KenLand said:
So if a transmission line works better than another at 50 ft then its going to work better at 3-10 ft.
But, at 3 - 10 feet, the differences may so negligible that you'll need all of Gene and Steve's hyper expensive magnetic analyzers to determine the differences. I'm running into that problem with a speaker cable analysis I'm preparing. My LCR meter is great for capacitance and inductance in the pico/nano farad/henry range but may not be accurate enough in the milli to micro ohm range that is necessary to measure such short cables.
Anyway, and back to the point of the thread, if your amp/equipment has the balanced connection (XLR/TRS) and the unbalanced RCA, you'll almost always (99.99999%) be better off using the balanced connections. That being said, microphones, due to the low signal level almost require the use of balanced connections - no matter the length of the run. I'm not convinced that speakers in the home require a balanced need a balanced connection - unless you use pro equipment.
My wife and I went to a concert (free tickets - my wife knew some of the performers). Afterwards, we went back stage, and while my wife was talking to the guys, I was checking out the electronics. The bulk of the cables were general extension cords (color coded for length - orange is 25 ft, yellow is 50 ft etc.) finished with XLR or speakon [sic] connectors.
More on the extension cords later.