Re: [ARSCLIST] Balancing Amps?

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Andy:

I think there are basically two chipsets to do this, Analog Devices and THAT Corp. I think most or 
all of the products you listed probably use the Analog Devices chips. The Henry is very popular in 
the broadcast world and is probably built to broadcast standards or reliability and toughness. I 
think the Rane is popular in the live-sound, broadcast and prosumer worlds.

I would go with either Henry or Rane just based on reputation for solid build and reliability. I 
think all will be essentially sonically transparent to any but the most golden of ears.

-- Tom Fine

PS -- you should also try just plugging the Dragon in with + to pin 2 and - to pins 1 and 3 and see 
if it works hum-free. If so, no need for an active-matching system. There may be enough gain in your 
system to accomodate the Dragons. I have all manner of consumer and pro gear mixed and matched in my 
studio and have no hum problems. I do have one step-up box but that's to interface consumer gear 
with vintage real-deal 600-ohms inputs and outputs (the old impedence-matched model vs. the modern 
model -- see Richard Hess's AES paper about this topic). Some of my really old gear is not happy 
unless it "sees" true 600 ohms on both ends.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy Kolovos" <akolovos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2007 11:19 AM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Balancing Amps?


> Folks,
>
> After a long (and hopefully not foolhardy) struggle our new studio/lab space is nearing 
> completion.  Now that I'm finally ready to get down to setting up my junk and starting work again, 
> I need some advice from my fellow ARSC Members.
>
> In addition to putting in a new space, we've also made several big technical upgrades around here, 
> and one of the major ones was our jump from a DAL CardDeluxe to an Apogee Rosetta 800.  This 
> stated, I'm in the market for a balancing amp to connect my Dragons to the Apogee.  I've looked at 
> some, been directed to some and now I want to see what people in our field are actually using. 
> Can anyone share the gear they've been employing?
>
> The gear I've been investigating is all below.  We need between 4 and 6 channels total, but I 
> don't mind achieving this through the use of several two channel boxes--nor do I mind spending 
> $125-$200 a channel for clean pass through.  I also would greatly appreciate opinions on passive 
> vs active systems for this application.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> andy
>
> Aphex 124A
> http://www.aphex.com/124A.htm
>
> HE Matchbox
> http://henryengineering.com/matchbox.html
>
> Rane BB44X Balance Buddy
> http://www.rane.com/bb44x.html
>
> RDL FP-UBC series
> http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=49
>
> RDL ST-UBA2
> http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=53