I’m trying to buy cables for monitor speakers and condenser mic.

Im looking into mogami cables and Im very confused about their lineups.

Is the Mogami GOLD the w2534 one? Is this different from what people recommends, the w2549 one?

Or W2549 also has silver, gold, etc..?

mogami gold is the industry standard, and is the cable that people are generally talking about when they mention mogami cables. they do have other cable lines, but get the gold - you'll be just fine with that.

The first one you posted is a quad cable with 4 conductors. The second one is a standard balanced cable. I'm not sure what the benefits of the quad cable are. I've made a bunch out of the w2549 and been perfectly happy.

“Mogami Gold” and “Silver” and all that, my advice is just ignore that. That’s the stuff that comes in blister packs at Guitar Center for $70/cable. They also use “Gold” to describe unbalanced instrument cable, which is w2524, so it’s confusing. Just look at two things: the cable model # and what connector is used.

Either way…

“Gold” balanced cables use Mogami w2534 cable which is quad cable. This means it’s more shielded against interference from RFI type stuff. It’s more expensive than w2549, but not necessarily better sounding, just better RFI rejection from being quad. So you’re paying more for the quad construction/interference rejection, not for better sound.

People on here have quoted Mogami reps as stating they consider w2549 as their top-of-the-line balanced mic cable, better than even w2534 simply because it’s NOT quad. Quad cable kind of inherently rolls off extreme highs over extreme long distances. Not enough to notice (at all) when you’re going 20ft out to your monitors, but if you were going hundreds and hundreds of feet it might be a less-than-a-decibel attenuation in the extreme high frequencies. That’s my understanding anyway.

So Mogami “Gold” uses 2534 not because it’s necessarily the best sounding, but simply because it’s the most expensive. “Silver” is cheaper but not worse sounding at all, in fact it might even be superior in some very narrow applications.

So in my opinion, regardless of sonics (hugely controversial subject, a whole can of worms best avoided…) why pay extra money for quad if you don’t need it, and if 2549 might even be slightly “better” anyway? I’ve never had a problem with Mogami 2549 and RF interference. Now if you’re wiring a studio from scratch, or a radio broadcast station, and have dozens/hundreds of wires in the floors and walls, tons of networked rooms with all kinds of parallel runs of wire and power lines and such, sure maybe spring for quad cable from whatever manufacturer.

But if you’re just at home and need to hook up some monitors, I say go for the 2549.

Saying one mic cable sounds different than another mic cable is blasphemy to many people here, but even if they sound literally identical then why not opt for the cheaper 2549 unless you already know you have interference issues.

Last thing, don’t buy Mogami “Gold” in the blisterpacks from the store… that’s just a pure waste of money. Check out some of the online folks who wire up custom cables for less than half the cost:

One of my favorites is:

Mogami | Rainwatersound – 20ft w2549 with Neutrik connectors - $28.45

Also:

Redco Audio - Audio/Video Supplies and Accessories, Custom Cables and Panels, and more - 20ft w2549 with Neutrik connectors - $37.73

Compare to:

Guitar Center “Mogami Gold” 20ft: $69.99 - Guitar Center

And there’s a few others that are rock-bottom prices. I’ve priced it out many times and without buying in huge bulk orders it would be hard to beat these prices even if you soldered them yourself.

At these prices, you can get Mogami w2549 with Neutrik connectors for the same price or less than way crappier brands.

Any european places for great cable prices?

Most of my cables are Mogami Gold. They are very good in quality and will last a long time.

I bought a compliment of Mogami Silver cables for my bedio in 2002 and every one of them is still performing like the day I bought them. XLR cables, TRS cables and TS. I also have a 10' Gold instrument cable from '05 that is fantastic,

Thanks for the detailed answer, and all of you. Lastly, would I be able to use the same w2549 cable(for the monitors) for the condenser mic as well?

Yep, exactly. Any balanced cable will work, as long as it has the right connectors obviously. Instead of "mic cable" it might help to think of it as balanced cable.

Isn’t silver or gold talking about the connectors? And connectors have nothing to do with the sound so why would silver be better in Some narrow applications ?

Nope, it has nothing to do with the metals silver and gold, thats why it's confusing. "Gold" and "Silver" are just a marketing product name that refers to pre-made Mogami/Neutrik cable assemblies sold pre-packaged in stores like Guitar Center. Mogami doesnt produce connectors, they make cabling, and their cabling is denominated by a number code like #2534 or #2549 (not "Silver", etc.). Mogami "Gold" and "Silver" or whatever is just a product name to sell it in stores b/c ppl wouldnt understand "Mogami #2549 and Neutrik NC3MX-B" so they call it... "Uh... Silver!" Which sounds suitably fancy for a premium cable. They could have called it Oak vs. Cherry or Diamond vs. Meteoritic Iron, wouldnt matter.

