Cable length

  • Thread starter Thread starter pdadda
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pdadda

pdadda

Captain Sea Boots
I have been having problems with my monitors picking up staticy noise from my laptop when it is plugged in. I normally use these 15ft unbalanced cables to run from my MOTU828mkii to the monitors, but I don't think that's cutting it anymore. When I used a 1ft cable, all the noise disappeared. So I am ready to buy some high quality cable. I am looking at Mogami 1/4"TRS->XLR male cables. Is it important to have the cable going to each monitor the same length? I can reach one with a 3ft cable, and the other with a 6ft cable. Should I just buy 2 6ft'ers or one 6 and 3? Also, does anyone here make high quality cable like this that they would sell me? Thanks.
 
The difference in length between the 2 cables will make no difference.
 
Raw-Tracks said:
The difference in length between the 2 cables will make no difference.
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Yup. But in your case I'd probably buy 2 6's, since if your setup changes that 3' might not work out.
 
mshilarious said:
Yup. But in your case I'd probably buy 2 6's, since if your setup changes that 3' might not work out.
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Sheesh. The shortest cable I have is probably 10'. I can't imagine a three foot XLR cable. Almost 100% of the cost of the cable would be tied up in the connectors. :D

And those ten footers are just about too short to be useful....
 
I would default with two 6 foot cables. Keeping things equal will minimize any phase issues that might occur because of differing lengths.

Bob the Mod Guy
 
You may have to search for a while, but I read a good analysis of the physics of audio-over-wire that suggested there won't be any time alignment issues with cables of differing length until the long cable is hundreds of feet long. Audio-thru-air of course is different!
 
Also, three-conductor (TRS) cables are going to eliminate your laptop-interference issues. And I'll wager you won't be able to tell the difference between ProCo and Monster cable unless you have a fully tuned room and golden ears.
 
aaronlyon said:
You may have to search for a while, but I read a good analysis of the physics of audio-over-wire that suggested there won't be any time alignment issues with cables of differing length until the long cable is hundreds of feet long. Audio-thru-air of course is different!
Click to expand...

I'll second that. :eek:
 
aaronlyon said:
You may have to search for a while, but I read a good analysis of the physics of audio-over-wire that suggested there won't be any time alignment issues with cables of differing length until the long cable is hundreds of feet long. Audio-thru-air of course is different!
Click to expand...

For a delay long enough to actually hear, it's more like hundreds of -miles-, though you might get some slight phase issues in the high frequencies if they differed by only single digit miles. Hundreds of feet won't even shift a single sample.... :D

I'm too tired to dig for the speed of wave propagation in copper. Easier to just approximate with the speed of light (which Google knows) and knock the speed off by about 30% (or somewhere in that general vacinity). You'll be close enough for government work, anyway.

If it were light, a 100 foot difference in distance would get you a half wave for a signal at 4.9 MHz (or a whole wave at 9.8 MHz). For cable, it's probably more in the range of 3-3.5 Mhz. Somewhere in there. Way beyond your sampling rate, anyway, ergo undetectable by the best audio gear out there (except in terms of the signal loss and added noise of such a long cable).
 
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