Help! EMU 1212M Soundcard to Parasound P3 - Balanced or unbalanced??

[thunderstorm77]

Hi

I want to hook a EMU 1212M soundcard (which has 1/4 jack balanced output) to my Parasound P3 preamp (which has XLR balanced inputs). I also plan to connect the P3 to a balanced poweramp, the Parasound A23.

How shall I do this to get the best sound? Shall I use a 1/4 jack to XLR adaptor? Will the signal then be balanced all the way?

Thanks!

[Chris D]

I would say that you would want to use the digital connections, to a digital surround processor like the C1, C2, or 7100. If you want to keep it 2-channel with the P3, though, I would use 1/4" to RCA adapters. You won't get a balanced connection with the soundcard.

[thunderstorm77]

I would say that you would want to use the digital connections, to a digital surround processor like the C1, C2, or 7100. If you want to keep it 2-channel with the P3, though, I would use 1/4" to RCA adapters. You won't get a balanced connection with the soundcard.

Why will I not get balanced output from the soundcard? It says it has two balanced 1/4 output - why can't I plug this straight into the preamp?

[Peter Nielsen]

I think it will work fine. However, beware of polarity issues. The XLR positive and negatives are not entirely standard and may be reversed. The same probably holds true for the balanced 1/4 stereo jack.

Refer to the manual of the P3 and your soundcard and make sure you get the correct type of converter (or make the two 1/4 stereo plug to XLR cables yourself).

If the polarity is wrong, the signals will be inverted 180 degrees and it will not sound right (but it may be hard to pinpoint what's wrong at first).

Peter

[Chris D]

Ah... am I wrong? I didn't know that 1/4" jacks could be "balanced"!?!

[Peter Nielsen]

Yes Chris, you're wrong :B All that's needed to carry a balanced signal is three pins, so it's certainly possible to use a 1/4" stereo jack as a one channel balanced input or output. Of course you'll need two stereo 1/4 jacks (like you need two XLR connectors).

This is commonly done for microphones (for instance in mixing console inputs).

The nice thing about using 1/4" plugs/jacks for this purpose is that you can plug in unbalanced equipment (1/4" mono plugs) into balanced equipment (1/4" stereo jack) and vice versa and it will automatically work. (The mono plug shorts one of the balanced pins to ground and the signal is fed through the other pin).

Using 1/4" plugs does require a bit of discipline. If you use a mono cable to connect two pieces of equipment that are both balanced, it will appear to work, except that you now have an unbalanced connection...

Peter

[thunderstorm77]

Thanks for the help Peter!

In my P3 manual it says that

Pin 1 - Ground
Pin 2 - Positive
Pin 3 - Negative

I believe this is the most common way. So if I get a 1/4 TRS to XLR adapter with this exact pin configuration, I should be OK?

I couldn't find anything about my soundcard pin configuration, but it says it's standard.