What interconnects for my amplifier?

[cameron paterson]

It is too big for my media center so it's on the ground off to the side of the room.

 

[TheFactor]

AudioQuest

AudioQuest cables and other audio products combine solid conductors, high-purity metals, specialized geometries, and stable dielectrics to enable naturally beautiful sounds and images.

www.audioquest.com

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[Trell]

AudioQuest

AudioQuest cables and other audio products combine solid conductors, high-purity metals, specialized geometries, and stable dielectrics to enable naturally beautiful sounds and images.

www.audioquest.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's bad advice to give to anyone.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

That's bad advice to give to anyone.

Agreed

 

[highfigh]

In general though would XLR to RCA sound better. I ask because I do not have the manual to the Parasound amp.

The manual should be available on the Parasound site.

Their amplifiers are not complementary balanced, so using cables with XLR won't be exactly the same as if it was a pro/commercial amplifier. You should have no problems with unbalanced cables. FWIW, I have a Parasound A23/P5 and am very happy with the sound using unbalanced. I have cables with XLR, but never bothered to use them.

 

[highfigh]

AudioQuest

AudioQuest cables and other audio products combine solid conductors, high-purity metals, specialized geometries, and stable dielectrics to enable naturally beautiful sounds and images.

www.audioquest.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The description is just advertising BS from people who don't seem to understand that really, their cables are nothing special and in fact, some are complete crap- I worked for a custom integration company and they switched to AQ for bulk cabling that would be cut to length and the ends installed on-site. This garbage had 24ga center conductors and it was very difficult to terminate without bending the center, even if done exactly the way their training videos showed. The cables with batteries are a joke and they won't discuss it with anyone, AFAIK. They also sell HDMI cables that (according to their advertising and displays) improve the audio- at the low, low price of $1500 for a 6'.

 

[PaulBe]

AudioQuest

AudioQuest cables and other audio products combine solid conductors, high-purity metals, specialized geometries, and stable dielectrics to enable naturally beautiful sounds and images.

www.audioquest.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Audioquest's rhetoric enables the image of beautiful profits.

The 'Star Quad' configuration for mic, line, and speaker level make good engineering sense. Star Quad cable is available from manufacturers such as Belden, Canaire, Gotham, and Mogami. They all make cable suited to pros and home consumers. People should go to these company's sites and do some real research. The costs are relatively small compared to audiophoolery woo-woo cables - a small fraction of the cost of audiophool cables.

If you can solder, you can roll your own with your favorite connectors. The raw mic/line cable is usually less than a buck/foot in a roll. 'Worlds Best Cables' offers a lot of star quad, with various connectors, built for both balanced and unbalanced systems. Finished cables cost about double the cost of raw parts bought in quantity. Check them out at Amazon.

 

[lovinthehd]

Good ol' Fraudioquest.

 

[PENG]

Would XLR to RCA sound better than RCA to RCA? Here:
Monoprice 3ft Premier Series XLR Male to RCA Male Cable, 16AWG (Gold Plated) - Monoprice.com

I need to run it 12ft. Is that too long for an XLR to RCA?

12 ft is fine, go for it. Those are good ones, better than RCA to RCA.

 

[PENG]

In general though would XLR to RCA sound better. I ask because I do not have the manual to the Parasound amp.

Won’t sound better, but if you use the RCA to XLR that are wired properly such as the the Monoprice premier ones, you can expect some noise cancellation, not as good as XLR to XLR but could get close. Hypex has some articles on this topic and it explains quite well why the properly wired RCA to XLR (still not balanced) has some of the benefits of common mode noise rejection offered by balanced XLR connections.

For a 12 ft length, RCA to RCA should be fine too, if you already have the cables, try them first and if you don’t hear hiss and hum then you are all set.

I had connected Denon AVRs to my A21 before, they were quiet.

 

[PENG]

@cameron paterson

If you are interested in reading Hypex article on how using RCA to XLR interconnect can yield almost the same benefits as using a balanced interconnect, I have included a link in the following post on ASR:

Obviously, it is better if you AVR has XLR output but they usually don't, so using the RCA to XLR interconnect such as Monoprice's (inexpensive) or Benchmark's as well as March Audio's (the more expensive ones, are probably better), you can get most of the benefits of the balanced interconnects except of course you don't get the 2X voltage, because it is still unbalanced.

Post#2292:
Buckeye Amps: New US based Hypex multichannel amplifier builder, line-up announcement! | Page 115 | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

 

[cameron paterson]

Will 2 of these work? Would a 10ft one be better than a 15ft one? Because the 10ft one is out of stock.

Monoprice 3ft Premier Series XLR Male to RCA Male Cable, 16AWG (Gold Plated) - Monoprice.com

 

[PaulBe]

Will 2 of these work? Would a 10ft one be better than a 15ft one? Because the 10ft one is out of stock.

Monoprice 3ft Premier Series XLR Male to RCA Male Cable, 16AWG (Gold Plated) - Monoprice.com

Any recorded signal you listen to has already passed through hundreds of feet of cable. What do you think?

 

[PENG]

Will 2 of these work? Would a 10ft one be better than a 15ft one? Because the 10ft one is out of stock.

Monoprice 3ft Premier Series XLR Male to RCA Male Cable, 16AWG (Gold Plated) - Monoprice.com

You can buy them in any length here:

A15 --- Canare L-4E6S RCA(M) to XLR(M) Cable

RCA(Male) to XLR(Male) interconnect cable (1pc) --- Canare L-4E6S Star Quad, 95% shield, exceptional RFI and EMI protection

ghentaudio.com

15 ft should not be an issue anyway.