Is there an affordable long run XLR preamp to amp cable out there?

Atma-Sphere and BAT opinions are of little value unless you use their equipment.

Yeah @celander, AES File 48 specifies:

- Pin 1 = ground

- Pin 2 = non-inverted signal

- Pin 3 = inverted signal

In Europe, Pin 2 and Pin 3 are the reverse.

A good reason to go balanced is the advantage of being able to run really long interconnects, so you can place the amps close to the speakers and avoid sonic degradation on account of the speaker cables.

The balanced line system was created to get rid of interconnect cable colorations. It works really well! However in order for that to happen the preamp must support the balanced line standards (which have been in place for decades).

Most high end audio balanced preamps do not support the standard! As a result with such preamps you will encounter variable results as far as interconnects are concerned.

Here is the standard:

1) pins are: pin 1 ground, pin 2 and 3 are signal.
2) Ground is ignored- the signal occurs only between pin 2 and 3 (this is where most high end audio preamps have a problem- as soon as there are signal currents in the shield of the cable, the construction of the cable becomes critical).
3) the cable will be a twisted pair for the signal with a shield (tied to pin one only)
4) the output of the preamp should be capable of driving a low impedance load (2000 ohms or less) without loss of voltage, without increase in distortion and without loss of bass (this is the other big area where high end audio preamps have a problem, and also results in cable sensitivity).

Note: this does not mean that the output impedance of the preamp is this value, it means that it can *drive* this value. If there is a question, both the 1KHz output impedance and the 20Hz output impedance should be well below 300 ohms!

The actual standard is 600 ohms and you will have a lot of manufacturers of balanced products tell you that since the amps being driven have a much higher input impedance, that this does not matter. Such is incorrect if you want cable immunity! It is the higher impedance nature of single-ended preamps and amps that spawned the interconnect cable industry. Such is not needed for balanced as long as the standards are used.

Now some people want proof of this sort of thing- after all what I am saying here is that the interconnect should not have an audible quality in the system. So here is the proof. The first manufacturer of high end cables was FMI in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Robert Fulton, the proprietor, created the first cables in which in was claimed that they made an improvement when installed in a system. That was the late 1970s.

However in the late 1950s, the record labels were turning out recordings that are revered to this day (the better your system gets, the better these recordings sound). In many cases the microphone signal had to go over 200 feet to get to the input of the tape recorder- how did they do that without an exotic cable? The answer is the low impedance balanced line system.

So- if you want that same cable immunity that the recording and broadcast industry has enjoyed for the last 60 years, then your preamp should support the same standard. This takes the cable out of the system equation, and also its cost.

I don't understand the concern about pin 2 or pin 3 hot when it comes to cables. In either case, pin 1 is signal ground, and if a cable is wired straight-through (pin 2 to 2 and 3 to 3), it will work fine with either system.

Since standard XLR cables come with their shields tied to pin 1 at each end (the shells are not tied, nor need be), this means equipment using 3-pin, XLR-type connectors must tie pin 1 to the chassis (usually called chassis ground) -- not the audio signal ground as is most common.

Not using signal ground is the most radical departure from common pro-audio practice. Not that there is any argument about its validity. There isn't. This is the right way to do it. So why doesn't audio equipment come wired this way? Well, some does, and since 1993, more of it does. That's when Rane started manufacturing some of its products with balanced inputs and outputs tying pin 1 to chassis. So why doesn't everyone do it this way? Because life is messy, some things are hard to change, and there will always be equipment in use that was made before proper grounding practices were in effect.

My point was that the talk about pin 2 vs pin 3 in terms of signal polarity is irrelevant when it comes to balanced cables. Since they are wired 2 to 2 and 3 to 3, they will work with either pin 2 "hot" or pin 3 "hot", and there are no special cables needed for one convention vs. the other.

The purpose of this comparison was not to render a final verdict of the Benchmark and SpeakON technology. That would take far more cable adjustments and listening sessions than I conducted. I suspect that a group of listeners who heard the comparison between the Benchmark and Clarity cables may have been split in terms of appreciation of the cabling sets. However, clearly the Benchmark cables did not sweep the results. It is not necessary to use the SpeakOn connectors or Canaire-based wiring for superb results. In fact, I believe one reason the Clarity Cables loom was more appealing overall was because elimination of the prohibited SpeakON connector under the power cord, allowing use of the Clarity Vortex Power Cords versus the stock power cord. It’s not so hard to get an excellent performance from a component, amp or otherwise, when good aftermarket power cords are employed. This is so, even though I didn’t season the sound to preference with mixing in, say, an alternate brand’s power cord, XLR interconnect, or speaker cables. Slight derivations from entire looms of one make can provide even more appealing sound.

My point was that the talk about pin 2 vs pin 3 in terms of signal polarity is irrelevant when it comes to balanced cables. Since they are wired 2 to 2 and 3 to 3, they will work with either pin 2 "hot" or pin 3 "hot", and there are no special cables needed for one convention vs. the other. Have I missed something there?