Balanced vs unbalanced interconnects

If you are wondering if a Krell product is truly balanced, you need to forget this hobby, and take up gardening or golf. My CD50 is much better balanced into my Krell, than single ended. Perhaps it is the Wadia that isn't truly balanced. Also, I tried SR Kaleidoscope Phase 2 XLR, and compared to my MIT 330 SG Proline, was like comparing a rustly nail to the perfect superconductor. And NO, I'm not biased against Synergistic Research, either. I love their Reference Coupler power cord...it has beaten all the Shunyata cords (haven't tried Viper or King Cobra yet, but will) with both my Rogue and Krell amps.

Some additional info - all cables mentioned are used so I assumed they were broken-in. Also, all connections were thoroughly cleaned with Kontak. Back to the meat of the matter is balanced better than single-ended or is the KAV-300i not truly balanced throughout.

Balanced offers a better connector: XLR is better than any RCA. But if KCAG is your most recent cable choice, let me share my experience of having this cable completely eclipsed by ALL of the Stealth models I've tried. AGSS, the wire used in KCAG is multistranded, with uninsulated wires all touching, a bad thing in itself, and the individual wires are too thick to avoid skin effect, another bad thing. The silver offers a sort of spurious excitement and illusion of good detail, but your opinion of balanced will go up if you try some real contender among balanced cables. I'd go with Stealth, with its 30-day money-back guarantee. The problem isn't with Wadia or Krell, IMHO.

Provocative comments Carl, posting is a bad meduim for a wry sense of humor. Being a musician for the last 20 years as well as having a EE, I seriously doubt gardening is in my future. The Krell literature is non-specific and simply states a balanced input stage which should be and is quieter even if it stops there. It is the leading edge dynamics that seem consisitently better in the single-ended connection. I have have owned MIT products in the past, perhaps based on your enthusiam I will audition the Proline. Thanks.

I suggest you give the mfg a call, ask to speak with the engineers and grill them on the circuit.

At that price point, the Krell is not likely fully balanced, which means that the balanced connections actually involve more circuitry. As such, it's understandable that it doesn't sound as good.

You're welcome. Both my brother and sister in law are EE's, and she would rather do gardening. If you ever go thru the southeast U.S., you could visit my system, if you like. Sorry you don't appreciate a wry sense of humor, but you'll get over it.

Well, I guess I could have figured as much. I sent a note Krell a couple of days ago and I am waiting for a response. Meanwhile I have contacted The Cable Company, to start comparing cables, assuming Krell will tell me everything is balanced throughout. Send me an e-mail, I do get to the Atlanta, Nashville, and Birmingham areas a couple of times a year ([email protected]).