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Post by knucklehead on Mar 14, 2018 18:35:48 GMT -5
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Post by Cogito on Mar 14, 2018 18:53:14 GMT -5
I'm a big fan of Knukonceptz' Krystal Kables. Attractive, exceptional build quality, flexible and for the price, a steal! It's all I'll use now. Krystal Kable
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Post by Loop 7 on Mar 14, 2018 19:47:53 GMT -5
Blue Jeans owner? A former hi-end intellectual propety attorney who WELCOMED the lawsuit which never, apparently, went any further than an exchange of letters. When I learned about Monster's nearly endless practice of filing lawsuits, it was clear they were a litigation company first with audio technology a distant second. Love the Blue Jeans story as well and so happy with their products.
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Mar 14, 2018 20:15:49 GMT -5
Since you already have the Monster Cables - just use them. They should be just fine. FYI, the ONLY issue I ever have had with cables and an Emotiva product is that I have found that certain cables appear to have internal issues that result in 1 or more channels showing a red light on my XPA-5 Gen1. I only had that happen with some cables I picked up at Best Buy in a pinch, and then some others I got on line. Can't recall which brand those were. So, if you install them and you get a channel or more going "red light" - try a different cable. Mark For RCA, I can't think of a reason for them NOT working. For Balanced / XLR, a couple different ways exist to wire them which if mixed might result in no-go. Not all builders use the same wiring for balanced. I think everyone agrees that Pin#1 is ground, but Pin#2 / Pin#3 can be either Pos or Neg, depending on builder. The first ones I referred to were RCA's and I couldn't think of a reason why either - aside from being defective internally from something I couldn't see. But, they simply didn't work and kept triggering at least 1-2 channels of red lights. I swapped them out with some cheapos that had come with some old DVD player or TV and the cheapos worked. Switched back to the others and - boom, red lights on 1-2 channels. If I moved the cable from the red light channel to another channel - the red light moved with the cable. The 2nd ones were XLR. And, oddly enough - they'd work often for a day or so, then start triggering the red lights. Again, the light moved with the cable (but again - not always immediately...sometimes immediately, sometimes in 5 minutes or an hour, sometimes in a day). Mark
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Post by AudioHTIT on Mar 15, 2018 7:30:47 GMT -5
Component video cables make excellent analog cables as well, and ... they come in threes, perfect for an XPA-3. Here’s a shot of a couple 6 foot sets from Blue Jeans Cables, great cable, connectors, and finish. PM if interested.
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Post by 405x5 on Mar 15, 2018 8:28:58 GMT -5
Man, I HATE Monster. The 'head monster' is a real litagator, having sued many companies with 'monster' in the letterhead. He even tried getting Blue Jeans to stop selling something AND pay him a royality for some kind of design infringement. Blue Jeans owner? A former hi-end intellectual propety attorney who WELCOMED the lawsuit which never, apparently, went any further than an exchange of letters. www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/On this basis, and the fact that Monster has HUGE markups and predatory practices, I have excluded them from further consideration. Yeah....I get what you’re sayin. Monster has made MANY stupid claims over the years and have perpetuated many of the same lies the even higher tier outfits had put out there. Yet, their basic and middle of the road wires are fine quality, or at least were, last time I looked. These days I would not buy from them with today’s competitors but 16 years ago, it was a good choice for some of their stuff. Bill
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Mar 15, 2018 9:41:16 GMT -5
There are a few reasons why a cable might cause one of our amps to go into protect... First off, our protection is quite fussy about loose connections and loose grounds... Second, some RCA cables have unusual ground connections... they may lift the ground at one end, or use an ungrounded shield, or do some odd scheme with multiple twisted pairs. We have run into a few "audiophile cables" that cause problems (although I can't point to a specific brand whose cables tend to have problems... except perhaps Acoustic research.) Third, it's also possible that what's triggering the protection is actually noise being picked up by the cable, and the cables that have problems simply have poor shielding. Fourth..... it's possible (but unlikely) that a really unusual cable could cause the source component to oscillate or otherwise act strangely... which could then trigger our protection. (This is not uncommon with speaker cables... but not at all common with interconnects.) And, of course, it could simply be a bad cable. Any sort of loose connection that would cause a "crackle" or "crunch" when you wiggle or bump the cable will probably cause our amp to go into protect. For RCA, I can't think of a reason for them NOT working. For Balanced / XLR, a couple different ways exist to wire them which if mixed might result in no-go. Not all builders use the same wiring for balanced. I think everyone agrees that Pin#1 is ground, but Pin#2 / Pin#3 can be either Pos or Neg, depending on builder. The first ones I referred to were RCA's and I couldn't think of a reason why either - aside from being defective internally from something I couldn't see. But, they simply didn't work and kept triggering at least 1-2 channels of red lights. I swapped them out with some cheapos that had come with some old DVD player or TV and the cheapos worked. Switched back to the others and - boom, red lights on 1-2 channels. If I moved the cable from the red light channel to another channel - the red light moved with the cable. The 2nd ones were XLR. And, oddly enough - they'd work often for a day or so, then start triggering the red lights. Again, the light moved with the cable (but again - not always immediately...sometimes immediately, sometimes in 5 minutes or an hour, sometimes in a day). Mark
