RCA is not Balanced.
Balanced means both inputs/outputs have the same impedance. to ground and to each other.
For cables this can be achieved with twisted pair + shild (cheapest) or better star quad + shild.
For non balanced signal you want non balanced cables like Coaxial.
What they are do doing is using "floating" RCA inputs and the Car's ground
simmilar to Hypex:
So the output and the Cable are not balanced but the input is.
In this special case a twisted pair cable with screen connected to amp ground would maybe perform better then Coax
View attachment 200069
Its a bit clearer. So, if I may,
The RCA signal coming out of just about any audio gear, is single ended. Meaning not balanced. So the single ended RCA cable, the A/C signal is the tip, and the jacket around the tip is just the Shield. Or the Return or Neutral wire just like in Home Wiring.
My confusion was I knew most gear with an RCA jack worked like this. (Unbalanced) with a Coax style wire construction
where the Copper shield in this case is the return (Neutral line or white wire USA) like in home A/C.
But "Balanced RCA's" as described by JL audio, and others, the singal did this bellow while still using only 2 conductors in twisted pair while using the common ground of the car as its return line.
With this type of cable that needs to be used referenced by Tony for use on "Balanced Rca's" :
When Coax cable was said, I thought this typically with a F connector:
But most of what I have seen and taken apart is basic non shielded twisted pair. Sooche is what I have been using until I went to the shielded coax style.
There is no shield on this type of RCA.
What got me was how it was explained.
How could a source such as a head unit/DAC that is single ended by design, going to know to output the balanced signal if it does not know that the amp can accept this signal? Just about all gear I have seen does this bellow:
Not this:
What's really going on is how you explained it above where the "Balanced RCA's are circuitry is inside the amplifier.
What got me was the 3 conductor vs the 2 conductor balanced rca. As it's not common to see this implemented as I understand it.
I was not taking into account the shield being a conductor or return line as described as its method of operation it seems.
In the case of the 2 conductor, (If I understand it right) the ground takes the place of the 3rd conductor if only a 2 copper conductors are inside the cable. With the shield just providing noise rejection.
But in order to do so, I thought it had to LOOK like this
Not this as there is physically only 2 conductors present, and the shield is part of the conductor.
Man.. why the fuck is this so hard for me to get. Its simple. I'm just nuking it.
Thank you for explaining it to me. Its going to take some more time to get this. But I really appreciate taking the time to explain it to this dumbo here.
Let me know if you need anything!