[slowpogo]

There are several sound cards out there that use balanced 1/4" ins/outs: Echo Mia, Emu 1212m, ESI Juli@, M-Audio's cards.

My question is, will these cards accept unbalanced 1/4" cables/equipment?

Like, if I want to connect my headphone amp to the ESI Juli@, can I just run unbalanced 1/4" cables from the Juli@'s 1/4" outs to my unbalanced amp (Millett Max)?

I know the Juli@ can be switched to RCA jacks, but I have a bunch of nice cables I made/bought for my home studio that are all 1/4". And none of my equipment is balanced. Can I still use these cards that advertise balanced, TRS ins/outs?

 

[Arkku]

You can use them unbalanced as they are. =)

 

[slowpogo]

Thanks, this is good news

 

[BadassBob]

Mono TRS plug = unbalanced
Stereo TRS plug = balanced

Hope that helps.

 

[slowpogo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadassBob /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mono TRS plug = unbalanced Stereo TRS plug = balanced Hope that helps.

I thought mono plugs were just "TS" (tip-sleeve), or am I missing something here..?

 

[b0dhi]

If you connect mono TRS jacks into the balanced out of the Juli@ you could be connecting the ground and negative phase terminals, which the Juli@ might not like. You can easily convert a balanced signal to unbalanced but you should use a stereo->mono adaptor. It's not a problem if the jack is stereo as the unbalanced end point will just ignore the negative phase signal.

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowpogo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought mono plugs were just "TS" (tip-sleeve), or am I missing something here..?

yes, and no
TRS connector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

more than you ever wanted to know....

don't most of the e-mu cards have a direct unbalanced output? idk about the ESI cards, and I know with the M-Audio cards will distinguish balanced/unbalanced, more or less just curious here

 

[Fidelity]

The E-MU 0404 PCI has unbalanced connections, the 1212M can be set to either balanced or unbalanced.

 

[EnOYiN]

The E-MUs are like swiss knifes. They can accept and output mono, stereo, balanced and unbalanced. How much more does a person really want?

Edit: I am talking about the E-MU 0404 which I've own myself. I don't know about the other devices though.

 

[slowpogo]

Well I looked at the Juli@'s manual and under the specs for the 1/4" +4db outputs, it says in parentheses "balanced or unbalanced." So with that card anyway, seems like either you can switch between them with software (or maybe jumpers), or maybe you don't have to and the TS plugs will just work fine without any fiddling.

 

[BadassBob]

I had mine backwards sorry. I had an EMU 1212M, and in the instruction manual you use a Mono TRS plug for unbalanced, and a Stereo TRS plug for balanced.