how about an ICBM with all fully-balanced XLR connectors? even a 2-channel version would rock!

Yes, I too would be very interested in a fully balanced ICBM. I don't want to have to use RCA to XLR cables to go from an ICBM to my amp, and I want the added noise rejection of XLR cables, so a balanced ICBM would make me very happy.

Not only does it need balanced XLR inputs and outputs, the circuit topology needs to be 100% balanced from stem to stern.

It should also be able to switch from two (or three) 6-8 channel discrete devices since many people have separate DVD-Audio and SACD players.

Zero loss signal path with no audio coloration. This demands the best power supply, circuit boards, capacitors, filters, ultra high bandwidth designs, etc.

Analog bass management with no ADC.

What if the bass management is built right into the pre/pro?

I have written volumes in this forum about the undesirability of using balanced circuitry if it is not needed because of extremely long cable runs. I would suggest you do a search on this subject before assuming that balanced is automatically better than unbalanced for normal length cable runs in a typical home setup.

But if your preamp and amp utilize balanced connections, and you will be sending the signal from the preamp, to the ICBM, to the amp, to the speaker, I would have to think you would be adding noticeable hiss or hum if you were using RCA cables.

Actually, if Outlaw could just provide the ability to seperately control the LFE and redirected bass in their new pre-pro, I wouldn't even need the ICBM.

Which is why you see tons of posts here about that problem, right?



Exactly. That is a significant upgrade to the 950 I think many people would love and Outlaw could very well be trying to impliment. I don't know what kind of snags there are now when using digital transfer with some of the formats.

[This message has been edited by JT Clark (edited July 26, 2004).]

If your preamp has balanced outputs, then an upstream component with balanced connections of course could be used, however if you are not using extremely long interconnects or have a very hostile environment, then the balanced circuitry is more likely to cause signal degredation than any improvement. Frankly, if I had a component with balanced outputs, I would still run it unbalanced.

Balanced circuitry's only reason for existance is to cancel hum and noise picked up by long cables (25' or more) in situations where they have to be routed near sources of EMI/RFI (motors etc), as in a large studio. A balanced connection will NOT in and of itself "improve" the audio signal. Quite the opposite, since the amount of active electronics is doubled at the sending and receiving ends of the interconnect (and completely doubled throughout in a fully balanced component), the audio signal has to go through twice the amount of active electronics - this is always best avoided since it causes more noise and distortion than a simple unbalanced circuit would contribute.

In audio, simpler circuit paths are always cleaner sounding than a complex one. Adding complexity as in the doubling of active electronics (op-amps) in the signal path when not needed is certainly not going to improve the sound, but only make it worse.

I was under the impression that balanced connections could also cancel hum and noise picked up from other parts of the system if they ran through the cables or circuity downstream of the interference, is this wrong?

That is wrong. The only thing a balanced connection does is cancel interference picked up by the cable between the balanced components. It does nothing to cancel noise or hum from other components downstream or upstream. A balanced connection can also break a ground loop between two components, but the addition of the extra active circuitry in a balanced component is a high price to pay. Ground loops can be remdeied by other means that do not involve additional circuitry.

In a typical home setup with interconnects that are 6' or so in length, there is almost no chance of picking up hum or noise that cannot be simply avoided by more careful physical routing of the interconnect away from AC power cables and such.

Again, the balanced connection was originally created in the professional world to overcome interference picked up in cables up to hundreds of feet in length in studios. This situation simply does not exist in a home.


[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited July 27, 2004).]