Monitor cables?

[tweakeasy]

Hi all,

I'm shopping for some decent balanced XLR monitor cables. My budget (like always) isn't huge. I've heard good things about the Planet Waves products and was looking at these:

http://store.daddario.com/category/148147

At 50 bucks a pop plus postage that's at the high end of my scale, just wondering what else might be out there that others here use that deliver precise sound and might not cost as much.

Thanks!

[Alastair Reynolds]

Pretty exxy for a 10 foot cable, Maybe see Joe Malonehttp://www.jlmaudio.com/shop/ and get some Neutrick connectors with Belden/ Mogami/Canare or other good cable. Will cost less than $50 a cable. We use all Neutrick with Belden Star-Quad cable for XLR cables (Over 2000 of them)

[jkhuri44]

here goes again...

Call Puresonics based in Burwood NSW

look em up on the googlers.

i wouldnt use Planet Waves in a studio i dont think...

Arvind uses Mogami cable and Gold Neutrik connectors, and i think may be cheaper than $50 a pop.

[Kurt]

I've been using Australian Monitor mic cables. Good value in my experience, well made, take a lot of abuse (live setting) Will probably cost under $20 a pop.

[capitalK]

i wouldn't use planet waves cables for anything, ever...

horrible, cheaply made, can't repair em...

i've been playing guitar in bands for 13 years, and i refuse to use em
poo, blaech, bad, yuck....

and worst of all... EXPENSIVE!
you get the idea


looked into making up your own leads?

[tweakeasy]

here goes again...

Yes I figured it would be a FAQ but didn't find anything doing a search on here. Gearslutz turned up the usual million different opinions and straight-out cat fights and I knew I'd get good, straight up help here (as usual!)

I forgot to put in my initial post that I'm monitoring with HS80M's and a MOTU 828Mk3 - the point being that my main outs on the MOTU are XLR (male obviously) so the male XLR> 1/4 cables aren't going to do it. So my choices are limited to (not that it's a bad thing) XLR>XLR. I know I'm monitoring with entry-level monitors but seeing as I need new cables anyway I'd rather buy once and buy right. These are what I've come up with thus far:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MOGAMI-2534-BALA ... 5954wt_906

or

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Neutrik-Belden-2 ... 1292wt_906

Would the 6m of the Mogami's be too long in terms of signal deficit? (so thankful this is a place you can ask stupid questions).

Thanks.

[Alastair Reynolds]

The 6 metres compared to say 3 metres will not make any difference to performance provided the source and load are properly loaded/terminated. In an ideal world a balanced connection should achieve maximum power transfer when proper impedance loading is achieved. the 6 metres may depending on the cable introduce a tiny amount of capacitance and cause a phase shift in the very high end, but this is more theretical as it would be difficult to measure at audio frequencies, let alone hear. A simple loop may give enough inductance to counteract any extra capacitance in the cable, but again if you can hear this you're doing pretty well.
At radio frequencies , cable length and capacitance/ inductance play a very big part and much time and money is spent matching the load of an Antenna to the transmitter so no power is wasted or reflected A transmitter always wants to see a load of 50+J0 ohms , but the inductance of the tower can result in the need for complex L-C networks . coils or capacitive elements being added. If You've ever seen an AM tower with a thing that looks like a Catherine Wheel on top (or top-cap), that's basically acting as a big capacitor to make the tower look "electrically" longer.
So in summary, a bit longer won't hurt, use quality cables with quality connectors and they'll work well and last for ages

[jkhuri44]

hey michael,
my post wasnt supposed to be sarcasm.

more so meant everytime someone asks about cable, i repeat myself and mention puresonics

[tweakeasy]

No worries Jamil! And thanks so much for sharing that knowledge Alastair, I'm learning quite a lot on this forum.

[rick]

alastair that thing locks like the power supply to my weiss / maya convertors , though i cannot decide on the scale
it might me a touch bigger, but only a touch
it doesnt look any heavier though ?

[tweakeasy]

Went for the Mogami's. - better price after postage (plus they combine to save a few more bob on top of that) and a bit more length to play with means they won't be dictating the position of my interface, which I like to have off to the side rather than in the middle (where I want to put the 24" display I'm getting next).

[Alastair Reynolds]

The scale here is that is one side of a 20 foot shipping container, with much the same on the other side, weight , approx 4 tonnes, power rating, approx 50,000 watts and there's 2 of them

[rick]

ok maybe a bit heavier !