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Mar 15, 2018 12:11:49 GMT -5
There are a few reasons why a cable might cause one of our amps to go into protect... First off, our protection is quite fussy about loose connections and loose grounds... Second, some RCA cables have unusual ground connections... they may lift the ground at one end, or use an ungrounded shield, or do some odd scheme with multiple twisted pairs. We have run into a few "audiophile cables" that cause problems (although I can't point to a specific brand whose cables tend to have problems... except perhaps Acoustic research.) Third, it's also possible that what's triggering the protection is actually noise being picked up by the cable, and the cables that have problems simply have poor shielding. Fourth..... it's possible (but unlikely) that a really unusual cable could cause the source component to oscillate or otherwise act strangely... which could then trigger our protection. (This is not uncommon with speaker cables... but not at all common with interconnects.) And, of course, it could simply be a bad cable. Any sort of loose connection that would cause a "crackle" or "crunch" when you wiggle or bump the cable will probably cause our amp to go into protect. The first ones I referred to were RCA's and I couldn't think of a reason why either - aside from being defective internally from something I couldn't see. But, they simply didn't work and kept triggering at least 1-2 channels of red lights. I swapped them out with some cheapos that had come with some old DVD player or TV and the cheapos worked. Switched back to the others and - boom, red lights on 1-2 channels. If I moved the cable from the red light channel to another channel - the red light moved with the cable. The 2nd ones were XLR. And, oddly enough - they'd work often for a day or so, then start triggering the red lights. Again, the light moved with the cable (but again - not always immediately...sometimes immediately, sometimes in 5 minutes or an hour, sometimes in a day). Mark Now that you mention it, the RCA's that triggered were AR's, if I recall correctly. Mark
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Post by gus4emo on Mar 15, 2018 12:14:47 GMT -5
hello, I'm planning on getting an XPA3, Question is which RCA cables to get? Audioquest is over priced and almost everything is sold in pairs. I do have a nice set of Monster R/B/G RCA that were on the cable box before it went to HDMI. This seams like my best option as a three channel amp would need the three RCA. Or is there a good single cable I can get. I use Mediabridge coax.
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Post by knucklehead on Mar 15, 2018 13:44:58 GMT -5
I remember when I bought my first amp from Emotiva. A big beautiful UPA-7. When I first connected it up one channel went into protect mode right off. I disconnected the RCA running to that channel but it remained in protect mode - one red LED on solid. After checking and rechecking everything I could think of I switched the speaker leads for the front mains. And the fault followed the front right speaker! So I removed the speaker leads and examined them carefully. I found some discoloration so I stripped the wire back and re-installed. Working perfect after that. All it took was a small bit of contamination of the wire! Those wires had been installed for a couple of years and had not been disturbed. The AVR I was using at the time was an HK525 - never had a problem with it going into protect mode. The Emotiva amps are quite sensitive - and IMO that's a good thing!
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Post by geeqner on Mar 15, 2018 14:13:12 GMT -5
Our local dealer turned me on to Mogami source cables
As an Engineer (EE Background) I do not buy into the ultra-expensive "snake-oil" stuff. But I DO believe in using cables with QUALITY terminal ends, proper gauge and impedance for the use, and good shielding practices.
So, I would heartily recommend the less costly Mogami stuff (they also make high-end expensive stuff). From what I understand, the garden-variety Mogami cables are popular with people in the Broadcast Engineering (Radio / TV Studio) community. I fijjer that if it's good enough for THEM, it's good enough for ME. I first used one of their cables on my new CD Player (Yamaha Changer) and got better throughput and "blacker" (less noise) in the quiet parts.
The Mogamis "check all of the boxes" in what I'm looking for at around 30 bucks for a 3-foot pair. When connecting a quality source to a quality Amp - you don't want to go too deep into the "cheapo" category (I tossed my old, thin, grey cables with the small molded-in grey and red or black / white tinny connectors - You know the ones - the "gimmes" that they give you with the 1980's-era tape deck / cheap CD Deck. In general - those are "junk".)
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Mar 15, 2018 14:19:30 GMT -5
Monoprice/least expensive AQ/emotiva/bluejeans.
