Cables capacity with impedance-balanced circuits

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mav_kbd

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
16
Hello, I have some doubts about cables capacity related to impedance-balanced circuits.

Normally I select the cables that I use to be sure that have low-capacity. In a real balanced circuit, I measure only the capacity between conductors and screen, but what happens using impedance-balanced circuit where, in the output stage, the "cold" pin is connected to ground with a resistor? I have to consider also capacity between "hot" and "cold"?

Thanks
 
There is no difference between impedance balanced and "real?" balanced interconnects.  Cable capacitance between hots creates a LPF with the total source impedance (in parallel with following input impedance).

Some of the best cable for noise rejection (like Star quad) is not the lowest capacitance.  Low capacitance can be a significant benefit  for guitar cables because of the impedances involved, but a lesser issue with balanced line levels, unless sending over very long distances.

JR
 
Thanks for clarification,
in my case I have to build 2 cables to cover a distance of about 40 meters from a mixer to 2 active speakers. The output impedance is quite low, around 150 ohms, but the distance is not so short.
Besides, I already knew that the capacity of a cable affects much high-impedance signals, just as a guitar or bass with passive circuitry, while is much less noticeable in the case of low impedance.

My doubt related only main outputs on the mixer that are impedance-balanced (as the figure) and so I wanted to understand if there are differences compared to true-balanced lines, where hot and cold carry the same signal but with different phase.

Anyway, looking for a good cable for this purpose, I found the Mogami W2549, that seems to have very low capacity.

Thanks
 

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