? for ya, Al

I had an SSP25. Its not balanced. The xlr's are for convenience (or to fool someone that doesn’t know better). Be careful with the rca's, though. They break very easily.

"Zd542, thanks for pointing that out. But to clarify, do you mean that there is only one signal on the XLR connectors (the "hot" signal on pin 2), and pin 3 is grounded instead of being provided with the inverted or "cold" signal that would normally be provided on a balanced output? Or do you just mean that the internal signal path in the preamp is not balanced?"

I may be misreading your statement, but, wouldn't both of those choices in the above quote mean pretty much the same thing? Its been over 10 years since I had my SSp25 but I remember for sure that pin 2 is hot and if you want to use a XLR to rca adaptor, you need to get one that connects pins 1 and 3. Also, If pin 3 is grounded from the factory, wouldn't that imply that the internal signal path in the preamp is unbalanced, as well? If the OP has the manual, I remember reading that it does say somewhere in it that this is the case. It may be a little vague or hard to find in the literature because most companies like to say that their stuff has balanced inputs/outputs but don't like to point out if the component itself is not fully balanced, as well.

OP,

As far as sound quality goes, I thought it was fine for movies. For 2 channel, it depends on how much music you listen to. Its OK for casual listening but you would probably like a high quality 2 channel preamp much better for any serious listening.