XLR out on a tuner?

@n80. Did you relocate your ARC pre and CDP away from your amp and speakers?  

Not really. Got a 4 bay rack with spiked feet. Amp is on the bottom shelf and has plenty of room to breath.  The shelf above it does not get hot. It makes heat but it has huge open heat sinks. Pre-amp is on top shelf. It makes a lot of heat that goes straight up so I have it on the top shelf up on some walnut blocks with sorbothane pads underneath. It has great airlfow around it now. CD player is on sorbothane disks also.

So at least I got the pre-amp off of the CDP. This Sony CDP does not make nearly as much heat as the Arcam.

I know this isn't ideal but for now it is the best I can do. With the room configuration there is no good cheap way to get the components out from between the speakers but at least the speakers are well out in front of the components. When I build the bookshelves I'll be able to get the components separated much better.

In regard to this thread I did buy the Denon tuner. Like new for $120. I'll use the World's Best Cable RCA cables for now but might consider their XLRs when I have some extra cash ($30). 

None of this is pricey but I'm buying CDs now so there has been a constant stream of audio stuff coming to the door and my wife is starting to roll her eyes a bit.

Anyway, when this tuner gets here I'm pretty much set and will just be buying more CDs and hopefully nothing else.....but I know that isn't the audiophile way and I'm trying to avoid the feeling that I just need that something a little better........

I think digital/streaming/PC will have to wait a while.

If the Denon-DN 300H is truly balanced then it is worth it. Just because you have XLR  in puts or out puts does not mean you are truly balanced.

Again, I’m new to all this so I don’t understand what balanced really means. I’m assuming its a good thing and that might be all I need to know from a technical standpoint.

From a practical standpoint I do have a couple of questions:

First, assuming ’balanced’ is a good thing, how important is it? In other words, what should I expect to hear from unbalanced(?)/ single ended vs. truly balanced?

Second, if the system is not truly balanced, is there any advantage whatsoever to 3 foot long high quality XLR cables over 3 foot long high quality RCA cables?

Third, is my system truly balanced? (I don’t know how to find out.) It is an Acoustic Research LS16 tubed pre-amp feeding a Madrigal Proceed (Mark Levinson) HPA2 amp via Transparent Balanced MusicLink Super XLR cables from the "Main 2" outputs (the Main 1 outputs are RCA).

There are 2 sets of balanced XLR inputs on the back of the LS16. Both are empty for now.

A little research reveals that the Audio Research LS16 is a truly balanced pre-amp and that the Proceed HPA2 is also a truly balanced amp. So if this tuner I've bought is also truly balanced, and it says that it is, then I should be getting whatever benefits are to be had from a fully balanced system from tuner to pre-amp to amp for what that might be worth. I'll probably go ahead and get some good XLR cables. I probably would not be able to tell the difference between that and single-ended but at least I'll know that I have things maximized.

My CDP does not have balanced output.