Looking for affordable, good sounding, balanced interconnect cables

[Peter Daniel]

I have to run 2 x 15 feet of those, between preamp and amps. Any recommendation on good sounding, balanced interconnect cables, that won't break my pocket?

[sreten]

The obvious answer is to make your own using
high quality microphone cable or similar.

My opinion is DIY interconnects are much better
than cheapo stuff and so near the silly stuff in
performance its not worth worrying about.

Some claim that plastic XLR's actually sound better
than high grade metal ones, but I'd just go with
whats fitted to the pre amp and power amp.


sreten.

[Panelhead]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
I have to run 2 x 15 feet of those, between preamp and amps. Any recommendation on good sounding, balanced interconnect cables, that won't break my pocket?

Peter,
I agree, build your own. And while you are at it use 3 pin locking DIN connectors instead of XLR. Much less metal mass.
Naim and DNM have been using the locking DIN for years. The Deltron are a little better sounding than the Switchcraft.

George

[Peter Daniel]

I was planning on making my own, but I'm still looking for suggestion on the wire to be used. Percy is selling this:

>>CANARE Star Quad: The L4E6S four conductor (21ga) 6mm D microphone cable makes an excellent balanced or single ended budget audio interconnect and has
exceptionally good EM & RF rejection, 44Ω, 57pF/foot, black 6mm D… 95¢ mono foot <<

But I guess I could make better than that. I might also consider:

> DH Labs BL-Ag "balanced" interconnect cable, 2 x 23 awg w/shield and drain wire $11.95/foot
(pure 99.99% solid-core silver, foamed teflon, tape-wrap dielectric)
NOTE: Custom made for PCx (Connex) by DH LABS <

but the price is rather high. Anybody had good experience with soemthing in between those twp price ranges?

[sreten]

I always find it strange when people simply want to spend
more money thinking it "must be better", and therefore look
for something inbetween sensible and silly, the fact is that
anything inbetween has the worst business case.

sreten.

[Peter Daniel]

Actually, I have some experience with DH Labs cables, and they are better. What I did in my previous post, was simply describing possible choices, without describing what is better. I only said I could do better, which is not far from the truth.

[pinkmouse]

Van Damme single pair installation grade cable works well for me, but I don't know if you can get it easily over the pond...

[Peter Daniel]

Originally posted by sreten
I always find it strange when people simply want to spend
more money thinking it "must be better", and therefore look
for something inbetween sensible and silly, the fact is that
anything inbetween has the worst business case.

To make it more clear, I'm not looking what people think or imagine, I'm looking for actual experience from critical listeners, who can honestly say that this and this cable is really good in longer run, balanced applications.

At this length, one cannot really experiment , as those cables have to be bought and the required length makes it even more complicated to compare with other types.

[usekgb]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
I was planning on making my own, but I'm still looking for suggestion on the wire to be used. Percy is selling this:

>>CANARE Star Quad: The L4E6S four conductor (21ga) 6mm D microphone cable makes an excellent balanced or single ended budget audio interconnect and has
exceptionally good EM & RF rejection, 44&, 57pF/foot, black 6mm D… 95¢ mono foot <<

But I guess I could make better than that. I might also consider:

> DH Labs BL-Ag "balanced" interconnect cable, 2 x 23 awg w/shield and drain wire $11.95/foot
(pure 99.99% solid-core silver, foamed teflon, tape-wrap dielectric)
NOTE: Custom made for PCx (Connex) by DH LABS <

but the price is rather high. Anybody had good experience with soemthing in between those twp price ranges?

Peter,
I have used the Canare L4E6S, and the Mogami 2534. Both are a star-quad configuration and have similar properties. I usually use the Mogami 2534 for both my mic cables, and balanced interconnects in my studio, but the Canare sounds every bit as good and is less money. I just use the Mogami because it is a bit more rugged, and I am moving cables around alot.
As far as connectors, I have never liked the plastic versions. I prefer to use the Neutrik NC3MX-B for male XLR's and the Neutrik NC3FX-B for female XLR's. The -B stand for black anodized with gold pins. The nickle ones sound pretty much the same, but can corrode over time. The gold pins should be used wherever the connector will be used in a permanent install, as the self-cleaning action of removing and reconnecting the connector is not happening and non-gold pins can corrode over time.

Cheers,
Zach

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa Daniels San,

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
I have to run 2 x 15 feet of those, between preamp and amps. Any recommendation on good sounding, balanced interconnect cables, that won't break my pocket?

For this kind of cable I PERSONALLY would use installation grade Cat 5/6/7 STP with plastic switchcraft XLR Connectors or alternatively CT-125 with thin silver wires pushed/pulled through the aircells.

For the Cat 5 use one pair as signal pin2/3 (hot/cold), the other three pairs are being connected together as pin 1 (ground), with the shield biased to a suitable voltage and connected via a suitable bypass cap combo (a stack of 0612 Ceramics seems a good idea) to pin 1 on both sides of the cable.

For the CT-125 (Satellite Coax, airspaced NOT FOAMED) the same principles apply, except that the copper conductor links the pin 1 ground connections and the two bare, uncoated silver wires cover the signal. Screen connections as before.

Adding a 620R/680pF "terminator" on the receiving side might also be a good idea if your source has low output impedance given the length.

Sayonara