Topic: Soundboard patches, Balanced XLR or TRS, what default ends?

[mfisch]

Will a balanced XLR cable make a difference if I only have TRS inputs on my AD?

Not to beat the same dead horse again, but after a quick search I decided to put my cowboy boots on.

I'd like to take various feeds from the board into my rig and mix later, I know where to get special cables and adapters from -- but my question has more to do with ideal cabling.

I've got an EDIROL FA-101 into a Mac Mini, I use the XLR female phantom-power ports to take in ambient mics (all well and good). I've also got eight (yes TRS (thats 1/4" plug) inputs.
  I need TRS (1/4") on my end, but I could take TRS or XLR from the board. So I figure I need a cadre of cables with XLR male or TRS male on the board end, and TRS on my end. Seeing as my input ports are not balanced, is there an advantage to use a real XLR cable?

I plan to purchase 15' to 25' cables (to give my audio engineer breathing room). My gut says I should use:

XLR M --> XLR cable --> XLR M --> XLR F to TRS M
TRS M to XLR F --> XLR M --> XLR cable --> XLR M --> XLR F to TRS M
(Does this ensure a balanced signal end to end?)
OR
XLR M --> XLR cable --> TRS M
TRS M to XLR F --> XLR M --> XLR cable --> TRS M
(Does this still ensure a balanced signal end to end with one less adapter? Does it depend who makes the cable?)

ps.
Any reason why I shouldn't ziptie my cables together (XLR or TRS cabling)?

[fozzy]

You will also find a variety of boards that provide RCA and 1/4" unbalacnced outputs.

I would stick w/ a couple of sets of XLR cables and whip up some XLR to 1/4" adapters.  Therefore your cable length is always XLR and you can adapt the ends accordingly.

[mfisch]

So Im looking at http://www.markertek.com/p/fullpage.php?newpage=64&page=064&go.x=12&go.y=6, see the snakes at the bottom? I'm thinking an 8-cable snake with XLR M on the board end.
Looks like their 1/4" cables are unbalanced whereas RCA is balanced... does this make any sense to anyone? Will the signal be unbalanced no matter what adapter I use where because my ADC is 1/4" TRS? On the next page they show balanced XLR --> TRS (but not in snake form).

Looks like I buy the xlr snake (plus adapters for both ends), or make my own snake with chewing gum and newspaper. Buying the snake saves money and makes things neater -- but only if I dont have to shell $10/adapter.

The board (if I get XLR out) will always have XLR F right?

You say RCA is common out at the board, is it also common that only RCA is available?
I know RCA is an ideal connector when your UA-5 has RCA, but my AD does not.

ps, regarding cable length. Should I consider the 15' instead of 25' cable? I was under the impression line level was high enough on a board patch that 25' should be fine.