Which XLR & RCA cables are you using with Emotiva products?

[ccw10]

Hey all.
Would like some suggestions from persons with personal experience as to which XLR or RCA cables you are using with Emotiva Amp/Pre-Amp.
Currently I have Emotiva XPA Gen 3 amp and XSP-1 pre-amp connected with the Emotiva X Series XLR interconnects. They work OK but I feel that they are actually somewhat restrictive. I did try the Kimber PBJ XLRs between Amp/Pre but soundstage became way too forward and system sounded very bright with my B&W speakers.
I'm looking to spend under $400-$500 for the XLR Interconnects.
Also anyone who has had good results with specific RCA Interconnects & specific Speaker Cables with Emotiva amp/pre-amp and CD, SACD, Digital Transport would be helpful.
I'm sure there is no set solution and of course there are many variables but certain cables do well with certain components and I'm hoping that there are specific cables that work well with Emotiva products.
Thanks for any replies.

[brutiarti]

XLR and RCA cables from Monoprice, bestbang for the buck

[405x5]

Dec 20, 2016 11:12:41 GMT -5 ccw10 said:

Then you have perfect cables, well engineered, solid connection.

Nothing to be done there will alter the sound as you describe.

Keep the cables, look to room acoustics, and treatments. Distances and eq. etc. No cables other than what you have will alter the sound in any way unless you have one that's defective.

Bill

[ccw10]

Yea, I'm currently using Signal power cables on all of my components and SP4 Marrow speaker cables and RCA Interconnects. At some point I'd like all speaker/interconnects to be from the same cable manufacturer.

[405x5]

Dec 20, 2016 11:28:43 GMT -5 ccw10 said:

Yea, I'm currently using Signal power cables on all of my components and SP4 Marrow speaker cables and RCA Interconnects. At some point I'd like all speaker/interconnects to be from the same cable manufacturer.

Why?

[LuisV]

Be prepared for a ton of opinions on cables, esoteric boutique high priced vs standard cable. To make a long story short, I originally used Kimber Kable RCA and speaker cables and found no audible difference between them and standard, but quality made, copper, RCA, XLR cables.  Just my opinion and experience.

I've been using Canare 4S11 speaker cable purchased through Bluejeans cables as well as custom made Mogami XLR snakes in my system. I have a 2 channel and 5 channel snake in custom lengths to fit between my XMC-1 and amps... I went with snakes to cut down on cable clutter. Here's a generic picture of what mine look like:



I've never tried them, but Emotiva sells XLR snakes now.

emotiva.com/products/e-connects/xlr-snake

For HDMI I have a Monoprice Redmere cable from XMC-1 to projector and use Belden Bonded-Pair from Bluejeans for everything else.

www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/hdmi-cable.htm

[Loop 7]

Blue Jeans Cable

[LuisV]

Forgot to mention... I'm using Monoprice in-wall 14G speaker cable for surrounds and their in-wall speaker cable for my DIY sub. Between my XMC-1, miniDSP and sub amps, I'm using Mogami RCA cables.

[trinhsman]

Since cables don't make a difference, I use twisted coat hangers hooked up to Radio Shack RCA's for my interconnects. For my speaker wire, the neighbor down the street bails hay and he gave me some bailing wire.😜😜😜😜😜😜
Didn't I just open the perverbial can of worms.

[repeetavx]

+1 for Blue Jeans Cables.

After using Analysis Plus Solo Crystal interconnects

I can attest to the fact that they both sound virtually, if not actually, identical.

Speaker wire on the other hand...

[Casey Leedom]

I'm using Kopul Premier Quad Pro 5000 Series from B&H Photo. Cheap and high quality. They have a very nice XLR page that's worth a visit.

Casey

[ccw10]

I should have mentioned that my system is strictly 2 channel.
Using the Signal & Morrow cables as they were recommended by a friend.
I have also read that as long as cables are well engineered, you probably won't see too much difference between different brands.
However, from my experience, between the amp and pre-amp XLRs make a huge difference over the RCAs. The XLRs are way more efficient and I believe this could be true with various brands of cables as well. My comparison is between very decent RCA and the Emotiva & Kimber XLRs.
Marrow produces additional "runs" of copper wire with each "grade" of their product. It sounds reasonable that more wire means more efficient, to a point. Sure there is a lot of hype and many snake oil salesmen selling products that make little or no difference.
But a lot of people have spent a lot of time (and money) fine tuning their stereo systems with cables. There must be "something" there!??!

I should have mentioned again that the difference between the Emotiva XLR & Kimber PBJ XLR Interconnect between my Amp & Pre-Amp was very obvious and immediately noticeable as described above.

[405x5]

Dec 20, 2016 12:34:45 GMT -5 trinhsman said:

Since cables don't make a difference, I use twisted coat hangers hooked up to Radio Shack RCA's for my interconnects. For my speaker wire, the neighbor down the street bails hay and he gave me some bailing wire.😜😜😜😜😜😜
Didn't I just open the perverbial can of worms.

Perfect 🐓🐄!
Just make sure the bail wire is cow 🐮 turd 💩 free....the stuff smells nasty when the heat kicks on

Bill

[405x5]

[quote author="ccw10" "The XLRs are way more efficient"[


]
Not a chance of this

[LuisV]

Dec 20, 2016 12:57:33 GMT -5 ccw10 said:

I should have mentioned again that the difference between the Emotiva XLR & Kimber PBJ XLR Interconnect between my Amp & Pre-Amp was very obvious and immediately noticeable as described above.

