What are balanced inputs?

[cfox10 10+ year member]

AC voltages that get induced into the cables. Static, hum, alt whine, engine ignition noise, electric motor sparks.. lots of noise sources in a car.

Just out of curiosity.. what type of rca's do you recommend? Have you had the chance to use both balanced and unbalanced setups? Differences in sound quality at all?

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

So the hu has to have balanced outputs.What about the Zapco amps, and the RCA to symbilink cables. Those adapter cables won't create a balanced input?

From what I've read about them, yes they create a balanced line. You put the adapter close to the HU and basically run a balanced line to the amp. A differential balanced line driver only needs an opamp and a few parts.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Just out of curiosity.. what type of rca's do you recommend? Have you had the chance to use both balanced and unbalanced setups? Differences in sound quality at all?

I've not had the opportunity to use a balanced line in car audio. I wouldn't go out of my way to do it unless I was building an SQ comp install or discovered noise that I just couldn't make go away. If I owned gear that supported it though I'd do it just because it's cool...

I've used everything from Radio Shack and WalMart RCAs on up and never found any difference in SQ. Other folks report differently. Build quality, flexibility, ruggedness etc certainly count though and I'll use Knu next time.