What is sold as "Gold" in stores = Mogami #2534 star-quad cable, with Neutrik connectors.

What is sold as "Silver" = Mogami #2549 , which is not quad, with usually the exact same Neutrik connectors (black casing, gold-plated connections). Sometimes I think theyve switched up the connectors these days, I dont know, doesnt really matter.

The gold-plated Neutriks are plated in literal gold. The "silver" or chrome looking ones are I think made of mostly Nickel...? But I dont know.

No Neutrik jacks use the literal metal Silver that I know of.

The gold plated connectors simply plate a very thin layer of gold over their normal (nickel?) connectors.

Star Quad is better at rejecting interference, see posts above. There is more going on inside the cable so it is more expensive to build and sell. However it is not automatically "better" than the 2549 (unless you do in fact need the added interference rejection). It just costs more, being star-quad, which is more expensive to produce.

Otherwise the 2549 is cheaper, and actually spec'd as having lower capacitance, so is "better" in that narrow way, although likely too small a difference to hear in the normal cable assemblies of like 20ft or whatever.

Giant runs across a live stage where cables are perhaps running parallel to AC cables or power transformers etc.... then maybe I'd spec star quad despite the higher price. Ive basically never had an issue with 2549 and interference, for MY uses star quad cable is overkill, and simply adds cost and capacitance, neither I'm interested in.

Also as a guitar player, I personally am always wary (quite possibly overly wary) of capacitance, because in unbalanced cable (TS / "guitar cable"), capacitance is more of an issue and starts rolling off high end information on much shorter lengths than balanced cable (like 20-50ft unbalanced vs. 200ft balanced). I've absolutely experienced differences in tone/feel with longer guitar cable runs (think guitar to pedalboard, all the pedal-to-pedal connections, and then a long run to the backline amp), for me it's not even a debate.

I like Mogami, and while it's probably overkill, at the prices Ive found and linked above, and the used prices Ive scored on things like snake assemblies, I just use 2549 for nearly everything. Ive gotten it used literally cheaper than I could build it, and some of the companies above I couldn't beat their price either last time I checked because I wouldnt be buying in huge bulk. It's expensive, but IME not much more so than other stuff, and ive found it extremely reliable and I like the size and feel. I used to buy cheap cables as a commodity, and had nothing but problems, so once bitten twice shy amd Ive since invested in good cables, and Mogami is so popular there are VERY competitive sources.

Gold-plated TRS or XLR jacks are great when paired with gold-plated jacks on the gear you're using, less oxidation issue. Metallurgically, any two different metals in contact with each other will eventually oxidize or whatever the proper term is. Most gear dsnt have gold-plated connections, so the benefits are questionable. Also it's simply gold-plated, it's not like it's solid gold. So for something being plugged in/out over and over, the plating can wear off, although personally Ive found Neutrik in particular pretty resistant to that. Maybe they use a thicker plating I dont know.

Whether balanced cables have a sound at all is debated relentlessly. Ditto connectors. General consenus is either no impact, or extremely minimal, not enough to really worry about. Converters have a bigger impact IMO and people debate that relentlessly, too.

Got you. Is the gold Worth the extra 4 bucks for Neutrik plating?

Not sure what you mean, sorry. Can you elaborate or point/link to a specific product or selection?

If someone didn't recommend Rainwatersound I would have thought it was scam if I found it on my own. This will save me so much money than getting two 6ft Mogami gold with w2534 cable from Sweetwater which is $59.95 each. At Rainwatersound it's $20.50 each! Thanks a lot! :D

Also going for the w2534 just because of the massive interference that goes into my studio monitors (with HOSA cables) from my PC when it's running near full power when gaming or editing. Yeah, did confirm it wasn't the electrical plugs since it stopped when disconnecting the audio cables. Also I know it's probably not my Focusrite's usb since my mic has no interference (mic is using Cable Matters XLR cable) since it's not running along other cable and my pc at the back of my desk. But $2.25 more than the Mogami 2534 might be worth it to be 100% sure it there will never be interference again lol.

Btw how many times have you purchased from Rainwatersound and how was your experience with them?

Any current link a to rainwater sound?