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Balanced Not really and Ground Hum

I have read that some balanced outputs (coming from any component) are not truly balanced, rather the manufacturers use RCA output wiring hard wired to the XLR output making the XLR unbalanced or not a "true balanced signal".
Is this a common practice and anyone come across this if so were?

The reason I ask is that I have been fighting that elusive little call "Hum or Ground Loop".
I have tried everything to solve it, disconnecting everything, adding Power Conditioners, Filtered AC cables, different RCA’s and now Dedicated Power (try explaining those three “Gotta Have It” words to the wife) but I can still hear the Hum.

So I am going to sell a bunch of my equipment and buy a preamp with balanced XLR out to my monoblock (Manley Snappers) which have XLR in.
I just don’t want to find it does not solve the problem because the XLR was wired from the RCA output.

Question: If the XLR is wired from the RCA beside the obvious audio consequences will it nullify the XLR = Less hum fact?
punkuk

Showing 1 response by samujohn

samujohn's avatar
samujohn
291 posts
 
Hi,
Before you burn down the barn to get rid of the mice, get sombody with a technical background to come over and help. You are probably making the same mistake over and over, and a fresh mind may solve the problem easily. Recently I visited an MD with a hum problem that had defeated him. It was solved in five minutes by replacing his very expensive unshilded cables with cheap, but well shielded, interconnects.
regards,
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