jack to XLR bad?

[Flik]

On a mixer im looking at, the control room out is a jack connection, while the input on the monitor is an XLR

obviously a jack lead with an xlr socket on the other end is my choice

my question is, assuming the monitor doesnt need any power (its active), will a lead of this type loose any of the quality or anything. will it be ok in other words?

cheers!

[Moseph]

No, provided you use the proper connection type.

A 1/4" plug connector may have 3 conductors (Tip/Ring/Sleeve or "TRS") or 2 conductors (Tip/Sleeve or "TS"). XLR has 3 conductors, so you want to make sure that any cable your purchase has a TRS connection on the other end. That way you'll match the available inputs to the available outputs.

[scheid]

There is actually a special adapter made for unbalanced/balanced connections called an impedance matching transformer. I know that Radio Shack (in the U.S.) has them; not sure about in Europe. It's a small transformer rather than a straight up adapter. Other approaches (i.e., a straight wired connection) will likely give you unwanted noise, especially with long cable lengths.

[Moseph]

There is actually a special adapter made for unbalanced/balanced connections called an impedance matching transformer. I know that Radio Shack (in the U.S.) has them; not sure about in Europe. It's a small transformer rather than a straight up adapter. Other approaches (i.e., a straight wired connection) will likely give you unwanted noise, especially with long cable lengths.

Impedence and balance are NOT the same thing. One has to do with power dissipation and driven voltage, while the other has to do with common-mode noise rejection.

You can achieve the proper results with a XLR -> TRS cable. Adapters are okay, but they're effectively the same thing: XLR on one side and TRS on another.

[scheid]

Maybe more information than you want but here's an article that really gets into the details: http://www.jensen-transformers.com/an/an003.pdf

[scheid]

Impedence and balance are NOT the same thing. One has to do with power dissipation and driven voltage, while the other has to do with common-mode noise rejection.

You can achieve the proper results with a XLR -> TRS cable. Adapters are okay, but they're effectively the same thing: XLR on one side and TRS on another.

Right, I don't think that a straight wired connnection is necessarily guaranteed to have noise, but I think the best bet would be to convert the unbalanced connection on the 'control room out' to balanced *right at the unbalanced jack* (with the impedance matching transformer), then run a standard balanced mic cable to the monitor. This gives the benefits of a low noise, balanced connection. The straight wired method introduces the possibility of hum and ground noise.

[Moseph]

Why not simply get the right cable and avoid the possible problems associated with an adapter in the first place?