At 08:53 AM 4/19/2006, you wrote:At 01:21 PM 4/18/2006, you wrote:
Kurt Nauck:
> We are doing some re-arranging of our studio here at > the shop. We're encountering hum from the audio > cables being in proximity of power cables and possibly > from florescent lighting (!)
Are the audio cables balanced?
No, unfortunately. If I use an rca to xlr cable converter, can I carry a balanced signal from my turntable to my preamp, or do I need a special device?
Balance is more than the cable type.
The preamp needs to be very close to the turntable - preferably 3-feet or less.
Let's look at your issues for a moment.
You say you're getting hum. Is it just in the turntable or in the entire line-level system?
Turntables are very, very fussy because the signal levels are low, the impedance is fairly high, and the signals are unbalanced.
All three of these work against you.
The turntable needs to be separately grounded (not via the cartrdige cables), the cables need to be short, and preferably grounded at the preamp only - let the shields connect to the cartridge, but not the arm/TT.
Then, if your preamp is unbalanced, go into something like an Aphex 124A balancing box, then balanced to your sound card (hopefully you have a balanced input sound card like the CardDeluxe, most of the MOTU boxes, or RME boxes or better).
But, the biggest risk is in the TT->preamp area. I would not try and run that through a patch bay or switch or long cables. I suspect you might have multiple TTs and preamps and want to switch. At the moment, I cannot think of very many good ways to do that. Perhaps I'd use a small BNC patch panel, perhaps with all the grounds tied together--it depends--one can argue it both ways. I do not tie the line-level unbalanced shields at my patch bay.
Cheers,
Richard
Tape Restoration Seminar: MAY 9-12, 2006; details at Web site.
Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
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