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I'm changing my studio setup a bit, and I want to move my MOTU Traveler from being in the centre of the speakers off to one side of me.

So, I have to use longer audio cable going from the Traveler to my powered speakers.

I've been using balanced 1/4" (from Traveler) to TRS inputs on my speakers. The cable have been old Monster cables, 3 feet long, about 20 years old.

How long of a cable can I use from my Traveler to my speakers without having to worry about any audio degradation or anything?

(editing: XLR inputs on my powered monitors)

Thanks all!

XLRs?

Right! sorry.... yes, XLR inputs on my speakers.

If the cable is balanced (TRS to XLR) you can have long runs without degradation. You could probably do 50' or more; 10-20' is no problem.

Thanks for the info. Wanted to check in with some 'real world' people!

artfarm1 wrote:ThWanted to check in with some 'real world' people!

My world never seems real, I answered anyway. Glad to be if assistance.

In broadcast you start to pay attention at hundreds of feet, worry more at thousands of feet.

50ft? try 500ft!

Think about it, the average hall has hardwired XLR running from the edge of the stage to the sound booth, usually in the very back of the hall about a floor or two up. 1000ft probably isn't uncommon. If you understand the physics behind balanced signal, you can basically get the idea that a cable can run virtually infinitely without collecting noise. The bigger problem is with extremely long runs you start to lose power and require additional amplification, which might introduce more noise.

In fact, I'm not sure how external noise could even be a factor in balanced cabling at any length. The two poles cancel out, and they're extremely close in proximity, the phase difference between them would be incredibly small (we're talking speed of light here, too). One thing I could imagine is that inconsistencies in the copper wire (thickness, oxidization, density) might edge one pole over another, not completely canceling out the noise. That's the only explanation I can come up with as to why super long runs would start to develop noise.

But trust me, in any house... hell, even in Bill Gates' house, you're going to be fine.

Don't worry about powered speaker cable either, btw. I made that mistake before and I feel like an idiot when I thought about it. At about 10000x the voltage of mic level, noise just isn't an issue. Balanced speaker cable is a joke. Even line level is pretty hardy, at many magnitudes that of mic level, no reason to worry about balanced line level patch cables for short runs. Instrument level (ambiguous, very low line level) starts to be a concern. I like to keep passive guitar/bass runs as short as possible, usually from the instrument to a DI (or amp) at the floor.