Quick question re: AVR vs separates, balanced vs unbalanced

[Hyacin]

So I'm taking baby steps along the path that seems to be general understanding of 'upgrading' - I've gone from just an AVR (X6700H), to (supported) RCA-to-XLR to external (Buckeye) amps, and now I'm looking at an AV20 to go to the be-all end-all, balanced separates ... and I'm thinking "wow, my signal will be balanced all the way from X to Z, and Y to Z, and blah blah blah" ...

And then I pause ... I'm just solving a problem of my own making here now though aren't I? _I'm_ the one who pulled the processing and amplification apart and put unbalanced interconnects in the middle ... if the amps were still _inside_ the processor, wouldn't everything be "balanced" from stem to stern already anyway?!? (or 'effectively balanced' I guess? If it is remaining in the digital domain? Or, something?)

But surely this can't be correct? So what am I missing here? Aside from the obvious "yes but as you move up that ladder, you're buying higher end equipment, so obviously things are going to improve"? Could someone fill in my knowledge gaps here before I drop two months salary on a pre-amp? ... thanks!!

 

[Zinda]

As far as it being "better" are you looking to get more power to speakers that are underpowered? Or are you expecting there to be a gain in clarity in sound or are you looking for more power to run deeper bass response? The changing from RCA to XLR won't "add" anything to it that's not there, what it might offer is s benefit of noise rejection for long runs of wire. If the circuit is not a balanced output you won't be getting any extra power by using XLRs you'll get the same signal as the RCA output but it will just connect to the input using that different type of connector. It's simply a change over type cable so you can use the RCA.

Even adding an outboard amp is not going to guarantee you'll have better sound, or more clarity or anything since the source is the same and it depends on what your speakers can reproduce and the amps will be limited in their ability to recreate sound as well. You may not notice any change in sound at all, since your system is surround, it has to stay in balance with your worst piece in the chain. If you can only get so much sound from a speaker you will need to set all speakers based on that lowest output and a huge amp won't matter unless you plan to use it in stereo with just that amp alone.

XLR is not automatically a balanced circuit inside the device the circuit can be unbalanced or balanced by design and can't be changed, im sure there may be balanced receiver's made but I don't see how that would make much difference with an internally amplified receiver but I can see a pre amp being balanced since it's made to be connected to outboard amps which presents the possibility of injecting noise in cable runs . Not necessarily to up the power coming out of the pre or having a better sound because it's balanced, just less likely to pick up external rf noise is the main gain you'll get from balanced and not all XLR outputs are even balanced it depends on the design of the pre. They use XLR outs as an option for those who have amps that only have XLR inputs but the amp inputs aren't automatically balanced because it's XLR. .

Typically balanced is used for long runs of cables (even TRS cables can be made balanced) like pro audio gear would be more likely to have balance design due to the long runs but still not mandatory they will need the shielding for noise rejection but the sound will still be played even if one piece is not Balanced but having all balanced pieces ensures a better clean signal. The gain is based on the design of the circuits and not on the cables.