Extron Glossary of Terms

Audio

Balanced audio - The audio signal that is carried on three wires (or five wires for stereo pair), with two of them carrying the same signal but with reversed polarity, and a third wire for shielding. Since the two signal wires would pick up virtually identical noise from outside (common mode noise), and that noise can be canceled out at the receiving end by a differential amplifier, the balanced audio is much less susceptible to hum and interference from long cable runs.