Balanced (TRS) cables - WHERE TO BUY ON-LINE?

G

gusfmm

New member
Two fold question:
1. I need to buy a few, any recommendation as to where to buy 10 ft TRS cables?

2. Are those cheap ($5.99) Musicians Friend's TRS cables worth it? This is to wire my home studio, so mixer to monitors, mixer to PC audio card, basically within 6-10 ft apart. Should I spend more on "branded" Monster, Spectraflex, etc type of thingy because of their better quality? I do have read several comments about investing some money on cables because it really impacts the sound quality. Comments?
 
That's what I'd buy, especially if they weren't going to be moved around alot anyway.
 
because it really impacts the sound quality.

An old wives' tale. Get cables with good shielding and solid connections. If I ever find a cable that "really impacts the sound quality" I'll be happy to eat it.
 
jdier said:
Nice full selection and fair pricing:

www.proaudiosolutions.com
Click to expand...

Oh, thanks a lot, this is a good one!

Now, I'd appreciate opinions on, should I go with:
- Hosa, $4.90
- Monster, $26.80
- Quantum, $44.00

I found a couple other threads and some studio designers and installers were saying they'd built complete pro studios with regular unbalanced cables with no problem. I guess if you're able to keep them away of power cords and lines, it should be just fine, right?
 
If those HOSA cables are the ones with molded plastic ends, I'd stay away from them. Seems like there should be something in the price range between the HOSA and Monster that would work for you. There's no point in getting too neurotic about cabling, but it's important to have at least good quality cables that will be reliable.

As far as unbalanced versus balanced, I think you need to look at your gear and decide whether most of it is balanced or not. The most important thing is to have the right cables for your gear, not forcing a bal/unbal situation on your studio regardless of what you own.

In my studio I have a mixture of balanced and unbalanced gear. I have special TS to TRS cables for unbalanced gear, so that I can patch everything balanced at the patchbay. My feeling is that if the equipment is balanced, it's nice to wire it that way if possible.
 
Why not make your own cables?

It sort of supprises me that more people dont want to or dont learn to or just dont make their own cables......

I started making my own when I spent $20 on a horizon rca to 1/4 10 ft cable and opened the end of one and saw all the loose ground wires rubbing against the hot conection!!!! On a new cable! I havent bought more than one new cable since (I did by a Two-Rock 10ft Cystal clear guitar cable $150 and worth every penny, yes the quality of the cable makes a diference in sound!).

I by Mogami Balanced cable and Nuetrik plugs and wire up what I need when I need it. A little bit of practice at soldering goes a long way.

I figure I have saved hundreds on cable by making my own. And also by the best quality cable you can afford, There is a diference between them all.
Monster is good Mogami is better. Its all about how it was made, its not a wives tale. there is an audible diference, but as lpdeluxe said "cables with good shielding and solid connections" makes a diference as well. :)

BTW the links posted are very good I usualy by from a local store but these prices are better in some cases (Thanks for the links).

-Blaze

P.s. Stay AWAY from HOSA!!!! Its crap! :)
 
certain cables are definately cheaper to make than purchase.
Microphone cables are usually well priced. I've worked out the pricing... it's usually about the same price to buy the wire and neutrik connectors as it is to buy a digiflex cable (built of the same cable and connectors) PLUS your time to build it.

on the other hand, specialty cables are usually cheaper to make. TRS cables are pretty easy to make, and if it's for a studio application you don't need the heavy duty neutrik connectors...standard metal jecket plugs are fine...and about 1/4 the price.

i'm letting out some trade secrets here, but when i worked in sales at a pro audio dealer, microphone cables were marked up about 20-25%... which was a little less than the standard mark up... and most other cables were marked up 60%!
 
I am with ya on the markup thing, I use to work for a national music store chain (that shall remain nameless, as I hate when rocks are thrown at my head). They realy mark up the price, I guess thats how they make money.

I dont know about it taking uo much time to make a cable though......
It takes me only about 5 minutes to make a XLR(mic) cable....
I was on one of the site linked above and figured you could make a 10ft TRS to TRS cable using Mogami balanced cable a couple of the Neutrik Strain relief plugs(the nice ones with the ratching covers) for around $8-10 plus ship costs. Figure a mogami pre wired TRS to TRS cable will set you back over $20 to $25, And figure about 5-15 minutes to make one. I would say thats pretty good. That is to say if you buy the mogami in a 164ft spool like I do and can weild a soldering iron. figure the costs it cheeper and more rewarding.

I love having wired my own stuff, it nice to know who the cable maker is. :D

-Blaze
 
blazingstrings said:
It sort of supprises me that more people dont want to or dont learn to or just dont make their own cables......

I started making my own when I spent $20 on a horizon rca to 1/4 10 ft cable and opened the end of one and saw all the loose ground wires rubbing against the hot conection!!!! On a new cable! I havent bought more than one new cable since (I did by a Two-Rock 10ft Cystal clear guitar cable $150 and worth every penny, yes the quality of the cable makes a diference in sound!).

I by Mogami Balanced cable and Nuetrik plugs and wire up what I need when I need it. A little bit of practice at soldering goes a long way.
Click to expand...

I'd have no problem making my own. I'd actually already checked www.redco.com for pricing and I could happily buy all I need to make 4 x 12ft TRS cables for about $50-60. And this is, indeed, way cheaper than buying them from any store. I was just wondering whether going that route would be better than buying the cheaper stuff. For what you guys are saying, I think it would.

I have a few Hosa MIDI cables and they've been just fine thus far, for what they do. I also bought a couple of different "cheap" cables from Musician's Friend and they are running well as well. My question really was whether "better" cables would somehow offer a lower noise ratio. I have no way to benchmark these cheapos against anything better at the moment.
 
In the end yes noise will be lower, BUT Its all about how you go about this.
meaning if your using cheap gear or have a bad AC problem ect ect that will all add to your noise issues.
I have noticed that after wiring my setup with high quality cables noise was mosty gone.

And as far as making 4x12ft TRS cables for $50-60, I would just buy a spool from here: http://www.proaudiosolutions.com/prod.itml/icOid/1956 for $52.50 and buy yous plugs and have all you need when you think of a few cables you need....

ANyway Making your own is best in my opinion, "why buy a 15 foot when I only need a 9 foot?"..... those extra 6 feet make a diference when it comes to noise as well.

-Blaze :)
 
Noise is made worse by poor shielding and by running long cables (ignoring balanced/unbalanced issues, since this thread is about TRS). This is the argument for more expensive cables, that they offer greater shielding coverage. And, of course, keep all your runs as short as you can.

I use short runs of balanced cable for analog, and depend on ADAT lightpipe for interfacing the digital mixer with the computer. The only noise I get is from the 25' long unbalanced (RCA) to the headphone amp across the room, but the noise is masked by the music when we're recording, and, it's not in the recording signal path. Soon I'll upgrade to a headphone amp that accepts balanced ins, and that'll be the end of that.
 
Hey, I was reading this old post on cables, and had another question - how important is wire gauge? Someone mentioned the W2552, which is 26 gauge, or I could go to W2792, which is 24 gauge. Thoughts? Also, does anyone know anything about the 4-conductor (plus shield) cables? Why would you use those? Are they worth it?
 
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