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Post by leonski on Mar 15, 2018 16:37:18 GMT -5
Our local dealer turned me on to Mogami source cables As an Engineer (EE Background) I do not buy into the ultra-expensive "snake-oil" stuff. But I DO believe in using cables with QUALITY terminal ends, proper gauge and impedance for the use, and good shielding practices. So, I would heartily recommend the less costly Mogami stuff (they also make high-end expensive stuff). From what I understand, the garden-variety Mogami cables are popular with people in the Broadcast Engineering (Radio / TV Studio) community. I fijjer that if it's good enough for THEM, it's good enough for ME. I first used one of their cables on my new CD Player (Yamaha Changer) and got better throughput and "blacker" (less noise) in the quiet parts. The Mogamis "check all of the boxes" in what I'm looking for at around 30 bucks for a 3-foot pair. When connecting a quality source to a quality Amp - you don't want to go too deep into the "cheapo" category (I tossed my old, thin, grey cables with the small molded-in grey and red or black / white tinny connectors - You know the ones - the "gimmes" that they give you with the 1980's-era tape deck / cheap CD Deck. In general - those are "junk".) I have Mogami Studio Gold balanced from DAC to Preamp. about 95$ 'the pair'. Guitar Center is a good source for these. I can't prove but suspect that Mogami is in more studios than ANY other single brand.
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Post by geeqner on Mar 15, 2018 17:14:40 GMT -5
Yup! Based on my experience with their more basic, unbalanced stuff - I'll probably stick with their BALANCED stuff when I get-around to upgrading my Pre-Amp to the XSP-1 (or whatever replaces it by then) and the ERC-3 or CD-100 CD Player that I'm also semi-lusting after.
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Post by leonski on Mar 16, 2018 18:10:36 GMT -5
Yup! Based on my experience with their more basic, unbalanced stuff - I'll probably stick with their BALANCED stuff when I get-around to upgrading my Pre-Amp to the XSP-1 (or whatever replaces it by then) and the ERC-3 or CD-100 CD Player that I'm also semi-lusting after. 2 types of balanced gear. REAL balanced has such circuitry internally from IN to OUT. These make best use of balanced cables / connections. The other system is to 'convert' single ended back and forth. In this system, a balanced cable in is internally converted to single ended THAN back to balanced as an out. The real edge group notes a sonic penalty when doing multiple conversions from balanced to single ended and back.
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Post by novisnick on Mar 18, 2018 14:12:48 GMT -5
I use a either of Emotiva or Zu interconnects in my systems. Both are most competent but the Zu is much more hansom.
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andyo
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Post by andyo on Mar 18, 2018 23:52:36 GMT -5
I buy Mogami 2549 balanced microphone cable in bulk and make interconnects myself. The construction of the cable is very similar to Mogami Gold. The price is 92 cents/foot. A decent RCA connector costs $5 - $10/pc (I use Neutrik balanced connectors). The cables sound very clean and neutral.
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Post by RichGuy on Mar 19, 2018 0:16:46 GMT -5
I buy Mogami 2549 balanced microphone cable in bulk and make interconnects myself. The construction of the cable is very similar to Mogami Gold. The price is 92 cents/foot. A decent RCA connector costs $5 - $10/pc (I use Neutrik balanced connectors). The cables sound very clean and neutral. Yes my favorite too, Mogami wire with Neutrik balanced XLR's and for RCA's there are a few nice quality connectors to choose from. Making your own cables is great but when you lack that capability and don't want to make your own I'd recommend Pro Audio LA, they will make to order high quality custom length cables exactly as you need using Mogami wire and Neutrik connectors for extremely nice cables at very reasonable prices. Pro Audio LA link
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Post by vcautokid on Mar 19, 2018 5:19:48 GMT -5
The opinions on what RCA interconnects to use here could fill this server. The simple fact is any properly shielded RCA cable is going to work. Any of the exotic scheme ones mentioned here not so much necessarily.
I have been selling audio for many years and could get any cable I wanted and did. Did it perform any different? Nope. Whether in my project studio or audio gear in my other room RCA and XLR balanced interconnects never beyond cables you can get from anywhere. Monoprice, Hosa, Amazon Basics, Blue Jean cable etc. work just fine.
Anything exotic is just spending more money than you need too. Emotiva has some cables on clearance if they aren't all gone yet, and they work great too. So if you want to make the connection, spend wisely, and on known science, not on promises the exotic manufacturers might make and cannot possibly deliver. As always, your mileage may vary.
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Post by localnet on Mar 19, 2018 6:01:46 GMT -5
Check out SVS cables too... Very nice, no issues with sound, well built, nice fit, not to tight and not lose. Using them with the Denon and XPA-2 and XPA-3 amps and USP-1. They have a nice variety of lengths too and I believe will make lengths to order if I remember correctly. But don't quote me on that.
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