35 and 40 ft runs-Balanced will be expensive

Why don't you contact both HomeGrownAudio and BetterCables.com and see what sort of price they offer for the runs you need?

You could easily build some high quality balanced cables at the length that you need for well under $200 total. At that length, balanced is the only option that i would think about. Speaker cables or RCA's of the same length would not be an option due to signal degradation. Sean
>

I have a 30' run of balanced cable between preamp and amp, similar set up to yours. I went to the Parts Connection (division of Sonic Frontiers) and bought some bulk Goertz Micropurl wire and some connectors. Took a few hours to put'em together. Total cost was under $200

I picked up BetterCables 10M (33FT) XLR and did the job great till I could afford a sonically better cable.

For the price, they are very good cables

Go to your local musical instrument store. They have the same high quality balanced cables used by the recording studios without the "audiophile" packaging and markup. You'll pay 50% to 75% less at the music store for the same item.

This is a recommendation I received from two different high-end amplifier makers.

Just because a studio or pro uses something, that does not make it "good". It just means that it works and will get the job done. How many "studio" recordings have you heard that sounded horrible ? Do you think that they specifically mixed them to sound BAD using the "top notch" studio equipment ? Or was the recording & mixing limited by the lack of transparency and equipment at hand ? You be the judge. Sean
>

Another thing to consider is that some brands charge by the meter and otheers just charge a little more for longer lengths. Check around and get prices form a few different cable companies.

I'm with rgodin. Try the musical instrument stores. A year ago I got a 20 foot pair of ProCo microphone cables with silver Neutrik contacts for $32. They probably come in 50 foot lengths too. Monster offers some up market lines, with more electrical 'pedigree', and they cost more accordingly. If you accept the argument that your signals have already passed thru thousands of feet of this stuff, sit back and relax. If not, dig deep.

Contact Innersound. They make a great balanced cable at a low price. I am using an 8 meter cable right now with my Pass pre and amp. Nice people to work with too!

Brand new Purist Audio Design Elementa in balanced configuration carries a retail list price of $870.00 for 12 meters (40 feet).

It can certainly be purchased for less, making it very reasonable price among audiophile quality cables.

Canare Star-Quad Microphone cables with Neutrik brand connectors work very well for long balanced runs and are not hugely expensive (probably a couple of hundred). A studio I was using upgraded to these cables for their long runs when they went to 24 bit. They work very well. That said, I personally have a single ended setup and use 25 foot runs of Analysis Plus speaker wire with very good results.

The first recommendation to go to the music store for the balanced cables came from Coda - the same people who design and build the Innersound amps.

Waited a while to see how many posts.Thanks for the pheedback I might go the pro route and see what happens for less than $200.Thanks again.

"Just because a studio or pro uses something, that does not make it "good". "

A properly designed truly balanced preamp to a properly designed truly balanced power amp's sound is not affected by a properly built balanced cable. You do not need to spend thousands of dollars on a balanced cable, if the preamp and amp are both designed to the balanced specifications, as is the cable. In fact, if everything is properly designed (this does not mean expensive), then you will hear no difference between the $200 balanced cable and the $20,000 balanced cable as the whole technical design of properly building truly balanced systems and cables totally negates any "sound" that a cable can impart on the sign. This is just the design of properly balanced system.

That being said, most amps and preamps that are reported as balanced do not follow the correct technical protocol and therefore can be affected by cables.