Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Balanced vs. unbalanced G68

I am sure this has been asked before, but not in the last year anyway afaik.

I'm aware of the theoretical benefits of balanced connection to a power amp vs. unbalanced. Right now I have a G91 and a G57 - connected unbalanced of course - and I am looking at getting a G68. I had been looking for a G68AXV or G68XXV on the principle that long runs to rear speakers would be better served over balanced interconnects with the power amp for the rears located near the rear speakers.

But I have an opportunity to get a used G68J at a good price - i.e. no balanced. So in real world practice - how much difference would I really gain from balanced?

One other consideration - at some point in the future I may move to a Classe CA-3200 for the front 3 speakers and use the G57 for the rears. Speakers are currently B&W Nautilus 804 (used with G57) with a (someday when the stock market recovers) plan of acquiring B&W 802D and HTM2D or HTM1D for the fronts and moving the current pair of N804 to become the rears.

many thanks for any advice
Sanjay

trade B&W for Vandersteens, they pair much better with G57. and their center and rears are not so expensive.
balanced vs unbalanced really mostly depends on what you connect. G57 works fine through unbalanced. don't know about Classe. but Chord is strictly balanced, Ayre as well. McIntosh mostly doesn't care.
i regret that i did not purchase G68XXV for only $100 more. if your price difference is substantial, than get cheaper one.

Unless I'm mistaken, with the balanced versions you cannot use DSP speakers in the future should you so desire. However, the G68J does have the requisite digital speaker outputs. Just something extra to think about, sorry

I think running balanced vs unbalanced to be quite significant (even on short runs).

I use an G68XXV running all balanced analogue out into active ATC monitors. However, I have difficulty advising you as I have never run this setup unbalanced to compare.

When I did have the option with a 568, I found the unbalanced to have much more low level hum and hiss than my current setup. I think the benefit is in the noise floor rather than the absolute sound quality.