Balanced ----- Unbalanced----

Herman, before balanced line occurred, you had to scream at the top of your lungs to make a call across the state. The fact of the matter is balanced line was a transformation because there was less information loss. Historically you may find it uninteresting, but the implication for the quality of the sound in your recordings was profound.

The idea the SE is simpler is a common misconception. At first blush, it appears that because balanced equipment has more parts, that the signal chain is more complex. In fact the signal often negotiates the same number of gain stages, sometimes less. For example, in an SET there are usually 3 stages of gain, sometimes two. In our amps, which are balanced, there is one. There are 3 stages of gain in our preamps, which includes the low output MC input. Most SE preamps have more stages than that.

Its not better because the pros use it, the pros use it because it works better. The balanced line system was designed with the specific intention of eliminating cable differences and interactions. The benefit is that you can use a cheap cable to the same effect as a really expensive cable- effectively eliminating a cost in your system. That's not something you can say about SE cables!

How can you dismiss the benefits of common mode noise rejection?

How much noise can you pick up in a few feet of cable?

The benefit is that you can use a cheap cable to the same effect as a really expensive cable- effectively eliminating a cost in your system. That's not something you can say about SE cables!

So why do I see ultra expensive balanced cables as well as SE cables? I can make you an SE cable from magnet wire or a twisted pair of CAT5 cable that works as well as the expensive SE cable.

Herman, before balanced line occurred, you had to scream at the top of your lungs to make a call across the state

Once again, who cares what the phone company uses.

In our amps, which are balanced, there is one.

I have no access to the schematics of your amps, but I believe in order to do this you have many tubes in parallel which presents it's own problems. There is no free lunch.

Its not better because the pros use it, the pros use it because it works better.

Exactly, it works better in a very noisy studio enviroment with pro audio equipment when you are trying to record very low level signals. A situation that is never repeated at home.

Herman, the phonograph is a very low output signal. MC cartridges are lower output than any microphone, even ribbon mics. Almost all cartridges are a balanced source; with output levels that low there is in fact a benefit to be realized in the home- lack of hum, even without shielding. This allows you to reduce capacitive effects on the loading of the cartridge, yielding greater bandwidth. Its easy to demonstrate.

The argument of short cables is a red herring. It all depends on the amount of electrical noise in the environment, not the length of the cable. So a one meter length can make a hell of a difference if you have a computer, RF issues, powerful magnetic fields (like from an amplifier), like Bob says.

Why you care about the history of the phone company is that it is a very dramatic demonstration of the value of intelligibility, hifi notwithstanding. Balanced line is that powerfully better.