Actually I am currently moving my equipment into the corner and I am just about to make 5x5m of RCA->XLR cables (two of which are going into McIntosh amp with other three going into Rotel Amp). Cable will be standard yellow VDH cable ( D102III )- picture to be seen underneath
VDH also says:
"Remarks: The drawn configuration is recommended. However, with the nowadays common electronically balanced (i.e. non-transformer) inputs, in some cases hum and or RF interference problems can be experienced. In this case the cable shield can be experimentally connected to signal ground at the unbalanced signal source side plug, either directly (in case of hum) or (in case of RF interference) by means of a 10 nanoFarad ceramic disc capacitor or a series network of a 47 Ohm resistor and a 10 nanoFarad ceramic disc capacitor. The best solution is situation dependent.
Note: Mixed interconnection of balanced and unbalanced equipment remains prone to hum and noise problems since these two types of signal operation are incompatible. The above diagram is the recommended simple solution, though best is to apply an audio isolation transformer when connecting balanced to unbalanced or vice versa"
This explains a lot but maybe JohnMulcahy could (please!) shed some more technical light onto what the difference exists between these two different wiring models.
Thanks.