Posted by Lew on September 23, 2002 at 10:32:18:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Parasound JC1 initial impressions posted by Terry Koehn on September 23, 2002 at 00:07:11:
with your suggestion that there is "twice as much circuitry" in a balanced design. (I hear this all the time from proponents of single-ended vs balanced designs, so this is a chance to state my case against this notion.)
True, there are nearly twice as many electrical elements in a balanced circuit, but "the signal" does not pass through all of both phases of the circuit. Instead, in a balanced circuit (as you know) the signal is treated as separate positive and negative phases such that the positive half of the signal "sees" one side of the balanced circuit (think of it as a single-ended circuit handling a positive wave form) and likewise the negative half of the signal "sees" the other side of the circuit (~a single-ended circuit seeing a negative wave form). So, the signal collectively (when it's put back together at the output) has seen the same number of components (resistors/caps/tubes, etc.) as it would after having passed thru a single-ended circuit. Moreover, the balanced circuit (in an amplifier) has an inherent advantage vs a single-ended one in a PP amp, in that phase-splitting, a major source of distortion, is not required. Here is a simple thought experiment to re-state my point in simpler terms: We are in my kitchen, and I have 10 coffee beans (the signal) in the palm of my hand. There are two doors (representing the two halves of a balanced circuit) leading from my kitchen into my dining room. I give you 5 beans and ask you to go through one door (one half of a balanced circuit) into the dining room. I take the remaining 5 beans (the other half of the signal) and go through the second available door to my dining room. We meet in the dining room and you put your 5 beans back into the palm of my hand. Now I have all 10 beans in the palm of my hand again, and the signal is whole. Would you say that "the signal" passed through two doors or one door? I would say that the signal has been through a net of one doorway.