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    Tech Mentor dj max bradley's Avatar
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    Default stereo cords

    my friend was supposed to buy me TRS balanced XLR to 1/4 inch cords. he bought me XLR to 1/4 inch unbalanced low noise microphone cords. they are twenty feet long and there is zero background noise. they go from my mixer to sound card. it sounds amazing cause I have a nice mixer. are microphone cords any different then normal patch cords. specifically with cords that have no impedance. just letting you know if your short on money you don't need balanced TRS.

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    how do you set up a profile picture on djtechtools

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    Tech Guru mostapha's Avatar
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    balanced vs. unbalanced makes the biggest difference when you're running into an amplifier (e.g., with a microphone cable into a mic preamp or from a mixer to an amplifier).

    A 20' unbalancd mic cable running into a preamp will pick up the radio unless you're in a shielded room or live in the middle of nowhere.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mostapha View Post
    balanced vs. unbalanced makes the biggest difference when you're running into an amplifier (e.g., with a microphone cable into a mic preamp or from a mixer to an amplifier).

    A 20' unbalancd mic cable running into a preamp will pick up the radio unless you're in a shielded room or live in the middle of nowhere.
    there is electrical cable, telephones, TV's radio stations whatever around and there is no noise. they are shielded mic cables. do you know though if mic cables are to be used this way.

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    Tech Guru SirReal's Avatar
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    I'd be very surprised if they were unbalanced Mic cables. Also, all cables have impedance, just FYI.
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    Quote Originally Posted by dj max bradley View Post
    how do you set up a profile picture on djtechtools

    go nuts http://forum.djtechtools.com/member.php?u=134021
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    Tech Guru mostapha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SirReal View Post
    I'd be very surprised if they were unbalanced Mic cables. Also, all cables have impedance, just FYI.
    This.

    I've seen unbalanced mic cables, but not often. If they have XLR on both sides, they're balanced. If they're XLR-TRS cables, they're not mic cables, but they're balanced. If they're XLR-TS cables, they're unblaanced and also not mic cables.

    The biggest difference between XLR-XLR mic, patch/utility, and DMX cables has to do with how big the wires are and how much impedance the cables cause. They're all basically interchangeable except that it can cause problems to use mic cables for DMX lighting.

    And, again, if you're going line level to line level with unbalanced cables, it's not a huge deal. If you ran those cables into an amplifier, especially if you were actually using a microphone going into a mic preamp, you would hear it.

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    Tech Mentor dj max bradley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SirReal View Post
    I'd be very surprised if they were unbalanced Mic cables. Also, all cables have impedance, just FYI.
    yup no noise! I don't think you are right about the impedance. they are basically the same as RCA cords. they are called low noise microphone cables. 1/4 inh to XLR

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    Tech Guru mostapha's Avatar
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    low noise microphone cables are almost certianly balanced.

    Is there a metal ring in the middle of the 1/4" side? If there is, they're balanced.

    This shows the difference:


    The top one is either stereo or mono balanced. The bottom one is mono and unblanaced.

    And all cables have an impedance. All cables more or less boil down to wires running next to each other, possibly with one of them (or a third wire) actually being a metal shroud around the others.

    This physical structure is a capacitor that acts as a low-pass filter and has an impedance. Period. It's not possible to make a cable that doesn't do it to some degree.

    In some circles, low-impedance guitar cables are all the rage. They're expensive and precisely built so that they work as really crappy capacitors instead of the only slightly crappy capacitors that all cables are. And considering how quiet guitar signals are, how much high-frequency content there is, and how they're amplified...the difference is audible (but not necessarily preferable).
    Last edited by mostapha; 11-18-2014 at 11:14 AM.

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    Tech Mentor dj max bradley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mostapha View Post
    This.

    I've seen unbalanced mic cables, but not often. If they have XLR on both sides, they're balanced. If they're XLR-TRS cables, they're not mic cables, but they're balanced. If they're XLR-TS cables, they're unblaanced and also not mic cables.

    The biggest difference between XLR-XLR mic, patch/utility, and DMX cables has to do with how big the wires are and how much impedance the cables cause. They're all basically interchangeable except that it can cause problems to use mic cables for DMX lighting.

    And, again, if you're going line level to line level with unbalanced cables, it's not a huge deal. If you ran those cables into an amplifier, especially if you were actually using a microphone going into a mic preamp, you would hear it.

    I agree. but the cables are 1/4inch to XLR and they are not TRS. the quarter inch is mono. it does not look like a TRS. it only uses two of the pins in the XLR output. that's why they are unbalanced. my sound card has balanced 1/4 inch in and out. meaning you can use a unbalanced cord with it. would a unbalanced cord always work with a balanced in or out? it says microphone cable on the cord.

    I just saw your diagram. the 1/4 inch side of the cord has one ring not two on my cables.
    Last edited by dj max bradley; 11-18-2014 at 02:25 PM.

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