Speaker Cables or Instrument Cables for Active Near-Field Monitors?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jonslaten
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J

jonslaten

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Good morning-

Ok here's my setup for starters.

Pro Tools 8.03
Mbox 2
MacBook Pro 10.5.8 (2.4 ghz 4 gigs ram)
LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk 1 TB FireWire 400/800/eSATA

Wharfedale Diamond Pro Active Monitors 100 Watts---1x XLR-1/4 jack combo (Balanced) 1x phono (Unbalanced)
Been using Digitech TS Unbalanced Cables from MBox2 to Monitors.

Ok, since my Wharfedale monitors are Active and the user manual does not mention that I have to use speaker cables for them, what would be the better choice, balanced or unbalanced 1/4 cables? Sounds like a dumb question I know. But I have been using Digitech TS unbalanced cables since I bought them a few months ago. Has the quality of my monitoring been effected by using Unbalanced Cables? Maybe someone can shed some light on this topic for me. I bought most of my equipment from reading up on many different forums, but never came across this specific topic yet.
Many thanks!

Jon
 
The difference between balanced TRS and unbalanced TS isn't so much going to be in a degradation of sound quality of the signal itself, it would be in an addition of external noise to the signal.

If you've been using the 1/4" unbalanced cables so far and you're not hearing any noise, you're probably OK to continue with what you have. But if you start hearing electrical hum or RF noise from your computer or other such external interference creeping in to your signal, then switching to the balanced cable would be in order.

Either way, though, I'd stay away from the RCA phono cable option and stick with the 1/4" option.

G.
 
Thanks for the advice G. Nothing has been creeping into the signal. I posted this cause I keep hearing that I need speaker cables for the monitors. But if they're active, then there's no point in needing cables that will withstand a lot of Amperage, cause the TS cables are not carrying the juice to power them.
 
You most definitely do not want speaker cables. It's not a speaker-level signal. There's already speaker cable between the amplifiers and the speakers in the monitors.
 
jonslaten said:
Thanks for the advice G. Nothing has been creeping into the signal. I posted this cause I keep hearing that I need speaker cables for the monitors. But if they're active, then there's no point in needing cables that will withstand a lot of Amperage, cause the TS cables are not carrying the juice to power them.
Click to expand...
Both you and Massive are right. "Speaker cables" are for signals coming out of a power amplifier to drive a passive loudspeaker. In your case, the power amps are built into the loudspeaker cabinets, so all you need and want are line-level-class cables.

Think of it like this; you're not feeding the loudspeakers with them, you're feeding the amplifiers instead. The "connection" between the amplifiers and the loudspeakers are built into the loudspeaker cabinet.

G.

Off-Topic P.S. Speaking of loudspeakers, John, how are the "twin towers" working out for you?
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
But if you start hearing electrical hum or RF noise from your computer or other such external interference creeping in to your signal, then switching to the balanced cable would be in order.
Click to expand...

It won't matter, the Mbox 2 only has unbalanced monitor outputs anyway. TRS or TS should suit fine.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Off-Topic P.S. Speaking of loudspeakers, John, how are the "twin towers" working out for you?
Click to expand...
They've grown 4.67" (seriously - The bases arrived last week). Breaking in well. Still learning them though... No way to rush through that.
 
jonslaten said:
Good morning-

Ok here's my setup for starters.

Pro Tools 8.03
Mbox 2
MacBook Pro 10.5.8 (2.4 ghz 4 gigs ram)
LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk 1 TB FireWire 400/800/eSATA

Wharfedale Diamond Pro Active Monitors 100 Watts---1x XLR-1/4 jack combo (Balanced) 1x phono (Unbalanced)
Been using Digitech TS Unbalanced Cables from MBox2 to Monitors.



Jon
Click to expand...

How do you like your Wharfedale monitors? I got a set of the 8.2 diamond pro active monitors myself and i think they sound fairly good but i don't have anything to compare them to.

I've read some really old posts on here where they got mixed reviews but i wonder how they compare to some of the other more popular stuff within the same price range like the krk's.So far they seem to be a decent bang for the buck.
 
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I too don't have anything to compare them too. But I enjoy the flat response and I usually get pretty decent results from them. I really like the ability to cut the bass output if have too. Without the filter switch engaged, my mixes are always light on the bottom end. So it works.
 
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