some Shotgun series interconnects. I will go with the same series cables in both the XLR and single ended RCA's for a fair comparision between the XLR and RCA preouts of the Halo. I will go with what sounds best. Thanks for the info.

[rocasi]

The balanced section provides a 6dB boost to the signal. I too have Klipsch and when I tried the balanced section, could not deal with the noise in the system. I use RCA and am very happy with that configuration.

[Peter Nielsen]

The balanced section provides a 6dB boost to the signal. I too have Klipsch and when I tried the balanced section, could not deal with the noise in the system. I use RCA and am very happy with that configuration.

Are you sure about the 6dB figure? I thought it was +4dB

Peter