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Audioquest Makenzie XLRs

I have the opportunity to purchase Audioquest cables at approx 40% below retail... 

I cant spend hundreds or thousands on cables.

Is there a better XLR cable for the money at the price point of $110 a pair than the Audioquest Makenzie?  110 is my cost.  Next up the line in AQ more than doubles my cost.... cant swing that much on ICs.

Gear consists of Marantz 7704, ATI 1807 Amp, B&W CDM 9NTs.
Not high end by any means but it's far better than what I had.

So .... is there a better cable for the money?
Seems AQ Makenzie is well reviewed and well designed.

Thoughts? Comments?  Assistance and advice is appreciated.
lightfighter2018
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,248 posts
 

The professional balanced/XLR pin arrangement in the U.S.A. adheres to AES File 48:

Pin 1: Ground

Pin 2: Non-inverted signal

Pin 3: Inverted signal

That is how all pro equipment is wired (as well as consumer electronics designed by engineers who wish to conform to that standard, such as Atma-Sphere's Ralph Karsten, Music Reference's Roger Modjeski, and EAR-Yoshino's Tim de Paravicini), and how all pro audio cables are terminated.

In Europe, pins 2 & 3 are reversed.

nrenter's avatar
nrenter
768 posts
 
Just flip the speaker cables on the amp side (+) -> (-), and (-) -> (+) and leave the speaker cables on the speaker side (+) -> (+), and (-) -> (-). You can "fix" it through XLR cable modification, but then you'd be messing with perfectly good cables, and can solve the issue in a much simpler manner.

If we weren't having this conversation, you'd probably never know the difference if you didn't flip the polarity, but since you're on AudioGon, you're probably OCD like the rest of us. 
lightfighter2018's avatar
lightfighter2018 OP
87 posts
 
@nrenter

Thanks.

I am a bit OCD... :) esp now that I know there is difference in pin outs. Which I had not even considered would be a possibility.

I just didn’t want to mess up my gear somehow.

I didn’t think changing the pins on the cables would be that straight forward, I just ran across an article that said to change the pins.

Ok. So just so I understand:

amp end... black to red and red to black for all speakers.

speaker end... black to black and red to red for all speakers..

What effect if any will this have on sound quality and sound behavior?


lightfighter2018's avatar
lightfighter2018 OP
87 posts
 
@bdp24 

Thank you for that information.  So I take it for every amp that meets a US vs EU standard the global solution is to switch speaker wire connections as mentioned above... or change the pin out?

Are there any XLR cables that are built reversed so one doesn't need to switch speaker cable connections?  Seems it would be an easy solution.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,248 posts
 
@lightfighter2018, if both your source and your amp conform to the AES standard, you should not have to switch your speaker cables. If either doesn’t, you won’t get the full benefit of balanced connection even if you use XLR connections. In that case, I would have cables made that do the Pin switching for you, rather than switching at the speakers. Take Five Audio in Ontario, Canada will build then for you, and their prices are reasonable.
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