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Hi there,
I'm trying to plan my build and am wondering what the best route to supporting both SE and Balanced inputs would be.
I'm going to be buliding a set of monoblocks that will be initially used with my HT amplifier which has SE outputs. Eventually I want to upgrade and add in a balanced passive pre-amp using a JT. I want to build it such that I can switch between the HT inputs passed straight through (bypassing the JT), and a balanced DAC input via the JT (probably Buffalo32).
Option 1: Build my monoblocks with a switch that allows both SE and Balanced inputs.
Option 2: Build an SE->Balanced converter to sit in the path between HT amp and monoblocks.
In terms of sound quality when using an SE input, which of the above two options would be the preferred route?
Additionaly, if I go down Option 2, I could probalby reuse the boards in my passive-pre when I build it.
Finally, can anyone recommend a good option for an SE->Balanced converter?
Thanks, Shareef.
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Rank: Administration
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Ok a couple things. You can build a pretty simple adapter to make you amp support balanced (XLR) and SE(RCA). Just take an XLR jack and wire "-" and "GND" tegether and then wire that to a female RCA connector with a short cable. The "+" signal will be the center conductor. The amp will perform very well even with SE inputs. Just adjust the gain with the gain setting resistor spot on the board. You really don't need a balanced to SE converter. But if you want one, the IVY would work just fine setup as if for opus. Then just connect -IN to GND. The input impedance will be 2K. Cheers! Russ Edited by user Tuesday, March 10, 2009 11:28:28 AM(UTC)
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 2/26/2009(UTC)
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Hey Russ,
Regarding the converter, I meant SE to balanced. I've seen what is sometimes called a balanced line driver using TI's DRV134. Is that worth it?
Thanks.
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Rank: Administration
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Joined: 10/24/2006(UTC)
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LOL, yes, I actually meant SE to balanced. :)
Even better would be to use the "MESH" boards we have which don't have the extra BAL/SE stage which would be useless to you.
The nice thing about the MESH board is that the input impedance can be much higher, as it has an instrumentation front end. So you could easily do 100K input impedance.
OPA1632 or THS4131 would work much better than the DRV134. :)
Cheers!
Russ
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 2/26/2009(UTC)
Posts: 21
Location: Cambridge
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Ha, okay, thanks for the reply. Do you have any info about the Mesh boards? Your website doesn't have a working link for the menu item.
Ta.
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