difference between XLR mic cable and xlr speaker cable

[chromatronic]

hello...

i ordered XLR cable to go from my sound card to my powered monitors and recieved XLR cable labeled as "microphone cable" ... is there a difference ?

. . .

[Adlen]

I could be wrong but I think the only difference is that the speaker cable can carry the high power signals going from amp > speaker. If the amp is INSIDE the speaker I think you'll be fine

[aussie_techie]

There is a big difference between speaker and mic/signal cables but your dealing with line level signals anyway so what you got is fine.

[chromatronic]

cool thanks

[aclarson]

I've never heard of a speaker cable using XLRs, that would be weird, three conductors isn't really ideal, and the pin gauge is only like 18 right? Plus the shell is designed for RF shielding, unnecessary for speaker cable. The only speaker connectors I ever see are 1/4" (predominantly), Speakon, and occasionally just stripped wires stuffed in screw terminals.

[barefoot]

He's talking about the line level signal cable for powered monitors.

Originally Posted by chromatronic

i ordered XLR cable to go from my sound card to my powered monitors and recieved XLR cable labeled as "microphone cable" ... is there a difference ?

There's no difference. You're good to go!

[Adlen]

Originally Posted by aclarson

I've never heard of a speaker cable using XLRs, that would be weird, three conductors isn't really ideal, and the pin gauge is only like 18 right? Plus the shell is designed for RF shielding, unnecessary for speaker cable. The only speaker connectors I ever see are 1/4" (predominantly), Speakon, and occasionally just stripped wires stuffed in screw terminals.

Yeah I only saw an XLR speaker lead for the first time the other day. I'd only seen jack, Speakon, bare wire and Banana plugs.

[aclarson]

Originally Posted by Adlen

Yeah I only saw an XLR speaker lead for the first time the other day. I'd only seen jack, Speakon, bare wire and Banana plugs.

Link? I still can't find any evidence that such a thing exists, regardless of my misgivings about whether it's even viable.

[Adlen]

Originally Posted by aclarson

Link? I still can't find any evidence that such a thing exists, regardless of my misgivings about whether it's even viable.

Can't find the XLR>XLR one but here's a Speakon>XLR: CORDIAL CTL 10 FL 25 - U.K. International Cyberstore

I didn't think it was viable but apparently it is. Bizzare stuff!

[Blast9]

Originally Posted by aclarson

Link? I still can't find any evidence that such a thing exists, regardless of my misgivings about whether it's even viable.

The only "speaker" inputs I've seen are on powered monitors like the OP has - but that's obviously gonna carry a line-level signal not a speaker-level signal... In any case mic cables and line level cables are generally interchangeable - Some mic cables are thinner gauge wire though.

[aclarson]

Originally Posted by Adlen

Can't find the XLR>XLR one but here's a Speakon>XLR: CORDIAL CTL 10 FL 25 - U.K. International Cyberstore

I didn't think it was viable but apparently it is. Bizzare stuff!

Huh, trip out. What the hell do they hook it to? Is there an amp that has XLR speaker outs or a cab that has XLR ins?

Originally Posted by Blast9

The only "speaker" inputs I've seen are on powered monitors like the OP has - but that's obviously gonna carry a line-level signal not a speaker-level signal... In any case mic cables and line level cables are generally interchangeable - Some mic cables are thinner gauge wire though.

Yeah I just kinda assumed everyone was confusing line/mic cable for powered monitors with actual speaker cable, and I was trying to eliminate that confusion. But apparently there are circumstances (albeit rare) where it is actually used with speaker cable.

Generally though, I don't think anyone is going to order an XLR speaker cable by accident. I think it's fair to assume that XLR are standard for line/mic signals, and that for speakers it's a special case.

I personally think whoever decided to use an XLR for speakers is an idiot - why introduce such confusion that could lead to damaging not only the cable, but amps and mics as well? I guess you could say the same thing about 1/4" plugs though. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen a guitarist try to use a speaker cable for an instrument cable and wonder why there's so much noise... or vice-versa and wonder why the cable gets so warm....

[Adlen]

Originally Posted by aclarson

Huh, trip out. What the hell do they hook it to? Is there an amp that has XLR speaker outs or a cab that has XLR ins?

Probably both, I have seen speaker XLR>XLR but just couldn't find the link.

Ohhh! I just remembered the first place I saw this, at Church we have some big speakers that use XLR. I actually did this face:

[aussie_techie]

XLRs used for speakers was very common in the past. very few if any cabs are made with XLRs these days but i still see some companies replace speakons with XLRs to match their existing setups and there are still plenty of old boxes out there that exclusively use XLRs, old rigs in pubs and clubs are full of them and other strange connectors that will really make you go . Speakon is fairly new and its only in the last few years that its been adopted so widely. Jacks were never reliable in large rigs because they do not lock in.

There is nothing rare or bizarre about their use, its what was around so its what was used. Some of the larger multi-pin plugs and wiring it all is a lot to get your head around though.

