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Balanced cables

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Eminent Member
Topic starter
 

Not strictly a Montage question but connected to it ๐Ÿ™‚
My Montage is connected to studio monitors via a mixer which has always produced a noticeable speaker hum and after searching the internet I now realise that I am not using balanced cables which could be causing the issue. So My question being is there any difference between TRS and XLR balanced cables and can anyone recommend a brand which is not too expensive (ie do you get what you pay for without being ripped off). I only use my Montage for home hobby use and the cables are not ever unplugged.

Many Thanks

 
Posted : 26/11/2017 11:24 am
Bad Mister
Posts: 12304
 

TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) is the same format as XLR, the difference is one has the three wires terminated in a 1/4" phone plug, the other in a three pin configurations we associate with a microphone's pin configuration. Hum gets in both the 'hot' and 'cold' wires and is cancelled to 'ground'. It prevents long cable runs which can be susceptible to radio frequency interference.

The balanced jacks on the MONTAGE are TRS.

You do get what you pay for, but you probably don't need gold wires or connectors... the better the conductor the better cable and connector... gold is better than copper (sometimes its good not to be able to hear that difference, there are some who will tell you they can hear that... I feel mostly sorry for them because sound can always be better)... but you don't have to spend crazy money on cables but use your common sense. Too cheap, you get what you deserve. Buy once, last for a long, long time.

All this said, it may or may not fix your hum issue. You are assuming that the cause is unbalanced versus balanced... it may or may not be. Just be forewarned.

 
Posted : 26/11/2017 11:57 am
Paul
 Paul
Posts: 0
New Member
 

You didnยดt tell us, what sort of Mixer Input do you use.
The Inputs also should be balanced.
So you can use two cables with a TRS on both sides for each Output (left and right) or two cables with a TRS on one side an a XLR on the other side

 
Posted : 27/11/2017 1:54 pm
Rod
 Rod
Posts: 0
Estimable Member
 

Hello Chris - is your mixer grounded? Yonks ago I had a similar problem, and it turned out the power supply to the mixer had no ground connection, but the mixer did have a ground wire connector - I simply had to wire it to another component that did have a ground connection (3 pin plug) and all was well ...

 
Posted : 27/11/2017 2:56 pm
Posts: 0
Eminent Member
Topic starter
 

Hi All

Thanks for your replies and just to update you, I have replaced all cables with balanced TRS and the annoying hum has totally gone.
Now looking forward to having my Genos delivered to add to the mix.

 
Posted : 30/11/2017 8:27 pm
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