Need help with priorities

MATRIX-Thank you for the explanation.I have found a much wider range of unbalanced unit's out there to look at.I can see where the balanced input's could be a "make or break" in some system's but it sound's like for my purposes I don't need to sweat it.The extra dollar's could probably do more good elswhere in my sys.
*About how long can a RCA cable be before the performance is reduced?

KALAN-What initiated this thread was that while browsing through the virtual-system's I saw that many of the rig's assembled by long time high-end user's have unbalanced gear! I started to wonder why so many review's hinted that balanced component's were nearly essential.
also,I contacted my local Cary dealer concerning a built-in phono-stage and he will call Cary for me.I made an appointment to demo a SLI-80,the PM-7200 will go on my list.Less expensive is good.
I appreciate your comment's.

Hmm, how long, well I would say keep it to 7ft or under if possible, could go 10, not really that you would get much loss but could get more background noise or something as it is a longer length and it depends on how well it is shielded in the design... but in general I like to keep them at the standard 2 meter 6.6 foot.

XLR If not used for the correct reasons should just stand for Xtra Large Ripoff

Arbuk, I spoke to one of the designers at Edge Electronics about the RCA vs. XLR situation in relationship to their gear in particular. In the Edge circuits, the unbalanced/RCA topology actually is quieter than their XLR prototype counterparts---exactly contrary to the vogue opinion of many so called High Enders.

According to Steve Norbert (spelling?-Norber[?] at Edge), the extra components to make the true balanced topology ADDS noise in the Edge amps rather than reducing it.

The interconnect length issue does hold an advantage for the balanced/XLR method. No question, there. An unbalanced/RCA, vacuum-tube pre-amp, for example, will require an output buffer stage to lower the impedance and strengthen the signal output for a long RCA interconnect run to the power amp--say, longer than about 2.5 meters or so. Adding this buffer stage will increase cost and perhaps deteriorate signal integrity.

So, you are right in your observation that many experienced A'goners (and reviewers, too) have very fine systems that use RCA through out.

Kalan-thank you.