XLR or RCA?

[someone]

helle i think that i am going to buy the XPA-2 and the XPA-5 and later on the XMC-1, but what cabel shold i use? the XLR or the RCA?

the XMC-1 will have 7 XLR outputs for every channel, just like the RCA, but what shold i go with? the difrent price dosent mater, if my Kef XQ40 will sound better then i will go with the XLR, it aint that big a difrence

thanks

[oppman99]

From what I understand, unless you are doing long cable runs, you shouldn't hear a difference between RCA and XLR. I think XLR generally is better shielded so less chance of interference.

[garret3037s]

I agree xlr have better shielded...
I am currently using Emo xlr to connect myxpa2...I likeitvery much
as soon as xsp1 is available... iwill also connect xrc1 with xsp1 using xlr cable

[wmykytiuk]

Even though people say you will not hear a difference until a certain length I will have to disagree. An XLR will give you more headroo with a proper preamp. If I understand headroom., with an XLR connection you will not have to turn the volume as much. I do not have an emotiva brand preamp as the XLR version xmc-1 is not out and just the RCA version umc-1 was finally released. I bought an Anthem AVM-50v which was a lot more but had everything I wanted. I was originally setup with emotiva RCA but returned them to go with xlr and the volume increased. I talked to a shop near me who I bought the preamp from and they stated that you can expect a 3DB+ gain from xlr. This is because of the balanced setup I was told but from my ears with RCA verses xlr could hear the difference. I do not care about the length of the cable but my reciever will do 6.45 vms over rca compared to 11.5 vms over xlr. quite a difference.

[someone]

so, then it has better shielding? just that makes me wana buy them insted. and if it is true that the gain is higher from the statrt that mens that i dont have to crank it up as high, and i will have a lower noise flor? or am i mistaking ?

[wmykytiuk]

My understanding of XLR is that since it has a send and return line any noise that is produced on the send line is also returned so noise is cancelled out. You will have more headroom so you will not need to crank it up as much.

[Raven]

Even 5' XLR cables make a difference in my setup:


XLR's didn't increase volume in my system but improved a sound stage.
Now with XLR cables I have same wide/deep sound stage on 10% lower vol compare with RCA cables.

[garret3037s]

greencup777,
how's your apogee cable sound??... I've thinking getting it...

[Raven]

Jan 13, 2010 0:42:54 GMT -5 garret3037s said:

greencup777,
how's your apogee cable sound??... I've thinking getting it...

It's sound great, but it only looks like Apogee, I did my speakers cables myself as well as XLRs.
It's "in house" made

[wmykytiuk]

Those cables look nice. I wish I had the skills to make my own cables like that.

I use to make my own car audio cables but those were cables tha didnt need to look good. Where do you find cool fabric for the wire cover?

[Raven]

Jan 13, 2010 22:52:24 GMT -5 wmykytiuk said:

Those cables look nice. I wish I had the skills to make my own cables like that.

I use to make my own car audio cables but those were cables tha didnt need to look good. Where do you find cool fabric for the wire cover?

Thanks, I like them to.
It's not exactly fabric actually it is stainless steel. Company where I'm working got equipment with way too long cable (12AWG copper wires/braided fiberglass insulation/braided stainless steel shield) and spare length was trimmed and scrapped so that's how I've got it. All I did just put some heat shrink tub and attached banana plugs:

On amp side Monster gold plated and on speaker side Valab rhodium plated

[gordon58]

I prefer XLR due to the shielding and the added headroom. I have several brands, but one of my favorites is Mogami Gold from The Guitar Center. I think they were about $30 a meter and a very accurate cable.

Gordon