Does size (length) matter?

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SillySillyStacy

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Ok I hope that might have gotten someones attention LOL
I know that length does matter to some (no comment) but my question is this..... I have cables run from my mixer's main outs to an EQ and then into the power amp. I am using all XLR ends on the cables. The cables from the board to the eq are 20' and the cables from the EQ to the power amp are 10' I know sometimes it is bad to have long cables in certain situations (I forget what I was told) but are mine too long?
Does size really matter? LOL
 
SillySillyStacy said:
Ok I hope that might have gotten someones attention LOL
I know that length does matter to some (no comment) but my question is this..... I have cables run from my mixer's main outs to an EQ and then into the power amp. I am using all XLR ends on the cables. The cables from the board to the eq are 20' and the cables from the EQ to the power amp are 10' I know sometimes it is bad to have long cables in certain situations (I forget what I was told) but are mine too long?
Does size really matter? LOL

No. XLRs are low impedance cables. You should be able to have very long cable runs without a loss of signal. Since the signal here is already amplified it should not be an issue at all. The quality of cable is more important.
 
Since the XLR cables are balanced you also shouldn't have too much trouble with noise. This is more an issue with long runs of unbalanced cable like guitar leads.
 
How did I know guys would say size didnt matter LOL
KIDDING!!!
Thank you SO much for the info!!!

Stacy
 
length of cable will start giving you problems when getting into digital, i believe. especially using light pipe or fiber optic cables.
 
I tend to want my chain as short as possible, no matter what cables I am using. I have 20' cords, but tend to use the 6' instead. Even my XLR cables are shorter ones. Sure they are shielded and offer you noise protection, but I've always been told to keep the signal path as short as possible. Or employ a noisegate, which can alter your sound a bit.
 
One of my vocal mic xlr cable in my studio from the booth is around 60 feet I guess, and never had any problem with it (I have a pretty thick one). As long as it is xlr it is fine. when it comes to digital cables anything above 10 feet is not recommended, siince it is all 1s and 0s even if we miss a bit we are screwed, so be careful in digital cable lengths. I run a lot of 100 feet (thin wire) snakes in the Church and they all work without a problem, so I hope size and length doesnt matter as long as they are shielded and balanced.
 
Jeyan said:
when it comes to digital cables anything above 10 feet is not recommended, siince it is all 1s and 0s even if we miss a bit we are screwed, so be careful in digital cable lengths.

Guess it depends on what kind of digital cable. Firewire (with repeaters) allows up to 72 meters (236 feet) between nodes... or up to 1,000 feet using multimode fiber and appropriate transceivers. 10 feet? :rolleyes:
 
PhilGood said:
No. XLRs are low impedance cables. You should be able to have very long cable runs without a loss of signal. Since the signal here is already amplified it should not be an issue at all. The quality of cable is more important.

Well, it's really the source of the signal that is high or low impedance. The cable itself, whether instrument/line cable or speaker cable essentially has 0 impedance. But yes, SillySillyStacy won't have any problems. :)
 
boingoman said:
Well, it's really the source of the signal that is high or low impedance. The cable itself, whether instrument/line cable or speaker cable essentially has 0 impedance. But yes, SillySillyStacy won't have any problems. :)


Ah! Yes, yes! I stand corrected! It IS the signal and not the cable. I believe in this case most mixers treat XLR ins/outs as low impedance. I better look that up, though.
 
PhilGood said:
Ah! Yes, yes! I stand corrected! It IS the signal and not the cable. I believe in this case most mixers treat XLR ins/outs as low impedance. I better look that up, though.

Whoops-forgot to mention that. Yes, most XLR stuff will be low impedance.
 
My snake is pretty thick and long, and I've never had any complaints about signal degradation. It can be daunting to some, so see such a coiled beast, especially when they have to carry its' burden, but my snake has served me well.
 
i was hopping' to be to get the best pun post but after yours cellar im not even gunna try
 
And i waited for awhile for the "pun" LOL
It was very good too.... The pun..... AND the info LOL

Thanks for the help
 
Hey, I was waiting too.

Finally, I could no longer suppress my inner, tourette syndrome afflicted child.
 
sigh....silly, silly stacy {{shakes head}}

and silly silly cellar
 
i don't even remember whare i heard this but
xlr runs are fine up to about 100 feet
 
giraffe said:
i don't even remember whare i heard this but
xlr runs are fine up to about 100 feet

When I get the runs, that's about how far I can make it.
 
giraffe said:
i don't even remember whare i heard this but
xlr runs are fine up to about 100 feet

i would think they would run even further than 100. in giant live shows the snakes usually run even further than that.
 
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