[Tapeworm]

My old TO Vox amp takes an XLR speaker cable. I have an XLR to XLR cable for the head to the vox cab and an XLR to 1/4" to use the head with any other cab.

[theslygoose]

XLR cables are designed to carry a balanced audio signal. So basically your cable would carry the signal, from the source, to the speaker which in turn then amplifies it there.
Speaker cables carry a load from amp to speaker, in which the signal is already amplified before it gets to the speaker.
Totally different wire and they are NOT interchangeable. Speaker cable has 2 conductors (negative and positive) and balanced cable has 2 conductors + a shield.

[Tapeworm]

Before I had the right XLR speaker cable...I used a XLR mic cable for a few months...

[duvalle]

Originally Posted by theslygoose

XLR cables are designed to carry a balanced audio signal. So basically your cable would carry the signal, from the source, to the speaker which in turn then amplifies it there.
Speaker cables carry a load from amp to speaker, in which the signal is already amplified before it gets to the speaker.
Totally different wire and they are NOT interchangeable. Speaker cable has 2 conductors (negative and positive) and balanced cable has 2 conductors + a shield.

so does that mean if you got passive speakers you must use XLR speaker cables (grey!)?
and if you use active speakers it's ok to use XLR mic cables (black!)?

[theslygoose]

Originally Posted by duvalle

so does that mean if you got passive speakers you must use XLR speaker cables (grey!)?
and if you use active speakers it's ok to use XLR mic cables (black!)?

Don't worry about colour, that makes no difference. The Star Quad cable I use comes in 10 different colours which are for identification purposes only.
Hopefully I don't make things more confusing, but XLR is a connector in which you can wire (theoretically) to anything. Some examples commonly used are XLR to 1/4" TRS, XLR to RCA, XLR to 1/8"....
For your purposes (I haven't read entire post) active monitors usually use a balanced XLR or 1/4" TRS input. You could use a traditional XLR (or mic) cable, or 1/4" TRS (same wire diff. connectors).
Traditionally, lets say a wedding dj setup, the dj would have an amplifier with 2 cables going to left and right passive speakers. Maybe speakon, banana, 1/4" etc.

[whatwhatwhoa]

Originally Posted by duvalle

so does that mean if you got passive speakers you must use XLR speaker cables (grey!)?
and if you use active speakers it's ok to use XLR mic cables (black!)?

It's not "okay." It's you "definitely should." But that's correct.

The wires used in either cables are different. Speaker cables you're trying to get as much power through as possible so a lower gauge wire is desired (gauges must confuse average consumers like crazy). Mic cables you want to get a good conductor with very little impurities, as well as shielding to get a clean signal.

[Blast9]

RECAP for clarity... And to repeat what everyone has said up above...

If you are using active monitors, and they have balanced XLR inputs then it is OK to use 3 core balanced "microphone cable" - i.e. 2 conductors and a shield.

The signal will be coming from a DAW or a desk, and therefore line level.

Mic cable can handle line level signals.

If you are going from an amplifier to a passive speaker:

Does the speaker have an XLR connector? If yes, then make sure your cable is thick, as it must be capable of carrying much higher current. It should has 2 conductors for the + and - terminals.

You won't need the shield

[theslygoose]

Originally Posted by Blast9

RECAP for clarity... And to repeat what everyone has said up above...

If you are using active monitors, and they have balanced XLR inputs then it is OK to use 3 core balanced "microphone cable" - i.e. 2 conductors and a shield.

The signal will be coming from a DAW or a desk, and therefore line level.

Mic cable can handle line level signals.

If you are going from an amplifier to a passive speaker:

Does the speaker have an XLR connector? If yes, then make sure your cable is thick, as it must be capable of carrying much higher current. It should has 2 conductors for the + and - terminals.

You won't need the shield

I totally agree. Someone mentioned before they used to use XLRs for passive back in the day, but I am trying to wrap my head around wiring a conventional XLR with anything bigger than 18 gauge (which would be really tight in itself).

[Blast9]

^ good point!

[didier.brest]

I think the question from the OP is what is the difference between this XLR-F to XLR-M cable labeled as a speaker cable (obviously an active speaker one having female XLR input like this one) and a microphone cable with the same connectors from the same brand labelled as microphone cable like this one. Is it only marketing or anything else ?

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Originally Posted by chromatronic

hello...

i ordered XLR cable to go from my sound card to my powered monitors and recieved XLR cable labeled as "microphone cable" ... is there a difference ?

. . .

you are not going to speakers, you are going to speaker cabinets which hold the amplifiers to power your speakers. So the question is moot, you have the right thing.

For the purposes of discussion though, pretty much the only people who used XLRs as speaker connectors were English, and that was 20 years ago or more. It is really tough to solder anything bigger than 16 gauge wire to an XLR, and in a pro installation you likely want 12 or even better, 10 gauge speaker wire. (You might see 6 gauge in some higher end studios.) A standard XLR mic cable makes a crummy speaker wire, the thin conductors and cable length has high line loss. Speaker cable typically is not shielded (though it can be) while mic cable is typically shielded. But I use them for headphone extensions all the time.