of cables,balanced signals and mono or stereo

[buffalo man]

So after reading this page on cables http://www.tweakheadz.com/all_about_cables.htm

my conclusion is that

1.) TRS = cables to connect up balanced equipment
2.) TS = cables to connect up unbalanced equipment.

Must be balanced gear --> balanced cables(TRS or XLR) --> balanced gear = BALANCED CONNECTION

i also learnt that headphones send out 2 unbalanced signals of audio so even though it uses TRS it is unbalanced.

Next thing i want to confirm is about the whole mono and stereo thing.

1.) i know that there are BALANCED or UNBALANCED mono audio signals but are ALL BALANCED signals only in mono?

[blueprintstudios]

so far from what I remember that's relevant to my mixes anymore..

http://www.soft.com.sg/forum/showthr...-Recording-FAQ

TRS = stereo / balanced / or XLR (mono)
TS = mono / unbalanced, unless the other end of the cable is a TRS (stereo) to 2xTS (mono L R).

I think signal is only balanced if the OUTPUT of the gear/audio interface is balanced. there're some that puts out unbalanced.

[kongwee]

For balance audio connection, the output must send positive signal(In phase), negative signal(180 degree out of phase) and return ground to a input with instrumental differential amplifier to do noise rejection for audio signal.
Manufacturer will just write balance out to describe the output.
Manufacturer just use balance input for describe the receiving end.
Mostly in importantly manufacturer sometime misuse the "balance" word, to describe the noise rejection method I describe above.
This is something I will look out buying audio gears.
If you are starting to do professional audio, this is something you must know even you do not have a formal training.

Technically TRS, XLR, TS... are just different form of connectors.

[blueprintstudios]

Buffalo man : As the above cut-n-paste and one big round and back theory, the one I stated on DIY Recording FAQ gotten me through for last 10 years without a 2nd question. A must if you're running a cable shop or maybe a teacher or something, but otherwise life's basic requirements is commonsense, earn money, count money.Heh.

[kongwee]

This theory exist in all your pro gears. Too bad decades of experience do not know how to get the best out of his equipments.

[blueprintstudios]

I see, no wonder I don't sound like as crap as people following the dead book.
Too bad you're lacking the 3 basic skills and will never live the best of your life.Heh.

[kongwee]

Nice argument, bros.

[blueprintstudios]

Cheers, Gd job generating views for this section.

[buffalo man]

ok i think whats really confusing me is the connections i have to make

i have korg m50 keyboard (unbalanced outputs L n R) ,i need to connect it to my steinberg cl1 audio interface which has balanced L n R inputs,can i just use TS cables will that be an issue? or should i run my keyboard through a DI box before it goes into the audio interface to make everything balanced?

[kongwee]

You can connect using TS cables to link your m50 and CL1.
It will be unbalance.
You will experience about -6db drop in volume from CL1.
However, since your keyboard has no balance output so you really cannot compare.

If you experience click,pop or noise , then you have to use DI boxes for your keyboard.
Run short cable from your keyboard to DI boxes.
Run long cable from DI to CL1, as usual.
Mostly likely you will like the sound using DI boxes rather than direct connection.
You need to run TRS,XLR or TRS-XLR from DI to CL1 depending on what the connections are available to you.