Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Question about balanced and unbalanced inputs

I was looking at getting a Crown power amp one of the XLS series. I noticed that they only have a balanced input and my AVR has only unbalanced output on the pre out. is there a way I can wire in an unbalanced output to a balanced input? Aslo I see it has what looks like volume controls on the front for each channel. What would you set these at is I use the volume on the per amp? Or if anyone can suggest another power amp to use. I only habe about $300.00 to spend on one and the XLS 202 falls within that price range. The reason I want to get a power amp is to one day be able to drive a pair of M80's. Thanks for your input.

Are you looking for a 2 channel or multi channel amp?

just a 2 channel amp to power my mains

You might want to look at an Inter-M R300 professional amp. I had one of these in my house last week. It's not the best looking power amp but it does kick. It also has 1/4" and XLR. So you could always get a 1/4 to RCA adapters (wich is what I did). I have seen them online for around $300 or so.

http://www.areac.co.uk/technical/111.pdf

Paul

George, although using a balanced connection isn't usually significant in home audio since the unbalanced coaxial cable connection is adequate for protection against interference, note that using an adapter into the balanced input doesn't mean that the connection is balanced. The adapter allows using the single unbalanced conductor into the balanced input designed for two conductors, but the connection remains an unbalanced one. No cancellation of interference such as occurs when both the preamp and the amp have balanced connections is possible.

See george as it almost makes sense... Many words is nearly the same thing as a sentence; balanced or not.

Hi hybrid,

As JohnK pointed out, you can simply get an unbalanced-to-balanced adaptor, which will let you use your RCA unbalanced connectors to the Crown amp.

What you are referring to as "volume controls" on the front of the Crown are likely input level controls. Using these, you can reduce the intensity (amplitude) of the incoming signals so they don't overload the input section of the Crown amplifier. You'd only need to use those if you were using a line-level source with unusually high output.

Typically, you'd set the Crown input level controls to maximum and use your preamp volume control to set the overall level.

Regards,
Alan

Thank you Alan for the info. Not sure yet if I'm going with the Crown amp. or another yet. I'm sure there are lots power amps. out there I won't need an adaptor for. I want an amp. with a little more headroom.