Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Balanced XLR cables

Where should I be looking to purchase balanced XLR cables from? I'm planning on getting the Axiom A1400-8 mated with the Integra DTC-9.8. I imagine the amp will sit right on top of the preamp, so a couple of feet should be fine. I was going to check out Blue Jeans Cable, but my internet connection is being stupid tonight. I can't access half of the websites I'm trying to go to. eBay works, and I see a couple of people selling sets of seven 1-meter XLR cables using Canare cable and Neutrik connections for around $120. Something tells me I'm not going to find better deals than that, but should I be concerned with the quality? I suppose I could save even more money by putting my own together, but then I'd REALLY be concerned with the quality.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any input you have, and how many people here are using XLR cables, anyway? I just figured if I'm moving to equipment that has the option, I may as well spring for the cables. I'll have to get a longer one to go to the sub as well, I suppose.

Charles, if regular shielded coaxial cables would do the job and there wouldn't be a noise problem(highly likely), then it wouldn't be essential to use XLR cables simply because that option would be available. Nevertheless, if that's what you want, there're quite a few sources that have them at relatively reasonable cost, such as this outfit , and no, you shouldn't be concerned with quality.

Thanks for the reply, John. Yeah, I'm not really expecting any performance gains using XLR. I don't think noise is going to be a problem, especially with such short distance. It's totally just the status symbol thing in this case.

Unfortunately, the site you linked to is one that Charter feels the need to withhold from me at the moment. I'll have to try again tomorrow. It's hard to research purchases when half of the internet is out of reach.

Well, for a brief preview, they have 18 inchers at $12.95.

Ahh, good deal. Thanks again.

If you can get in to Parts Express , their 18 inchers are on special for $7.40.

Nice find. I went with them.

I thought balanced outputs are for unusually long runs? I was not planning on using them.

CV, you might want to hold off on the 9.8. NAD is coming out with a new pre/pro that apears to have everythign the 9.8 has, but more. Including Audysey Pro. Same MSRP.

Thanks for the heads-up on the NAD. I'll have to check out the specs. When is it supposed to come out? I kind of wanted to get the new amp and preamp at the same time, so I wouldn't have to wait to use one. I can't use the amp with my current receiver because my current receiver doesn't have pre outs. It would be lame to have it sitting here doing nothing, especially if I wanted to use it during the 30-day evaluation period.

It should have already been released, but NAD decided to upgrade it from HDMI 1.2a to 1.3 at the last minute. They are saying late August or later now. I suspect it will not be available till around the end of the year. If I buy the A-1400, I plan to use Axiom's lay-a-way plan which will give me a year to pay it off, but still lock into the pre-order price (I think). I suspect the 30 day trial will still apply after it is received. I want to make sure that whatever pre/pro I go with has some user hours logged on it to make sure the dam thing works right. I'm fed up with promises and lip service from the manufacture that firmware updates will resolve all issues. Considering that, I won’t be buying a pre/pro for at least six months.

You have more patience than I do. I always feel like I'm spending way too long getting the gear together. I want to be onto working on the room already, so I'll be happy when my equipment purchases are taken care of.

The amplifier I'll be able to use for a long time. I know the pre-pro will be replaced probably in a couple years, knowing me, so I'm not as worried about that. I'm hoping the amplifier comes with a nice long warranty, even if it won't be 20 years like some people's.

I have learned patience as a result of owning 5 different receivers within the last 24 months, and have had problems with every stinking one of them.

I will live with what I have now until I know for certain that its replacement will work – as advertised. So far, the least problematic one is this little Yamaha, V661, but it has a couple traits that are driving me nuts… But it’ll hold me over for a while yet.

A 20 year warrantee is very impressive, provided the company has the resources to honer it. If it’s a small company with one guy doing all the work, what happens if he/she gets hit by a bus or he files chapter 11?

What were most annoying shortcomings you encountered in the receivers? In my own extremely limited experience, it's mainly been about wanting it to handle the newest sound formats as well as have enough HDMI inputs, and it feels like it's underpowered. It just doesn't sound as good as I think it should at higher volumes. That's why I'm going with separates. Maybe the Emotiva LPA-1 really is all I'll ever need, but I'm trying to make my purchases as meaningful as possible, so even if it's more than I need, at least I won't have to wonder. Plus, I like the slim profile of the Axiom amp and that it runs cool. There's a bit of finger-crossing with both it and the upcoming Integra, but I haven't been bitten with the handful of receivers I've had, so maybe I'm not being as careful as I should be. I suppose I'll be the guy whose corpse warns you of danger.

I got my XLR cables from Cobalt Cables. I found I was getting a slight hum from my sub (ep600) and the LXR knocked it out. I like to so much, especially the way they locked in place I ordered the same for the front three speakers (meaning connections between the amp and receiver).

I'm getting a slight hum from the EP600, too. I'm glad to hear the XLR got rid of that.

We went from Parts Express to Part Sexpress.

I was referring to my femur. Geez, is your mind always in the gutter?

Oh, come on. We all know that would be an overestimation of the length of your femur.

Charles, what's the story on your new EP600? You are keeping us in suspense.

I'm keeping myself in suspense, too. I really haven't played around with positioning much, or on trim and phase settings. I just set them to half and 0, and it's sitting on the side of the couch, along the wall that doesn't have an opening. I calibrated it to the same SPL as my speakers, and I've bumped it up in the receiver a few times just to see how much I could feel it. Then I set it back down. It's certainly different than subs I've used in the past (all wimpy). I was watching a couple of concert DVDs today, and I never knew they had that much low end. It was nice.

But yeah, the replacement amplifier was a little different than the one I shipped back. It actually looked like the illustration on the site. I also have it hooked into a Panamax power conditioner, though I don't know why that would be necessary. It was just lying around, so I put it to use.

I will try playing with positioning when I have some friends over. One of my coworkers offered her sons' help (they're college age), and I think that's probably wise. I'll try out the sub crawl and have them help me move it around to try out any promising locations.

Overall, I'm happy with the performance. I'd like to experiment with bass traps, but not in the current room. I'm not sure I fully understand the concept of bass traps, either. I'll have to read more. People say the low bass likes to hang out in the corners, but then they put bass traps there, which sounds kind of like putting flypaper around a turd.

I understand that Peter is very big(tall, that is), so his claim is credible.

While we're back on this, Mike, it isn't distance alone, but a combination of distance with lots of external electromagnetic interference working over that distance(e.g. such as often exists in professional use)which might make a balanced XLR connection preferable. The balanced cable uses two central conductors(typically tightly twisted, although this isn't essential to the process)rather than one as in a coaxial cable. The balanced output device sends out a voltage signal on each of the conductors, but inverts one by 180 degrees with respect to the other. The balanced input device re-inverts one by 180 degrees so that both voltages are in phase and instead of cancelling each other they add and the resulting voltage is 6dB higher(a doubling of voltage is a 6dB increase, rather than the 3dB for a doubling of power). Typically the balanced input circuit has a 6dB lower gain than the unbalanced coax input to compensate for this. So what does all this back-and-forth inverting, winding up the same, accomplish? Any external electrical noise that hits the two conductors is of the same phase and nearly of equal strength if the conductors are very close to each other; when the inversion occurs in the receiving device, this puts the two noise voltages 180 degrees out of phase with each other and therefore the external noise is cancelled.

Nice explaination John. Thanks.