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Are XLR microphone cables suitable for connecting the RME Fireface UFX II AD converter to a pair of Yamaha HS-8 studio monitors? I bought two Roland Black series (RMC-B15) microphone cables to connect the UFX II to the HS-8's. The package for the cables says "Microphone Cables" -- "low impedance", "low capacitance". I know they're XLR cables, so physically they would connect my UFX II and the HS-8s, but is a "microphone cable" suitable for this job? I don't know if a microphone XLR cable would differ in any way from a speaker XLR cable -- whether the impedance, capacitance or anything else matters...

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Cerulean
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"Microphone" cables are suitable for all balanced, analog audio signals that use XLR connectors, whether they are mic level or line level. So yes, you can use these cables with the "Balanced line-level outputs" on the RME.

One type of connection that uses XLR connectors that you shouldn't use "microphone" cables for is a digital AES/EBU connection. The characteristic impedance of the cable used for AES/EBU has to be a specific value, and a generic "mic" cable won't necessarily have that characteristic impedance. For digital connections, get a cable designed for AES/EBU specifically.

Todd Wilcox
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  • So wait, what *is* the difference between mic cables and speaker cables (assuming both are XLR)? – Andy Bonner Dec 15 '22 at 20:37
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    @AndyBonner When I read “speaker cable”, I think of a cable that carries a high power low impedance signal from a power amp to a passive speaker enclosure. I’ve never seen such a cable with XLR connectors and no one should ever make a cable for this purpose with XLR connectors nor use an XLR cable for such a connection. Power amp outputs are also unbalanced. If that’s not what you mean by “speaker cable” then I don’t know what you mean. – Todd Wilcox Dec 15 '22 at 20:40
  • Specs for speakers (yamaha website): "XLR and TRS phone jack inputs accept balanced or unbalanced signals". The HS-8s are (self-) powered, and the expected audio signal is line level. To be clear, though, (as Todd Willcox intimates) unpowered-speaker cables are a different beast and they carry enough power to melt wires if they are the wrong gauge. – Yorik Dec 15 '22 at 20:53
  • @ToddWilcox I've seen XLR used with passive speakers 20 years ago when Speakon was relatively new and not very widespread, especially in older equipment. You definitely had to watch your cable gauges then. – arne Dec 16 '22 at 06:00
  • @arne Strange. I started doing live sound in the ‘90s and still never have seen speaker cables on XLR. Do you remember what brand(s) of power amp or speaker had XLR connectors for the speaker signal? Not sure what the history of Speakon has to do with it. Before Speakon it was just all banana plugs, spade lugs, 1/4”, or even bare wire. – Todd Wilcox Dec 16 '22 at 06:28
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    @ToddWilcox - in the70s, 80s and 90s, I fitted all of my different speaker cabs with XLRs, mainly so they could be extended easily - didn't like jack-female jack, as they didn't lock like XLRs. Always used orange cables (as in 2 core lawnmower cables) so they never got mixed up with mic leads. Never had any problems. It's only recently I've started changing over to Speakons (still with the same orange cables). I also try not to use *any* black leads which tend to go missing after gigs. – Tim Dec 16 '22 at 08:15
  • @ToddWilcox - there are still speakers for sale out there which have XLR sockets. Yamaha for one make. Mainly foldback monitors, I think. Thing **not** to do is plug *mains* from a figure of 8 lead into XLR -it fits perfectly. I've done it, and the result was very costly! – Tim Dec 16 '22 at 11:58
  • @Tim I thought I had used every Yamaha passive stage monitor in production at some time in the last ten years or so and never saw XLR. I wonder if there’s any chance this is a difference between the US and elsewhere. – Todd Wilcox Dec 16 '22 at 12:16
  • Although irrelevant to this quest as it's about XLR/XLR cables, it should be noted that XLR/Jack cables that are marked for microphone use typically have TS tip for the Jack plug instead of TRS so they aren't able to curry a balanced signal if you use them to connect powered monitors. Whereas XLR/Jack cables labeled as speaker cables typically use TRS tip to curry balanced level signal – Dimitris Filippou Dec 16 '22 at 13:34
  • A small note: digital aes/ebu cables work well as microphone cables or for line level signals to a self-powered speaker. Not the other way round though. – ghellquist Dec 16 '22 at 14:29
  • @ToddWilcox. I had asked RME about the matter and they've replied that the cables are fine, but that the HS8s have symmetrical XLR connections and that these cables have unsymmetrical plugs, which isn't recommended. Do you know what they are referring to? – Cerulean Dec 16 '22 at 15:13
  • @Cerulean I do not. Are the words "symmetrical" and "unsymmetrical" in your comment translations from a language other than English? If so, then I think a better translation would be "balanced" and "unbalanced". If you are using "microphone" cables, then the cable can carry a balanced signal, so I don't know why RME would say that the cables have "unsymmetrical plugs". I'm 100% confident that if you buy the cables in the picture in your question, you can use them to connect the RME to the HS-8s and it will work. – Todd Wilcox Dec 16 '22 at 15:16
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    @Cerulean Did you send the photo to RME or did you just send them the cable code RMC-B20? Because in Rolands website they only list the 3ft cable aka [RMC-B3](https://www.roland.com/us/products/rmc-b3/features/) and if you google RMC-B20 first result will be [RMC-B20-HIZ](https://www.roland.com/global/products/rmc-b20-hiz/) which is an XLR/Jack(TS) cable which is an unbalanced cable. – Dimitris Filippou Dec 16 '22 at 15:49
  • @Todd Wilcox XLR speaker cables (i.e. from Power Amp Output to Passive Speaker cabinet input) were commonplace in 1960s-1970s and even through till the early 80's. The practice has since been all but eliminated from mechanical design due to it being an inherently bad idea for reasons I'm sure you're aware of. – Chris Butler Dec 22 '22 at 01:34
  • @Tim, the speakers you buy these days that still have XLR connectors on them will almost always without exception be *powered* speakers (i.e. built in amp). Therefore the signal that's being carried across the XLR mic cable is signal or line level (i.e. what the cable is designed for). You should almost never find a *passive* speaker that has an XLR connector on it these days. – Chris Butler Dec 22 '22 at 02:18
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    @ChrisButler Aha, I didn’t start working in live sound until the late ‘90s – Todd Wilcox Dec 22 '22 at 04:17