New Mogami Cables

Thank you for the warm welcome.
Well no I do not have loads of experience with other cables and I have not heard a lot of other cables cables.
But before I bought them almost every where I read they stated that they were raved about by recording engineers for their neutrality and since most recording studios use them because of the neutrality I had to go by that.
But in my experience thus far with them I can say that they are indeed neutral.
My first example was my OOP Vinyl record by Nautilus 1/2 speed mastered Fleetwood Mac Rumors album and I heard her voice like I have nevfer heard it before I always thought that album sounded a little shallow but not any more.
I could hear stuff I did not even know was going on before.
All I can say with out any hesitation is that there is a real presence that was not there before Depth, Space, Quiet and the notes and vocals carry out further.

I wish I could do better in my review, all I can say to do is type in the name Mogami,
Add reviews, cables, etc each time it will yield different search results,
of course you will find that there are pros and cons about anything on the web but I found more pros than cons.
Especially for the price a good sounding cable that does not cost as much as my car.

 

The Mogami W2534 is Quad(4 conductor) mic cable, W2549 is 2 conductor mic cable and W2524 is a 1 conductor cable. Neutrik makes an RCA connector Profi NF2CB/2 which I've ordered but haven't come in yet.

 

Here's something that just occurred to me: my goal since joining this forum is to learn to be pleased by neutral reproduction, since in the end neutrality is going to give me the best results across the board.

Is that a possible or even desirable goal?

Back on topic: I use Mogami for my home studio mic cables. Like it a lot. Hum and noise seem lower in level, for one thing, and I'm also impressed by the clarity of the sound (with no frequency aberrations I can detect).

 

I found that since using the Mogami cable that the neutral sound is more to my liking.
Last night is when I really put them to the test, pushed the system to about 4800 watts and more.
And listened to the system with the EQ on and bypassed and no tone and my friends said it sounded amazingly clear and clean and the vocals were more legible than with the EQ on at those volumes ever before they all heard a direct improvements and they don't know anything about HiFi.

So I guess it all a matter of preference whether you like neutral sounding system.

 

brandon,
2400w bridged mono?, was it loud? What kind of custom speakers are you driving with those QSC's.

 

I've always beleived that neutrality is a deriable goal, because then what you hear is going to be controlled more by your source material rather than your equipment. However, as Steve pointed out, cables are only part of your system. Other components are likely to add more coloration than cables, particularly the speakers and room. So you have to deal with the system as a whole. And of course even the mastering is rarely neutral unless you get a flat transfer. Particular monitoring equipment in the recording studio may also skew the results in the recording. Putting together a synergistic system has always seemed like a crap shoot to me, so I just buy what I think sounds good and is reasonable from a design perspective and try to live with it. I'm not so rich that I can afford continual upgrades and even cable swapping. People like Tom Port (Humorem) will claim that you can't learn anything unless you are constantly changing your equipment. I should be so lucky.

 

soundQman,
Yeh, constantly changing your equipment and cables could get expensive and IC's aren't labeled with flavours but I guess you can make up or buy some Mogami cables fairly cheaply and later demo higher priced *audiophile* cables in your system. I borrowed a Cardas Golden Ref cable two weeks ago from my dealer(TT to phono pre) and could hear a difference over my Neutral Ref.

 

I've considered Mogami for pro audio applications (AES/EBU digital cable, 1/4" TRS insert cables, XLR balanced cable, etc.) when Monster Pro1000 was just too expensive. I do have a few of their products, which have a good performance/cost ratio.

But the key, I think, is what someone said about YOUR personal tastes in sound. The flattest, "neutral"sound isn't always the best. Like someone said, I,too,have some Monster M1000i interconnects which sound like a blanket was placed over the speaker. I use MIT because, with a laid-back speaker, like a Vandersteen or my ADSL1290, which have a soft high-end presentation, need cables to balance this out. MIT's are said to slightly exaggerate bass and treble. Some silver-content cables are claimed to be "brighter"-sounding, which wouldn't work well on a speaker with a pronounced top-end.

Although this isn't a cable discussion thread, different cables DO sound differently.

And if I'm on a budget, Mogami makes some decent cables for pro-applications.

In terms of construction, some items in that Mogami sales pitch are true. In working in high-end home-theater and car audio, I've found a major failure in cables is in the soldering of the cable to the connector. A cold soldered joint is just mechanically and electrically not making good contact. Silver-content solder is good. Shielding is more of an issue in a EMI/RFI bad environment like a car or a studio. But in car audio, no amount of shielding or specialized cables can totally fix ground loops, cables layout or a poor installation.

