One is for the audio signal and the other is for the ground.
Balanced vs unbalanced patch cables.
Quarter inch ts tip sleeve cables are generally used for unbalanced signals.
Today i explain the difference between balanced and unbalanced cables.
The structure of a balanced audio cable is similar to an unbalanced cable with one addition.
This question was asked in the comments by jim dowell from the panasonic ub9000 video.
There are two types of noise that are likely culprits trying to mess up your otherwise perfect audio signals.
Balanced balanced 1 4 connectors consist of 2 rings on the plug.
Balanced 1 4 plugs are also commonly referred to as trs tip.
The signal from both the hot and cold wire is combined each out of phase with the other.
Two signals wires plus a separate ground wire.
As in the unbalanced cable the ground wire still surrounds the signal wires and is used as a shield against interference.
This is especially true if it needs to be used in an environment where there s a lot of lights and other stuff that could cause interference.
The diagram above shows how the cable works.
The main difference comparing balanced vs unbalanced cables is a balanced cable has 1 additional conductor.
Unbalanced cables aren t good for doing long cable runs for this reason in fact you should be using balanced ones if the cable needs to be more than 10 15 meters long.
Balanced cables balanced cables have three wires inside the plastic casing.
Most commonly used for guitar instrument keyboard cables pa patch cables karaoke machine mic inputs etc.
Balanced vs unbalanced cables an unbalanced cable has only two conductors.
The resulting signal is thus balanced.
The signal wires pass an identical audio signal through each wire while the surrounding ground wire works the same as in unbalanced cables shielding the signal wires from external electronic interference.
Both cables have what is called shields.
1 4 instrument cables 1 4 unbalanced patch cables rca cables 3pin xlr to 1 4 ts unbalanced cables.
Two signal wires and a ground wire.
These are most commonly used with electric guitars which often output to an amplifier.
The balanced cable will have 1 hot 1 cold and a ground shielding conductor.
When to use balanced vs.