XLR vs Jack vs RCA adaptor or what

[kjello]

I have some questions for the guru's or others with experience or just gut feelings.

I want to 'active' tri amp my speakers (3-way)
I have 3 identical stereo power amps with XLR and RCA inputs. Amps XLR is fully balanced.
My preamp has only RCA output.
I have a 4 way active crossover with XLR and 1/4 jack out- and inputs
Only short IC's are needed.

There are XLR to RCA adaptors available, like mounted on the left in the picture (signal from preamp)
Its also possible to get cables with XLR one end and RCA in the other. Same goes for Jack to RCA.

1. What do you think about the chinese XLR/RCA adaptors? They sell for 2 dollars /pcs ebay stuff
2. Would you rather use decent XLR / XLR cables from crossover to amps ?

I know this is no high end gear, but I have enough good quality Tara Labs RCA interconnects if i choose the XLR to RCA adaptor way.

3. I havent really got the grasp of the 'fully balanced' term, would this mean anyting in this case when the balanced chain is already broken from the source, and only possible between crossover and amps ?

4. What would you choose to do ?

Throw in your thoughts

Best regards
KO

 

[imral3]

My two cents: considering your signal path already will include unbalanced cables I'd just go the easiest and most economical way right now. If you plan to upgrade all equipment to balanced in the future then plan accordingly right now.

 

[totem]

You will get various opinions on XLR versus RCA but if your not running longggg distance the advantage
is nullified.
What I did when confronted with a similar situation was not go with adapters but connect an RCA on 1 end and have the XLR
on the other of the cable, note you need to confirm the pin out configuration of the XLR on the Equipment side.

 

[Yamaki]

There's no improvement to be had with XLR at one end and unbalanced RCA at the other or in the circuit. Think of it as a chain, the weakest link, etc...

Go all RCA until such time as you have balanced XLR connections at both ends of the circuit, then you may decide to switch.

 

[Hunted11]

The least expensive way would be to go from the 1/4" jack to rca adapter. That's what I use on my Carver amp.

 

[JoeESP9]

It looks as if that crossover only takes XLR connectors.

 

[Hunted11]

1/4" hole to the left of the XLR

 

[totem]

There's no improvement to be had with XLR at one end and unbalanced RCA at the other or in the circuit.

Naturally, it was a matter of working with the available gear connections rather than adding another adapter.

 

[Powertech]

To be honest it doesn't matter that much with very short cables. I run a 3 way active system with XLR connections on the crossovers and phono connections on everything else and I just use decent quality (not expensive) phono to XLR cables all over it without any problems.
You will most likely find that the 1/4" jacks on the crossovers are 'tip-ring-sleeve' types (tip = pin1, ring = pin 2 and sleeve = pin3) which support balanced connections the same as the XLR ports. It is usual in both cases to short pins 2 & 3 (negative and ground) when connecting a non-balanced circuit. The crossovers will happily deal with this arrangement. The main difference in practice is that it affects the impedance seen by the balanced driver circuit, but nearly all servo input/output drivers are arranged to deal with either setup.
Personally I would use XLR to XLR where you have that option and phono to XLR cables where you haven't.