 

I am glad you did not get the monster. Monster's pro audio cables are overpriced garbage in my opinion. Monster does not make cables, they just brand them. Mogami is far superior in every respect. Most recording and live sound industry professionals use either Mogami or Canare mic cable. If you hand a seasoned industry veteran any other mic cable like Belden or Monster, he will most likely spit on the floor and say "you have got to be kidding...right?", especially if it has switchcraft ends! If I walk into a venue, and the mic cables are Belden with Switchcraft ends, its going to be a long night of hum and buzz.

 

Sorry for the delay I had company over all weekend.

Yes the QSC SRA 3622 Class H amps are bridged 2400 watts mono @ 8 ohms.
Manufacturer requires a minimum 10 gauge wire when bridged.

plus I am running 2 x 15" Dayton Titanic's subs with 1000 watts @ 4 ohm each channel.

Loud you bet...
but not just loud (anybody can do loud) but to get a system to play back loud and still reproduce detailed, clear, legible vocals at those volumes is/was the real challenge.

Not matter what volume level my system is being played back at, it stays consistent in its sound from low to extreme listening levels (Head ROOM!!) without suffering from distortion when pushed hard.
I have never got the QSC amps to clip and I do not have the clip limiter turned on.

The speakers consist of
Selenium DT201TI compression horn as Tweeter
15" Fane Axiom AX300B Guitar speaker used as Midrange
15" Dayton professional as Woofer
High power passive crossovers tailor made by Vertek/XTC.
The crossovers are massive and weigh like 5 pounds each and are hard wired no circuit board stuff here.

 

When you get them hooked up please post your thoughts about them.

 

Pot calling the kettle black?

 

I have a set of Mogamis I've used as microphone cables as well as interconnects. I would not call them "neutral".

This was made clear to me when I compared them directly against some others, especially a (granted, much more expensive) pair of Nordost Valkyrja.
If the Mogamis are a "clean window", the Nordosts removed the glass altogether and removed all the air pollution outside as well. (They also reveal a good bit of grit remaining on that "clean window".)

A third set of cables, these Nordost Blue Heavens, also revealed the lack of neutrality in the Mogamis. The Blue Heavens showed what a "clean window" really looks (sounds) like. Even the Black Knights showed up the Mogamis.

Sometimes, we need to hear a truly better product to understand what was wrong with a previous favorite.

Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Hey Darren did you get your cables in yet?

I ordered some more custom lengths from them, for the 2 sub-woofer amps and for the 4 channel rear surround amp, the cables will be here Tuesday.
I am thinking that they will tighten and speed up the sub bass since I have noticed that they sound faster than the old interconnects did. IDK we will see.
But yeah, if you have them did you get them hooked up yet and how do you like them?

 

Brandon,
You can make up these cables yourself using the same Neutrik RCA connectors and Mogami cable. eg. a 1 metre pair for $14. The connectors $2 each and cable less than $3 per cable.

 

Thanks but I can not solder.

 

UPDATE Subwoofer Mogami Cables

Received the custom 2528 Mogami RCA to Split Dual RCA Insert Cable - Gold Plated subwoofer interconnects yesterday from The Cable Factory.
http://www.thecablefactory.net/index.php
Prior to the Mogami’s I also was using the Radio Shack Fusion cables going to the sub woofer amps.
The sound was deep and OK sounding but to me it always sounded a bit sloppy and boomy.
Which for a while assumed that was normal for a 15” sub with an XMAX of 20.5 MM.
But since recently swapping out all the other interconnects through out the system with the 2524 Mogami’s and because there was such a dramatic increase in speaker control and dynamics!
I then decided to have The Cable Factory make me some for the subs since they did so well for the main portion of the stereo I was very much in anticipation that the Mogami 2528 cables would tighten up the bass…
I was correct.
The bass is now tighter and more controlled, where the kick drums sound like a kick drum not like a subwoofer speaker just pounding out a lot of air and vibrating the house with bass effects and the bass guitar sounds like a bass guitar, as it should.

 

Brandon,
Well I realize that you've bought your cables but you will save yourself $ by making you own. You don't have to have a soldering station, a 25 watt soldering iron will do. Any small vise will do to hold the connectors when soldering and solder. I use a PanaVise with a rotating head. The Neutrik RCA's that they are using are NYS352G and they're buying them for $1 each(50+). The Mogami W2524 and W2528 is bought for about $.40 a foot bulk.
This is Rane's cable connection chart for cable construction: http://rane.com/note110.html