Balanced preamp to unbalanced poweramp - any risks?

[YoniV]

I have a guitar multi-effects and amp modeler (Quad Cortex), which I use with my studio monitors (i.e. guitar -> QC -> powered studio monitors)
However, I wanted to try to play in my living room, which means using my "hifi" speakers.
The output of the QC is balanced (with a preamp), the power amp is unbalanced (Audiophonics PA-S125NC), and it feeds a pair of floorstanders (Tannoy Revolution XT 6F).
I thought I would just buy a pair of XLR -> RCA, but I read an amazom review that there might be a short-circuit risk for the balanced source.
I don't trust random comments, so I thought I might get the help of the more educated folks around here.
Do I have anything to be worried about?

Thanks!

(For the record, the QC doesn't have unbalanced outs)

 

[Gorgonzola]

Never been a problem for me, but I'm not an expert.

 

[NTK]

The standard reference to this issue is RaneNote 110.

Sound System Interconnection

RaneNote 110 explains the cause and prevention of ground loops and how to interface balanced and unbalanced gear with proper connections and wiring.

www.ranecommercial.com

TL;DR version:
If your balanced source is OK with the negative leg of its output shorted to ground, use configuration 6 in figure 4.
If not (or to be conservative, as shorting one leg of the output to ground may damage the output stage of your pre amp if it is not designed for it), use configuration 4.
You may also want to ask the manufacturer for to their recommendation.

 

[Plcamp]

I have been considering making line level crossovers (at 2 nd order) for my open baffle speakers, and am therefore jealous of balanced 4V outputs.

Insertion loss limits what you can do with line level r-c network filters, so the extra 2v of drive would be useful to overcome that if I could drive my unbalanced 100kohm input power amp that way.

Any reason this wouldn’t work ?