Juno G Mix(A) Outputs.. Balanced or Unbalanced?

It is always best to use balanced TRS cables whatever the manual says because you get a better signal to noise ratio. It will not harm your synth at all.

I think your presumption is correct. If you compare the user manuals, the Fantom manual specifically describes use of balanced cables and the Fantom even has a small picture of the proper wiring for the jack right next to the connector. If the Juno G had the same feature, it would be indicated as well.

-Rodan

I have the yamaha MG12/4 FX. Good mixer. Will recommend. Don't know about mackies, but heard they're great as well.

Yeah im pretty sure at this point the Juno G is UNBALANCED out, However, I do have about a 15ft run from the board to the mixer passed some power cables, so i think i will run balanced cables instead.. More expensive, but it can only help right? so yea.

as far as the mixer.. I compared them side by side running the left out of my sound card to the Mackie and the right out to the Yamaha and set my monitors up the same way and played lots of different material to compare them. I definitely noticed the Yamaha is a bit less "true" if you will.. I felt as though alot of material I played lost some of its presence when run through the Yamaha. everything seemed warmer and fuller on the Mackie. the Yamaha MG166cx lacked some midrange and mid bass in comparison and sounded just a tad bit bright compared to the Mackie 1402vlz3.
The mackie also seemed to have more headroom as well as I would have to increase the trim a bit on the Yamaha to reach 0db when monitoring the Line level Input PFL. Not on the Mackie though. It received exactly what my Sound card was said to be putting out and had plenty of room left in the gain dept. where the Yamaha did not have as much to spare.

All in all, I liked the extra features of the Yamaha, from the extra channels and inputs, the extra buses & auxes, the on board compression and digital FX (although i would NEVER use either) and the price for the features in comparison to the mackie.
But I really like the sound of the Mackie.. and thats what its all about right? Sound?
So i think I may bite the bullet and spend the extra money to get the Mackie 1642VLZ3 which has ALL the features and more of the Yamaha (minus the FX and 6ch of Compression, which again i wont use).
The only thing that kills me is knowing when I started this venture I set out to buy a USED board just to route all my line level INS to my Delta 1010's breakout box since I have more inputs now than it allows for (plus I don't like the direct monitoring /monitor mixer) But I had no intention on spending more than 100-200 or so for something used off of ebay perhaps.. then I Impulsively Buy a new Behringer Xenyx2442 for 225 and returned it (what a hissy bitch way to bright and colored surely due to the Quality components hand built by Uli Behringer and crew, lol) then I rationalized spending more and getting the mackie or Yamaha ($330 for either i choose with one inevitably going back to the store once i pick) to now finally thinking about shelling out a total of 500 for a Mackie 1642VLZ3. its like a domino effect.
And in the end.. its all about MONEY
BLAH
moral of the story though.. when it comes to sound.. IMHO no other mixers in the same price range or even higher with more features can beat the Mackie when it comes to unadulterated sound Quality.
Now i just gotta figure out what to do.. keep the 1402vlz3 or spnd the extra for the 1642vlz3.. or better more say screw the slight variance in sound and keep the Yamaha instead.
Suggestions?

And yes i know im POCD
(Picky Obsessive Compulsive Disorderly)