Which is better longer xlr or speaker cable

One of the great benefits of balanced ICs is that you can run them a long way (over 100 feet). That is why all pro audio cables for live shows and studio work are balanced.

Urban legends and audiophoolia aside, the quality of the IC does not matter as much with a balanced cable though I would still look for quality XLR plugs like Neutrik (the standard) or Vampire.

Practically speaking they are also a lot less expensive then biwires.

Personally I run uneven length speaker cables and can't tell...

Don't forget that if you are going to locate the amps by the speakers you are going to need to get power to the amps - hope that's not coming out of the $500 LOL

Guys - thnx for clarifying my point - no one here is recommending unobtanium XLR cables - I am not hearing you have to have ___ or you will die.

Rodman - your comment puzzles me a bit. Do you think that the microphone line from the lead singer or the featured soloist does not carry complex musical information? Aren't those the very things that we are looking to hear as they come out of blackness to enter the room surrounded by air precisely placed blah blah blah?

Music reproduction is a long and complex chain. But it all starts with a quality input signal (source). If its good enough to carry an artist to the mixing console its probably good enough to carry the mix to the speakers...

Mogami is good.

Rodman - 35 years - send what you like - signal is signal

You know Rodman the mystery to me is why you have to be so belligerent. You have a set of beliefs, any challenge to them threatens you.

Fact is that everything you could possibly want to playback in your home environment is done balanced - everything - except home audio.

Beyond the considerable reduction of RFI/EMI from a balanced design, balanced runs at +4db VU compared to single ended -10db VU. That is 14 db difference in noise level - more then many preamps put out.

Home audio is single ended because it is cheaper. In fact the computer guys have tried to make it cheaper yet with 3.5mm instead of RCAs...

But there is a larger point. Balanced with XLR is the global professional standard. So (almost) no matter where in the world you go, and no matter what production environment you work in it is the same.

No one wonders when they plug their Nagra master tape into a Studer through a Neves deck if there is going to be synergy. No one wonders if there Neumann mike will sound good on a DigiBeta dub.

Your music is done that way. Your TV is done that way. Your movies are done that way. And your studio recording and mixdown is done that way.

There is no logic to support your contention that a mixdown requires something different then a source recording. What do you suppose can be different? Magically more bandwidth? From where?

In fact the more times you mix down, process, dub, master etc the worse the signal gets. Not by the way because of the cables alone, but because of the electronics and recording media. That is why one take 2 track is the cleanest audio you can find. And the new cool thing at the high end audio shows.

I believe that this superstitious worship of cables we audiophools all engage in comes from the fact that enthusiast manufacturers do not pay attention to any standards whatsoever.

The reason people spend forever talking about YMMV and synergy is because every system is unshielded, unbalanced, and has an unknown output and input requirement.

How is it that anyone who deals with audio professionally uses tones, yet all too few in our august hobby even know what they are... and absolutely no one uses them?

Cables matter a lot when there is no zero.