Mogami 2534 Neglex Quad Cable balanced interconnects from Markertek - $50 for 2m pair

Do you have this feeling when listening to your favorite recordings which have likely been made using hundreds of meters of such cable?


Metralla,

Another, slightly more expensive cable to consider is made by van den Hul:

http://www.vandenhul.nl/p_B89.aspx

This cable was developed in conjunction with the old Philips Classics recording center in Baarn, The Netherlands, and is still used by Polyhymnia (which is what Philips Classics became) on all their classical SACD recordings. Single runs of Mic Hybrid (10m-15m in length) run from the microphones to multi-pole boxes, and then Big Mic cable:

http://www.vandenhul.nl/p_B80.aspx

is used to run 8 audio channels back to their custom analog mixers. As ROLO46 pointed out, it is not uncommon for these Big Mic runs to be 50m-100m, depending on the proximity of whatever room can be used for monitoring to the concert hall.

This photo shows the single cables running from the microphones to the multi-pole which is built into the reel of bright blue Big Mic cable in the bottom left:



Given the very high quality of Polyhymnia's recordings, I think you'll find the cable will work well over a distance of 2m. Cost will be slightly more than the Mogami you have now.

 

When Westrex was installing Sound Stages in Hollywood in the late 20's it was common practice to mix audio on the studio floor and send to a central record room which could be half a mile away or more.
This was at mic level.
Balanced cable configuration dates from this time in recording and telecoms (who needed interference free signal alongside electric train tracks)
Cables then were lead shrouded and under ground, but it shows what could be done with engineering and proper connectors, not snake oil.

 

I have been using Mogami cables ever since a recording engineer friend told me they are his go to cheap cables. He told me he has miles of the stuff in his recording studio, so I figured if it is good enough for him in a studio it should be good enough for me. I use the shielded cable in two very sensitive areas in my system, first on my TT to my pre-amp; and secondly on my reel to reel decks I take the signal directly from the playback head bypassing all internal electronics in the decks and send it to a pre setup for tape only. I find the Mogami cable very smooth and without and added coloration good stuff and it works for me!!!

Jay

 

When you start talking historical use of balanced, remember to factor in that the use then was always also in loaded and terminated situations. When it's running at 600-900 ohms, you have current flowing. When you're running into a 30,000 - 100,000+ ohm load, you have all but no current flow, only voltage. This means the terminations, the solder, the dielectric material etc. all matter much more!

I've installed and used thousands upon thousands of feet of Belden rubber jacketed mic cable over the years and always figured the construction meant it was pretty good for balanced runs, though maybe overkill. Much to my surprise a few years ago, in a comparison between 3 balanced cables at line level between preamp and amplifiers, 3 of us listening all chose it as the worst of the lot! Obviously gritty and inferior in sound, very easy to pick out! So just because it's made for pro use and common, be careful assuming it's a safe bet. And to me that showed that being balanced doesn't negate cabling. Oh...that was running 600 ohm matched too.

CJ

 

Can you factor the price into that 3-way comparison?

 

Short runs single end into hi impedence may be good in a clean EMI/RF environment
However this is unlikely nowadays
Especially in the US, where clean mains seems problematic, and power conditioning deemed essential.
Newer balanced circuits have shield
Hot
Ground
Rather than balanced polarity signals.

 

None were purchased assemblies, so can't help too much there.

One was a manufactured locally for a famous name, well known company and given to a friend of the guy putting them together. It is a longer run size and belongs to a friend of mine. Since he didn't purchase it....don't know a real value but it'd be up there a way...in the several hundred dollar neighborhood.

The second is one I made several years ago, just to have around. It's a quad kind of design in a bright blue plastic sort of jacket. No marking on the exterior to refresh my memory as to brand. I terminated with the gold pin Neutrik.

And then the third being the Belden rubber jacket typical mic cable (don't recall the part number) and again using the nice Neutrik's.

All three are around 18-20 feet long.


Rolo...I wouldn't consider the psudo-balanced your talking about as newer. That's just a way to avoid part of the balanced circuitry. If your talking about the send end being that way, then as long as the recieve end is truly balanced, then you still get the same common mode rejection. Nothing wrong with that...other than less voltage than would have otherwise increased the S/N.

CJ

 

Cool, so Mogami is good stuff. Thanks for the info provided here!

 

Oh, and is the Neglex better than the Gold or Platinum?

 

Dave,

The Mogami Gold 25 foot run with balanced XLR connectors uses the Neglex 2534 cable. There are also sellers on eBay, for example, who can make single-ended RCA interconnects out of the same cable. Just search for mogami 2534 rca and you should see some results...

Try 'em out first before you sell your current cables!