Instrument Cables for QSC K10's? I'm confused

Stratman68

Stratman68

Axe-Master
While I know balanced cables are best for active speakers like the QSC K10's I was reading where it was suggested if not balanced at least use good Shielded guitar cables? Never use regular 1/4" speaker cables no matter what gauge.

does that make sense to anyone. I have very cheap balanced cables but I have a tone of hi end guitar cables15" long.

Any advice on this?

Thanks so much guys

Frank
 
speaker cables are designed to carry load from a power amp, they aren't suitable for regular connections like that.
 
You should be able to use any of the cables listed above.

You can check google for more technical explanation, but here's a very generalized explanation of balanced vs balanced cables and speaker vs instrument cables.

Balanced cables utilize three conductors instead of two which for various reasons allows for signals to travel longer distances compared to unbalanced cables with less extraneous signal noise being picked up.

Speaker cable typically utilizes heavier gauge conductors in order to handle more power. It is safe to put line level signals over a cable made for a speaker run, but it is not safe going the other way around. Much like a fuse, a cable that isn't specced for high power could "pop".


In your case, any of the combination of cabling will work. I'm going to throw in one other cabling option just to be complete. You can use a "humbuster" cable which is 1/4" TRS on one side and TS on the other. You can think of the "humbuster" as a faux balanced cable.

In general, the longer your cable run between axe and power amp, the better your cabling should be to handle noise. Paraphrasing from what I remember from the manual, regular 1/4" instrument cables should be fine for runs under 1'. Anything longer and you might want to go either humbuster or XLR.

Edit: one last note, use whatever you have at hand and your ears will tell you if you need to pony up for a better cable.
 
Last edited:
Instrument cable i.e. guitar cable should be fine for powered monitors, though you are correct to say that XLR balanced is the ideal of course.

Mains cable is usually unshielded but with thicker copper to carry the power and it is the lack of shielding and also possible static noise that can be a problem.

One advantage of not using XLR is that a cable can more easily pull out than pull something over, but other than that obviously the pro way is balanced when possible and XLR is the stay connected way.
 
I like Shootout's answer, a lot more practical.

I'm personally using 6" long 1/4 TS right angle connector patch cables (Typically used on pedal boards). I bought the patch cables to get me up and running with the plan of upgrading them later.

Cost me $10 for the three patch cables from GC. They work perfectly, are clean in the rack, and are very cheap. They introduce zero noise and I have no intention of changing the cabling now.
 
Think of it like this:

Guitar cables are drinking straws.
Speaker cables are garden hoses.

Just because you can drink your coke through a garden hose doesn't mean that it's a good idea. ;)
 
Speaker cables are used between power amp and speaker. That's it.

When connecting to the input of a K10 or any other powered speaker, you are not "plugging into the speaker," you are plugging into the power amp input. That's where the misconception of needing a "speaker" cable comes from.

As you know, plug into a power amp input using XLR or instrument cables.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom