XLR cables (entry level to middle of the road)

[Pablo2k]

Hi, my system it’s not high end.
It’s set up for movies, but I’ll talk about the stereo part of it.
I play lossless or dsd from my Mac Mini to my Oppo HA-1 thought USB.
Oppo HA-1 goes to Mcintosh MX135 through XLRs (cable I need to upgrade)
Mcintosh MX135 to MC252 through XLR for fronts L&R.
Does my system qualify for King Cobra XLRs?
Or for what I have I can get away with cheaper cables?
My speakers are B&W 804(s)
Thanks!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
tl;dr: Use cheap, but well-made cables. I bought the cheapest possible XLR balanced cables for my monitors after swapping dac from AE D1 to Behringer UMC404HD. Not that I had lots of hiss/noise, but it's completely gone now.

 

[lovinthehd]

You have xlr cables that currently work? Why the need to "upgrade"?

ps Just looked up "King Kobra" which is Audioquest nonsense. If you want pretty that's one thing, but their performance isn't particularly noteworthy. FWIW I build my own with Belden stock and Neutrik connectors....

 

[Mikado463]

Blue Jeans Cable (advertiser here) sells just what you need .......

 

[ryanosaur]

Monoprice hasn't done me wrong yet! No 60Hz hum from running my Monoprice sub cable past my Amp wires and Power strip. And I didn't pay over $50 for it... Rather 8 for 25' run.
Research your cables... make certain you got good conductors, and good shielding. Then take the money you saved and get a nice bottle of Rye to sip as you sit back and listen to your tunes!
Or better yet, you realize you don't need to upgrade at all.

 

[lovinthehd]

Monoprice hasn't done me wrong yet! No 60Hz hum from running my Monoprice sub cable past my Amp wires and Power strip. And I didn't pay over $50 for it... Rather 8 for 25' run.
Research your cables... make certain you got good conductors, and good shielding. Then take the money you saved and get a nice bottle of Rye to sip as you sit back and listen to your tunes!
Or better yet, you realize you don't need to upgrade at all.

Made me go look at the King Cobra cost....1 meter for $150! How ridiculous!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Monoprice hasn't done me wrong yet! No 60Hz hum from running my Monoprice sub cable past my Amp wires and Power strip. And I didn't pay over $50 for it... Rather 8 for 25' run.

Speaking of Power strips, I have a major fascination with Triplite Isobar/Isotel series. They are relatively inexpensive and able to help me out with annoying ground loop issue I used to have. They should pay me for how much I promote their products

 

[ryanosaur]

teehee... maybe monoprice will give me a new monolith pre-pro.
*poorly restrained guffaw

 

[lovinthehd]

teehee... maybe monoprice will give me a new monolith pre-pro.
*poorly restrained guffaw

Shoulda bought their amp, too

 

[ryanosaur]

Had those XLRs been balanced, I probably would've. Everything else seemed good. But putting lipstick on a pig doesn't change the oink, dig? I'm not using XLRs, anyway, but they seem kinda useless as is. At least these 2200s are exactly what I asked for. Very minimalistic and straightforward. Besides, I like the idea that each speaker has its own power supply!

 

[lovinthehd]

Had those XLRs been balanced, I probably would've. Everything else seemed good. But putting lipstick on a pig doesn't change the oink, dig? I'm not using XLRs, anyway, but they seem kinda useless as is. At least these 2200s are exactly what I asked for. Very minimalistic and straightforward. Besides, I like the idea that each speaker has its own power supply!

Uh, XLRs are for balanced connections....or you mean?

 

[2channel lover]

Had those XLRs been balanced, I probably would've. Everything else seemed good. But putting lipstick on a pig doesn't change the oink, dig? I'm not using XLRs, anyway, but they seem kinda useless as is. At least these 2200s are exactly what I asked for. Very minimalistic and straightforward. Besides, I like the idea that each speaker has its own power supply!

