xlr cable quality

G

GMOVIE

Member
Ive searched this forum about xlr cable quality, and i cant find what im looking for.
if someone could direct me to a link that recommends brands, etc.. i would appreciate it.

If not, im interested in some brands that are recommended and if there is really a difference in the gold ends , 24 gauge, this gauge, that guage, etc etc..there are a million different xlr makers out there...

id like to just buy some audio technica cables and be done with it. But it looks like there is major differences, including price..

Im using them for short films and eventually features shot digitally.
 
"Most" pros, in "most" situations, rely on Canare Starquad XLR cable with connectors made by Neutrik. This seems to be the "go to" cable for all around quality, reliability, and longevity.

You can find these Canare (pronounced like the bird) cables at B&H Photo, MarkerTek, Trew Audio, Coffey Sound, etc.

I use mostly Canare Starquad cables for all of my audio gear, but have also bought some Guitar Center cheap-o cables in a pinch. But the cheap cables usually don't hold up very well, don't coil as easily for storage, and have more tendency to pick up stray Radio Frequency signal.

Mogami is another pro-quality XLR cable that I've heard good things about.

As far as "gold" connectors go, I have some gear with gold connectors, but I don't think you need to spend the extra cash for these unless you live in an especially corrosive environment or plan to use your cables in really messy locations. Standard Neutriks always seem to hold up very well.

Oleg, Ptalsky, and MattinSTL will have more info. for you as well...........
 
There are a lot of options, but for the time being I would go with starquad and neutrik connectors as suggested. The best grade of starquad is L-4E6S.

I would not prioritize gold connectors. If they are only a couple bucks more then get what you like... if you fancy black connectors that usually means the contacts will be gold... it's not guaranteed that way, but I've never seen silver ends with gold contacts.

There are many good kinds of cable available... mogami, canare, and of course I like musilux... but let's not go there right now... I'm too busy to mess with cables right now.

Before I made my own cables I bought mine from filmtools...
 
My go-to cables have pretty much always been Canare (especially since Matt stopped making cables). :-)

I'm finding FilmTools seems to have good prices on cables, but have also gone to B&H on occasion (I know, don't hate me). While I love Trew and Coffey, they tend to be more expensive for cables, since they tend to make them to order rather than stocking standard lengths.

Phil
 
Hands down the best cable in my kit is a short XLR that I got from..... Matt.
:thumbsup:

Other than that - they're all Canare/Neutrix like others have suggested.
Not sure if they're 'the best' - but I know I've never had a problem.
 
I have a wide variety of cables. They get gentler treatment than your average production cable since I'm mostly doing post and concerts and such. I haven't had problems with the cable portion of cheapie cables but a lot of them use crimp connections to the connectors. That can be a great source of problems. And crimp connectors usually can't be repaired. Hands down the best and easiest to use coil etc cables I have were made by Matt. He's not doing that any more, I think someone told him he needed to pay rent... But you can buy musilux cable and make your own. There maybe someone out there making up cables with musilux but I haven't seen any.
 
I'll get back to it eventually. I was selling my cables for something like $2-3 over the cost of standard StarQuad cables from Markertek... and I was surprised how many people would balk at that... it was getting to be a real turn-off sending PM's back and forth trying to convince somebody that my cable was better, and then they order somewhere else to save the $10 (total) anyway. There were more then a few people who expected me to be selling cables for LESS then they could pay ANYWHERE else... and considering that even those companies couldn't do that using the materials that I've been using... that really turned me off... because when I make cables at the prices I was charging... I'm pretty much working for minimum wage while I share my passion.

The long and short of getting cables from me is this simple... my season typically gets pretty slow in the winter... so then I make cables because I have too much free time... but from spring through autumn I could make cables every single day for a week and I'll make the same $$$ as doing a half-day DP or sound. This is why no cables during the busy season.
 
gold connector = waste of $$ if the solder to connect wires is the same....
cant say i ever had a problem with neutrik connectors "oxidizing" and losing quality either.

unless you are using a very old piece of gear, you dont really need to worry about matching ohms.

starquad is great. read up on the design and you understand why it is more prone to resist rf signals and ground loops
 
Where to buy Musilux?

Where to buy Musilux?

Wirelux sells Musilux for $200/500' plus $29 shipping - does anyone sell it in smaller lengths, like maybe 100'?
 
I will sell it to you for .49 per foot plus $12 shipping to Paypal confirmed USA address only. After Paypal fees, TIME, and gas to the post office... that's pretty darn close to actual cost per foot as best I can figure. That way you can try it out for yourself.

If you do a search you'll see that I very clearly spell out how to have the most success making your own cables also... so I'm not going to retype all of that here... but trust me there's the right way and wrong way to do it.
 
I was very fortunate to get my hands on some of the "Matt made" Musilux cables a while back and absolutely loved them. They impressed me so much that when he hit his busy period I bought the parts and made more on my own. Not as good as his, but still way ahead of anything else I've seen for the price.

This is the thread that convinced me . . .

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=47334
 
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