Just curious... you and a friend or group of friends performed and noticed a difference during a blind and level matched audition?  

[beardedalbatross]

Dec 20, 2016 12:57:33 GMT -5 ccw10 said:

I should have mentioned again that the difference between the Emotiva XLR & Kimber PBJ XLR Interconnect between my Amp & Pre-Amp was very obvious and immediately noticeable as described above.

Either your Emotiva cables were defective or this is placebo from beginning to end. If you really believe you can hear a difference there, then try a blind audition where someone else is switching the cables. If you can still hear the difference, then call up some local University professors because they will want to hear about this breakthrough.

Hopefully that wasn't too snarky.

[Gary Cook]

I use Emotiva XLR cables, great quality for the price, which is of course trademark Emotiva. They most definitely follow the Emotiva philosophy (that appears in all of their products) of not "colouring" the sound, they are transparent, in that what goes in is what comes out. Some cable manufacturers, particularly the high priced ones, deliberately introduce resistance, impedance, capacitance etc into their cables to change the sound, so that what goes in is different to what comes out. Some people cycle though cables until they find a set that gives a sound that they they like. Which means something else in their system was giving a sound that they didn't like and they are using the cables to correct that. Like using 2 wrongs in an attempt to make 1 right, which we all know doesn't work. It's a band aid, the sore is still there underneath it. Much better to fix the real problem rather than cover it up.

For completeness, some (most) tube products are very sensitive to resistance, impedance and capacitance in cables, solid state gear not so much.

Cheers
Gary

[novisnick]

Dec 20, 2016 14:00:53 GMT -5 beardedalbatross said:

Dec 20, 2016 12:57:33 GMT -5 ccw10 said:

I should have mentioned again that the difference between the Emotiva XLR & Kimber PBJ XLR Interconnect between my Amp & Pre-Amp was very obvious and immediately noticeable as described above.

Either your Emotiva cables were defective or this is placebo from beginning to end. If you really believe you can hear a difference there, then try a blind audition where someone else is switching the cables. If you can still hear the difference, then call up some local University professors because they will want to hear about this breakthrough.

Hopefully that wasn't too snarky.

Been there, Done that.
A very dear friend has a set of cables and wrote what he thought the characteristics of said cables and what he heard and then loaned them to me. With NO discloser of his thoughts about these cables we came to very very similar conclusions, if not exact.
Yes, they sounded different then other cables  I/we've listened to. 

I cant explain the science but the reports we wrote about these cables were too similar to call it a fluke.

[sahmen]

Tried out a level 3 Anticables AES/EBU cable to connect my ERC-3 and YGGY, and the experience was seriously underwhelming! I was flirting with the idea of trying out their level 4 XLR cables between the YGGY and pre-amp, but I lost interest. Ditto for a Shunyata Zitron Python AES/EBU cable I was going to try...

However, I have had some excellent results with Norne Audio headphone cables, especially, the Silvergarde S on my Hifiman He-1000, and the Draug v2 on the Hifiman He-6. The difference these two cables have made as compared to the stock cables, is quite substantial, and can be identified in any AB testing (at least to my ears, no question : I seem to have developed nearly allergic physiological reactions to the stock cables since receiving the Norne aftermarket cables, and any kind of testing produces the same differences)... I am going to experiment next with some Norne XLR cables... We shall have to wait and see what differences (if any) those would make...

If any one has any experiences they can share with the following cables (standard XLR or AES/EBU), I would really appreciate that :

Anticables XLR and AES/EBU cables (Levels 3, 4, or higher)

Shunyata Zitron Python AES/EBU

Norne Audio Silvergarde "SC" flagship XLR...

By the way the standard XLR and AES/EBU cables I normally use are all from Monoprice, and I have never regretted any of them, or felt that they are in some way under par.

[Casey Leedom]

There are also some different designs of XLR cables. For instance Pangea XLR cables:

Balanced – XLR audio cables were originally designed for the professional music industry where long cable runs are the norm. They feature three internal conductors plus an outer shield. One conductor carries the positive signal, another the negative signal and the third that grounds to the two circuits on either end together. This design provides superior RFI and EMI shielding and promotes greater signal integrity between electronic components.

Noticing that an increasing number of high-end audio manufacturers were featuring balanced connectors on their gear, audio design guru, Jay Victor, set out to create an affordable balanced cable that was superior to anything in it's price class.

"Watch out for cheaply made XLR-terminated audio cables," warns Jay. "Some manufacturers 'cheat' by using only two conductors in their cable and then using the cable's braided shield for both circuit grounding and shielding. This is not a true 'balanced' cable."

I had thought that the grounding of the shield on an XLR cable was an important feature that the Faraday Cage it offers, but doing a bit of research and hearkening back to second quarter E&M Physics, the Faraday Cage creates a zone where external Electric Fields have Zero Potential inside, regardless of whether they're grounded or not. Still, this is a rather novel design that no other cable manufacturer follows as far as I know. And they're heinously expensive compared to the more affordable XLR cables we've been discussing.

Casey