Audio pros - Best reasonably-priced XLR mic cables for recording?

[clay]

I need to purchase a couple 50-100' XLR mic cables for a mobile recording setup. In the past, I've had great luck with HotWired Cables - http://www.hotwiredcables.com/ with their Mogami/Neutrik cables, but in trying to have them make me some cables for this particular need, my emails have gone unanswered or have bounced back, and their 800 number seems to be disconnected.

I'm interested in good quality XLR mic cables. I would prefer a brand-name, known high-quality cable, so I'm not looking for the absolute lowest-cost cable that might be available at a radio shack or big-box source. I don't buy into the Monster cable hype, though, so I'd prefer not to spend my money on a brand where the premium is (often) unwarranted.

I'm also of the mindset that cables are often the weakest link in a recording setup, and it's worth a little more $$ to have trouble-free/error-free cables that last me longer than 6 months.

Any suggestions?

[clay]

Here's an option that looks decent:

http://www.comprehensiveinc.com/store/p/...ctors.aspx

I've had pretty good luck with comprehensive's products in the past, although I haven't ordered a ton of stuff from them. The lifetime warranty on this particular cable is nice. I might go with that option if there aren't any other suggestions that pop up.

[Fritz]

these guys are pretty reasonable as I remember.
http://www.markertek.com/

Belden will do you fine. You might want to look into quadflex aka star quad, cable for remotes.
Basically better shielding against RF. Popular for us here in NYC.

[clay]

thanks, Fritz. Just ordered the cables from Markertek. I actually went with Mogami since that's what many of my other cables are.

[dbow]

In my experience Mogami is the very best,

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=mogami&st=

[mrthuse]

I use Rapco XLRs almost exclusively. They get almost daily use and, unfortunately, not everyone is as careful w/ them as they might/should be. Rapco comes w/ a lifetime warranty. Last summer I had reason to return for repair several 25' and 50' cables that had been abused by the students. I paid freight to get them to Jackson, Mo. whereupon they were repaired and reconditioned gratis and returned pre-paid in 2 weeks.

A better deal (or product) I've yet to find (and the techies are decent folk - I called to make sure I understood what the guarantee meant - "Yep," they said, "free.")

My $0.02.

[prof]

Sorry to highjack this thread but would a standard XLR mic cable
be acceptable to connect a balanced output of my mixer to the
balanced input of a Mackie HR-824 monitor?? Or do I need a
cable specifically made for balanced connections?

TIA,
Prof

[Joey Cupcakes]

[quote prof]Sorry to highjack this thread but would a standard XLR mic cable
be acceptable to connect a balanced output of my mixer to the
balanced input of a Mackie HR-824 monitor?? Or do I need a
cable specifically made for balanced connections?

TIA,
Prof
A standard mic XLR IS a balanced cable and will work just fine with your 824s.

[prof]

A standard mic XLR IS a balanced cable and will work just fine with your 824s.
I thought so. Thanks for the clarification Joey!

[Jimmypoo]

These are designed by Robert Mogami. Not a very popular African leader, but he was one hell of an Electrical Engineer in his day. His Junta is propped up by the royalties from the cable sales.

The guy even has a degree in Economics from University of London - he's not your average dictator / engineer. Zimbabwe's cable manufacture sites were shut down when Bush signed into law the embargo against Zimbabwe, so they opened up shop in California and hired almost exclusively former programmers from Sybase to staff and manage the manufacturing. It's really pretty impressive.

The guy won Dictator of the Month too, in 2004. http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Mugabe...gabeEN.htm