Bargain Priced XLR Cables for Audio Equipment.

I'm going to purchase some XLR cables and was wondering if I could get some recommendations on some inexpensive brands. I've seen Monoprice and Hosa but do not know how good they are.

 

I use the best XLR connectors that Monoprice offers. They seem reasonably well built, and I have no complaints about the sound.

 

I recommend the Mogami - get them from Markertek (their custom cable fabrication services in Saugerties, NY is the largest in the country) for about $30 a pair. Get them to make your cables with the Neglex W2534 star quad stuff. Splurge for the Neutrik black with gold pins XLRs. Professionally terminated - they make thousands of these every month for the industry. Why buy something from a small firm when you can get this from Markertek for less money, extremely high quality termination, and they almost certainly have the standard lengths in stock?

If you want something special it may take a couple of days. Fast shipping (though not free).

You will be surprised at the price and ludicrously happy with the performance.

Recommended by John Marks of Stereophile.

http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Bul...Cable/Mogami-Wire-Cable-Corp/W2534-00-A.xhtml

 

This looks great. I'm not sure I see the option for them to make the cables. I can solder, so I may just order the parts and have at it.

 

Order them terminated - you won't be able to do a better job than they can in their fabrication facility.

http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Audio-Cables/XLR-to-XLR-Cables/TecNec/MSC1-5XXJ.xhtml

Their web site can be confusing so give them a call and make sure you get exactly what you need. If you choose a strange colour (say orange) you will see the warning that they are in the shop and take 5-7 days to build. If you go with black you will see the text say "In Stock" meaning they have already made them up in the length you want.

 

I'd go for this:

http://www.vandenhul.com/products/cables/the-mic-hybrid-halogen-free

 

I'd go for something used... I bet you could post a WTB in the Classifieds and a forum member would pass some along at a fair price. Just a suggestion.

 

I remember you posting that in the past and I was quite impressed by the technical specifications, and tried to hunt down the distributor in the US to see if there was a way to buy these but it ended in frustration - no on-line sales, and I was referred to a dealer in California but I did not feel comfortable with him, and the prices were very, very high. Did I miss the obvious?

 

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. I must admit, I haven't tried to buy vdH cable in the US. I was introduced to Mr. van den Hul through Philips Classics/Polyhymnia, and have used these cables in many recordings and playback systems. I bought the cables while still at Philips in The Netherlands. If you go to this page:

http://www.vandenhul.com/advisory-retail-price-list

you will find that the price is currently Euro 17 per meter (not the cheapest, but far from the prices of some boutique cables). Connectors are extra, and you can save some money mounting your own. I have no idea whether they will sell direct from The Netherlands. Since this is a professional cable, it is not something that I would expect Hi-Fi distributors to stock. Shipping should not be too outrageous on a few runs, especially without connectors.

 

Frank Dai's products and his website SignalCable.com are fantastic!I have had these for years and the quality and value is second to none, trust me :

http://signalcable.com/analogtwoxlr.html

 

I'll second Frank's cables. Also, he offers a discount if your a member of Polk Audio's forum.

 

Agree Mogami pro stuff is what you want. Well made, pro stuff. cheap as any other stuff.
Works great.
MOGAMI.
Any pro audio store

 

I think a few people missed the words "bargain priced" in the title...

 

I don't think so. The Markertek will be under $25 for a metre pair and Signal Cable is $65 for a metre pair. My recommendation is a bargain!

 

I didn't say everyone, but some certainly did... and honestly, $65 for a meter pair isn't really bargain-priced, either; 3-ft. XLR cables from Monoprice are five bucks and change. That is bargain priced!

 

Heavy gauge wire (16ga), cheap XLR connectors, thick rubber covering, nothing special in the wire department. But they are very cheap indeed.

 

I had a custom build of XLR cables made of Canare L4E6S from this gentleman. I was quite pleased with the results.

