Balanced XLR to RCA Adapters: Good or Bad?

I wouldn't take that bet, Herman, but I would always wonder if I could have won it....

The seller tells me that "Regarding the XLR connection, you can just re-terminate it to RCA, nothing complicated. The arm is the satisfy carbon direct-wire."
Most (all?) Clearaudio tonearms are direct-wired. The TT is being sold here:
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?anlgtabl&1328203877

So, no, the turntable does not offer RCA outputs.

I'm not sure what you mean by "cartridge output is inherently differential"; but if you are right that "[it] can benefit from a balanced connection but only if there is balanced input phono stage as well," then I would get better sound by buying a preamp with XLR inputs, but it would probably work well enough without one.

In any case, thanks, Kal.

I very much appreciate the help of all of you who have responded, although I still don’t know what I want to do. I would like to respond in particular to Herman’s remark: “Come on Doug, you have more invested in a single cable than he has in his entire system” because curiously my speaker cables are probably the best part of my whole system. I have two 12’ Mark Levinson speaker cables bought in 1982 @$5 per foot (= $120). Similar cables (Mark Levinson 10 gauge) are being sold on Ebay now for about $1450 per pair. My speakers, bought in 1982 along with the cables, have also, I believe, stood the test of time better than the rest of my system (NAD amp and a 1996 Sota Comet with a Jelco LMT III tonearm): I have two 5’ Magnaplanar 1 speakers for which I paid $700-750. I tell you this not to impress you, but rather to give you a clearer perspective on the potential of my system for upgrading. I might also mention that I have 40’ of shelf space taken up by LP’s (3000 records I estimate) and that the alternative to the Clearaudio Ambient for me is the Clearaudio Ovation. I was thinking of getting before I saw the ad for the Ambient.

Herman, that link is to a post about the NAD 3155 by "Badman" in 2002. The system described there is his, not mine, but I understand your confusion. In any case, I should have described my whole system at the start. It is thanks to the internet and sites like this that I have learned that parts of my system are still highly valued, and others are not. That is the reason why I felt I should go for an upgrade. At the start I merely wanted to upgrade my tonearm. But the Comet would need to be modified to take another tonearm. It is designed to be used only with the LMT tonearm (so Sota told me). And I concluded it would not be worthwhile to modify the Comet; I should invest in another TT altogether. I read about other turntables, Thorens, Gerrard, Linn, etc., but with these bought second-hand I would not be sure of what I was getting, and I concluded that, if I was going to get a new one, it should be something really new and different from what I had. The Clearaudio TT’s with the CMB offered at least that.
The discussion that my post has started has alerted me to the XLR-RCA issue, and Rlg_audio’s comments about fake XLR equipment has convinced me to check with you people before investing in any upgrade involving XLR equipment. I’d be interested in hearing what you all think about the Ovation in comparison with the Ambient. The acrylic platter seems now to be outmoded, and POM is in…but for how long?