Today's Lesson

Let’s talk about balanced and unbalanced cables. What does this mean and what’s the difference?

We'll start with unbalanced cables. An unbalanced cable consists of 2 wires. One wire carries the signal, while the other wire acts as the ground and serves as a reference for the signal.

The most common examples of unbalanced cables are RCA cables and TS quarter inch instrument cables. Not to be confused with TRS quarter inch cables. You can differentiate between the two by the number of rings around the connector. One ring equals TS. This ring separates the tip and the sleave, or “TS”. The tip and sleave represent the signal and the ground.

One of the pitfalls of unbalanced cables is that the ground wire can also act like an antenna and can pick up unwanted noise from things like radio interference or more commonly electrical interference from power cables and or non-Led stage lighting elements. Ever get that annoying hum sound on stage? This could be why.

When using unbalanced cables, it’s best to keep your cable runs relatively short, say no more than 7.6 m/ 25 feet. Also, pay attention to other cabling and electrical equipment around them.

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