 

They look very nice. The Canare cable is very good and he is using the Neutrik X series which are fine connectors but have been superceded by the XX series. Neutrik is a Liechtenstein company, interestingly enough - along with Hilti, who I have worked for as a consultant. Not too many manufacturers in LI.

http://www.neutrik.com/en/xlr/xlr-connectors/xlr-cable-connectors/

 

Markertek - great outfit! I've had really great results with stuff from them in the past.

 

With my budget I'm leaning heavily towards the Mogami cables from Markertek. Five XLR cables will cost me $97 and shipping. I can always upgrade later, but for right now I can afford the Mogamis.

 

i agree -- signal cables are very high quality at a very reasonable price -- they're my wires of choice. if you want even more value then another great source is blue jeans cables: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/balancedaudio/index.htm

 

Blue Jeans is good, too. I know of a dozen companies that will make top-flight cables out of Canare Star-Quad and Neutrik connectors for $1 a foot. Virtually all my cables used for sound recording are sourced from them. There's a local company here in LA, ProAudioLA, who does custom cables for me all the time -- same price. It's helpful when you need a specific cable that's 3.5 feet long rather than 3 feet long.

 

I seem to recall a thread about this previously and it interested me very much. Gone are the days (for me!) when I could consider 'boutique' type interconnects. The prices are so off the scale. My CD/SACD Player (Ayre C-5xeMP) is currently running unbalanced and I really have to get it working in balanced mode to reap the sonic benefits, if I am to believe what the manufacturers/reviewers have to say.

What type of Mogami interconnects should I be considering? I note that you say that the OP will be 'ludicrously' happy with the performance' and that is very encouraging to me. Do these interconnects have any sonic character of their own or are they just plain neutral, in your experience? Come to think of it, I also run an Alessis Masterlink in unbalanced mode and I should really upgrade that to balanced mode also. The prices are very affordable and if they work very well, it's a no brainer really to get the Mogami or some of the other brands mentioned here.

 

I am unable to say what sonic characteristic they have. I can say that they are quiet - no trace of hum in my system, something that the unshielded Grovers could pick up, depending where they were placed.

I needed a 2m link to get from the preamp to the Lamms (the Lamms are single-ended but have an XLR socket wired in parallel to the RCA socket). Prior to getting the Mogami I lashed up two 1m pairs (Grover and Coincident) which is easy to do with XLRs and there was a big jump in sound quality when the lash up was replaced with a single 2m run - not unexpected.

For me, the Mogamis were a starting point and I thought I would replace them with something better fairly quickly, but I am 3 years down the track and haven't done so yet. I think with your situation - getting to balanced - you will be so happy with the performance that you will defer getting more expensive interconnects for a while.

 

I have gone ahead and ordered five pairs of Mogami XLRs as mentioned in your earlier thread. I decided to equip my entire system with them as an alternative to what I currently use. I hope to use these interconnects between CD/SACD Player, Alessis Masterlink and Phono Pre-Amp to a Classé CP-65 Line Level Pre-Amp and then to a pair Classé CAM-350 monoblocks. Hopefully, this will all work .. and work well. We'll see.

I contacted Merkertek's U.K. Office so as to avoid Customs and Importation tax issues. After nearly nine days, they came back to me with a very reasonable quote. The cables will be made/assembled by Merkertek at Saugerties, NY and will then be shipped to their facility in London, U.K. who will ship the items to me in Ireland. The cost is reasonable in the context of high end audio and if they work as well for me as they appear to work for you and others here, then they will be well worth it. I was looking at Transparent's website a few nights ago and saw a set of 1 metre single ended interconnects costing $5,500 or so ... crazy. I used these interconnect cables back in the day ...

As a matter of interest, is there a Mogami speaker cable that is worth considering in the context of the interconnects? I would need bi-wire or tri-wire with bananas and spades at either end. It's just a thought at present and will largely depend on how the interconnects work out. This kind of thing brings back a certain excitement for me with high end audio. I think all of these high end, highly priced cables only serve to alienate people from the audio hobby. In fact, I purposely visit a well known manufacturer's booth at Munich's High End Show every year to see what utterly, unaffordable cables they are promoting. It's always very entertaining until the prices are mentioned!!!!