Pro Sound XLR Cables?

Hello Doug and 70242. Thank you for the informative replies! I just purchased 2 pairs of Cardas Golden Cross, one meter balanced interconnects and Audioquest Crystal+/
Forest+ cables. It appears that I have a little more discretionary income than time...hmm, that isn't accurate - lol. My inaugural listening experience was FABULOUS! I have my priorities . Perhaps, at some juncture, I'll attempt to construct some DIY Cat5, Belden, and Canare interconnects and cables. I'd wish to thank my local audio professional whose expertise, time, and pricing policies afforded me the opportunity to obtain these components. I must search that thread which acknowledges "good dealers" and extol the business acumen of a truly delightful dealer. Thanks again to all who replied. -Sam

I use Canare Star Quad for mic cables. Good stuff, and reasonably priced.

For the most part, even "high-end" recording studios use regular pro-grade cabling for mics and interconnects, not esoteric stuff. Why not? It works, and it works superbly.

Several years back one of the reviewers for Stereophile used a cable made by Canare for balanced interconnects. I believe the model was Star Quad. It may have been Quad Star, but that's close. His "claim" was that for the price and the ability to cut his own lengths the cable was a great buy. He claimed that sonically it rivaled many of the mid-priced cables of that time at much lower prices. I have never tried it and I don't know of anyone that has, but it may be worth a shot. Good Luck, Doug

Thank you, Panzercat, for the reply. -Sam

Some of the high end recording studios will use the esoteric audophile type cables for microphones and interconnects between the equipment and playback system but I suspect that many don't.

For sound reinforcement I think other things take priority in their choice of cable. For concerts, they make custom snakes to connect many microphones, monitors etc to help make it quicker to set up. They also need long runs of cable, so the high end stuff would be way too expensive. Shielding is a main concern to eliminate noise over the long runs. The cables also must be durable to stand up to the moving, packing up and setting up for concerts. So things like soundstage, clarity, detail and other design considerations taken into account in for the high end cables are not at the top of the list for sound reinforcement use. In addition, the type of equipment used for sound reinforcement probably doesn't reveal the benefits of high end cables as well as high end reproduction equipment does.