Signal Degradation Balanced Output

Hmmm, well it certainly isn't cost prohibitive.  Worth a try, I guess.  I suspect it will have a negative impact though.  But, I've run out of ideas short of sellung the sub and monitors for full range speakers.

Thanks again.

Tried it, same problem.

Yes, I've tried balanced, unbalanced, Y-splitters with cables and one piece metal RCA Y-splitters, even made ulp some splitters with Neotech 1002 cable and pure copper contacts... same problem.  I eventually decided to try the ISOMAX, thinking the problem was in the impedance matching of the preamp and amplifier... dame problem.

This is not a new problem, but one that has persisted over many different system components, cabling and configurations over the years.  I've spent hours, days, even months dialing in my system.  The speaker imaging of Wilson Audio and Focal is superb when setup right.  Mine is.  The sound is detached from the speakers and the soundstage is well behind and center of the speakers and sound fabulous.  except that it lacks the lower fundamentals.  Connecting a sub diminishes the reverb and  transparency. I can hear minut differences.

Righy now, I think my only solution is to move to a full range floor stander, thereby eliminating the sub. I read some older threads that mentioned Linn was doing something with daisy chaining amps or something.  The problem is real.  I challenge some of you to seriously a/b test your dialed in systems, I'd bet you'd hear a difference or maybe I just have golden ears. lol

Forgot to mention, the ISOMAX, though they sell it as transparent sound, it definitely is not.  So, I would never use it immediately after the preamp on a line level.  I was using it from the amp's output to be converted to a balanced line level that is then sent to the sub.  Same problem.

@Paul, haven't tried that... but, that seems like jumping into the fire.  

@cleeds I feel like you're on the right.  Let me look into that.  I know already that the problem still persist when only one balanced output from the preamp is connected to the Jeff Rowland amp input, while the amp's output is sent to the speakers and to the ISOMAX line level converter.  The sub doesn't even need to be connected to the ISOMAX... Just connecting the ISOMAX to the amp is enough to cause the problem.

Yes, I have.. no change.  The change comes from disconnecting the balanced cables from the sub or disconnecting the ISOMAX from the amp.  At first I thought it might have something to do with channel summing circuitry of the sub, but not so.

No, I have never tried calculating impedances.  Not even sure how to do that.  I remember a cable tv installer told me that a coaxial splitter causes a 6db loss to the signal when inserted.  I was thinking that something like that is going on here, but I'm not using a splitter anywhere, unless the 2 pairs of balanced outputs are internally split.  A few minutes ago I disconnected my Audio GD headphone amp from my Denafrips DAC.  I had it connected using the unbalanced RCA interface.  The same type of problem was happening there.  The sound immediately got more resolving simply by disconnecting the RCA cable. Denafrips says not to use the unbalanced  RCA when using balanced XLR -- not sure why however.  I know that all my source components are fully differential, including both amps.

As for the ISOMAX, I tried it in hopes of getting a line signal from the amp's output.  The thinking here was that it would be separated from the amp's input signal.  It didn't work either.  So, I disconnected the balanced input from the Jeff Rowland amp feeding the ISOMAX and the same thing happened, the sound transparency and reverb immediately improved.  The analog cabling is all Acoustic Zen Silver Ref II with Matrix Ref II on the sub.  This is where I'm at.

https://www.google.com/search?q=jensen+transformers+sp-2sx&oq=jensen+&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i...

@cleeds , Ok, I get it.  Hmmm, I guess it is what it is until I get some floorstanders.  I feel like I've tried just about everything and don't want to add more components in a feckless attempt to better the sound, when less sounds right.

Thanks everyone for all your help!

Thanks George, for confirming the likely cause of the problem. Let me ask, I have the same issue occuring when my Audio GD NFB-1 hp amp is connected to my Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC via RCA, while the DAC outputs balanced XLR to the Athena preamp. The same diminished sound quality occurs. Would the same thing be the cause here as well?

It sounds like there is no workaround to the problem, however.  

Thanks George.