Balanced ----- Unbalanced----

The physical connection of the XLR is better. They lock together and the contact from pin to socket is better. There is a clear standard so you can use connectors from different manufacturer's and not worry if they mate well.

There is no real standard for RCA connectors so one manufacturer's male might not mate well with another's female and vice versa. That is why some SE manufacturer's tried to move away from the RCA's, like Naim did with their DIN connectors, but it never caught on as a standard.

No one can say that they are or are not necessary in your home environment

They are not necessary in the home enviroment.

The connectors are better but the topology is not.

Hi Herman, for cables alone the topology is indeed better. Before balanced line came along, transcontinental phone calls were impossible. HiFi did not exist in recordings. Balanced line operation transformed that.

Even in short runs that you see in the home the improvement is obvious. It allows you to have short speaker cables and long interconnects so you can put the front end of the system where you want it, rather than only between the speakers, without degradation. Once hearing what this offers, there really is no going back.

I might offer this technology, but its really a matter of I do it because it works. I certainly don't keep it a secret and I do stand behind it either way- I hope that's not a problem :)

Ralph, we've had this conversation numerous times. Just as firmly as you believe in the benefits, I believe that the simplicity of SET and SE outweighs them in the home enviroment. I don't think either of us will be swayed by the others arguments.

I am amused by the transcontinental phone call argument. Come on, who cares how phone calls are transmitted.

The argument that the "pros use it so it must be better" holds no water either. It is a different enviroment, different equipment, different purpose. Again, it has no bearing on this discussion.

My favorite is those who say they tried their balanced equipement in SE mode and balanced sounded better; therefore balanced is inherently better than SE. A ridiculous conclusion. It sounds better because they are using it in the manner it was designed to be used. If you try to run a late 60's muscle car on unleaded gas it won't perform well. These people would conclude that leaded gas is better than unleaded when the truth is the engines were designed for leaded, so they work better with leaded.

I do truly believe that you believe and practice what you preach, but if Conrad or Johnson got on here and started preaching the superiority of SE we would have to take that with a grain of salt too.