I'm running the same 2200 across the front...initially I was going to have only one rack and put my amps in a HVAC closet which would've required 20-30' runs to conceal the cables...in the end I bought 2 racks and put everything in it so I returned the long XLR cables...but stayed with balanced cables...for the money I said why not?

Got these for $35...https://www.glsaudio.com/GLS-Audio-XLR-M-to-XLR-F-Patch-Snake-Cables--6ft-Colors--6-Pack_p_536.html

Likely overkill, but again, for the money...why not?

 

[Pablo2k]

Well, thank you very much for all the responses.
Like I said, right now I have:
“Hardwired By Transcend” XLR
going from Pre to Amp.
All I know about Transcend, is that they look fancy and are very expensive.
All I know about Hardwired is that is their attempt to capture another “market” (me)
Only reason I have Hardwired XLR is because my local “high end” store has them in stock.
There are no reviews about them, no one seems to know who they are, maybe they are the Bose of xlr cables lol

 

[lovinthehd]

If they work fine don't worry about them. Audioquest is bullshit in any case.

I looked at hardwired's web page and the silly audio setup right there on the home page certainly isn't encouraging (looks like more wire than gear and the gear is placed mindlessly).....almost afraid to go check out their parent, Transparent cables...

 

[highfigh]

Made me go look at the King Cobra cost....1 meter for $150! How ridiculous!

If you think that's ridiculous, look at this-

https://soundapproach.com/audioquest-dragon-full-range-speaker-cables-pair.html?gclid=CjwKCAiA1ZDiBRAXEiwAIWyNC94fWlZvxwtJRW5SvNYLvQcrsHi3lOKorCpA7Zs3z36ga4eh2zh1tBoCk0QQAvD_BwE

 

[highfigh]

Well, thank you very much for all the responses.
Like I said, right now I have:
“Hardwired By Transcend” XLR
going from Pre to Amp.
All I know about Transcend, is that they look fancy and are very expensive.
All I know about Hardwired is that is their attempt to capture another “market” (me)
Only reason I have Hardwired XLR is because my local “high end” store has them in stock.
There are no reviews about them, no one seems to know who they are, maybe they are the Bose of xlr cables lol

If you have music stores in your area, go there and buy cables.

 

[lovinthehd]

If you think that's ridiculous, look at this-

https://soundapproach.com/audioquest-dragon-full-range-speaker-cables-pair.html?gclid=CjwKCAiA1ZDiBRAXEiwAIWyNC94fWlZvxwtJRW5SvNYLvQcrsHi3lOKorCpA7Zs3z36ga4eh2zh1tBoCk0QQAvD_BwE

Preaching to the choir. I'm all too aware of these clowns' more expensive offerings as well as many of the other cable charlatans....just disgusting.

 

[ryanosaur]

Uh, XLRs are for balanced connections....or you mean?

The "balanced" inputs, the xlr connectors, on the Mono amps aren't balanced, as I understand it... just xlr connectors.
Yes, we're seemingly used to referring to the cables as xlrs, but not the xlr connector that accepts the cable.

 

[John Parks]

If you think that's ridiculous, look at this-

https://soundapproach.com/audioquest-dragon-full-range-speaker-cables-pair.html?gclid=CjwKCAiA1ZDiBRAXEiwAIWyNC94fWlZvxwtJRW5SvNYLvQcrsHi3lOKorCpA7Zs3z36ga4eh2zh1tBoCk0QQAvD_BwE

You do realize that them there cables are "Full-Range", right? I'd say that's a bargain at twice the price! /s

Of course, one would indeed have to pay twice the price for a usable set, because the price quoted is for a 3' pair!

 

[ryanosaur]

Speaking of Power strips, I have a major fascination with Triplite Isobar/Isotel series. They are relatively inexpensive and able to help me out with annoying ground loop issue I used to have. They should pay me for how much I promote their products

I used to do Triplite, only switching it up with this new rig. Have APC now. (For my computer too.) Seems solid enough.