Studio Cables?

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PatinaCreme

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
64
Location
Florida -US
I know this is subjective, but I would appreciate some of you seasoned pros to comment on which bulk cable you prefer.

-Belden
-Mogami
-Canare

I hope this hasn't been covered. I looked up "cable" and the search was extremely broad. I checked the Meta.


thank you,
Patina
 
one of those is supposed to have alot more "flexy" feel to them, so they coil easier, i think its canare.


i got my canare from Pacific Radio. no complaints there, and they do low ft cuts if needed at no extra cost.

http://www.pacrad.com/index.shtml


t
 
In my opinion, the Mogami wins as far as flexibilty, and ease in preping the shield. Canare starquad uses a woven braid that has to be picked apart, whereas the Mogami has a wound braid, one clockwise around the cable, and the other anti-clockwise. This amounts to the same level of shielding as the Canare but is easier to work with. The Canare always seemed to me it would hold up better under the rigors of touring work; I bet you could use it as a pull rope for a small car without damaging it too much.
 
Are you talking about mic cables? They're all very good quality and easy to work with. If you're looking at mic cables specifically you might also want to consider Gotham cable with the 'double reussen' shield. It has two layers of spiral wound shield going in opposite directions, which makes it a little more difficult to solder, but it is very, very quiet. I like it a lot.
 
I always use Mogami for mic. Redco sells them at a decent price.
W2549 http://redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=493

For instrument I use Canare GS6.
http://redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=543.

Haven't had problems with either of those. I personaly think the star quad stuff didn't do too much good for me.

my2cents
Gil
 
For portable/flexible I like Mogami.
For semi-perm install I like the Canare with foil shield.
Gotham mic cable.
For old time's sake, I have some Belden 8412 (Brown) mic and guitar cables
 
not that it matters, but canare has a TON of different colors. i've got white canare starquad with black neutrix xlr's. siiiiiick looking.

:green:

carry on.
 
There is a cable company called Sommer Cable...based in europe. They have quite a selection, and I have tried a few, no fav's yet.
http://www.sommercable.com/2__default/index.html

For my home-made cables:
(I forget the #'s)
Mogami two wire +twisted sheild -lightweight- for the patchbay.
Canare quad, braided sheild, for rack interconnections.

The braided sheild is supposed to give better....um...sheilding, over the twisted.
I use yellow Canare for digital cables, Black for analog, and Blue for microphone.

=FB=
 
[quote author="jrmintz"]Are you talking about mic cables? They're all very good quality and easy to work with. If you're looking at mic cables specifically you might also want to consider Gotham cable with the 'double reussen' shield. It has two layers of spiral wound shield going in opposite directions, which makes it a little more difficult to solder, but it is very, very quiet. I like it a lot.[/quote]

It also coils up very nicely, and I also like it a lot. Because the outer layer is made from conductive plastic, it's more RFI-resistant than many other cables, a boon when you're near a big radio tower. (Hi, Dad!) Once in a blue moon you find a piece of gear where the unusual grounding situation causes a ground loop -- so far I've encountered precisely one piece like this, a Rolls Bellari mic pre.

Canare and Mogami are also nice, and I like being able to color-code stuff with the Canare. But I hate unbraiding the damn shield, so (heresy) when I need Canare cables and I'm not in a rush I get them made up by Markertek.

Peace,
Paul
 
I used to use Horizon Lo Z5 until they stopped distributing in the UK. Their cable was much better value for money than any other make & easily as good quality.

For what it`s worth I always opt for a woven braided sheild rather than the spiral wrap types. I`ve seen spiral wrap stuff shift so the sheild ends up like a stripe spiralling round the cable a bit like a barbers pole.

I`m not worried about the flexibilty particularly, I`d much rather have good resilient cable where I know that the screening is going to stay put. Lets face it if you know how to coil a cable properly the flexibilty of the cable doesn`t make it more difficult.
 
I go with canare whenever I can, I really like how it's a bit stiffer than the other cable types and I don't mind the braided shield (you only need to deal with that once really). The colors really seal the deal though, I have blue to match the walls of my studio :cool:

I do have a bunch of mogami cables that I my partner bought though and they're good too. I find that I always reach for the canare if I have the choice.

Oh for patchbay and permanent wiring nothing beats that super skinny mogami stuff (I forget the part #). And for panel ties I run a 24 core mogami snake which is loaded with the same type of skinny cable. Never had a hint of a problem with cross-talk, RF, or anything at all.

While on this topic, anybody know where you can buy the multi-core cable for tube mics, specifically a Rode NTK cable? The end of my cable is all "coily" from the previous owner so I'm pretty sure the shielding is shot. I also don't need the ridiculous 30' of cable they give you, I'd much rather have maybe 10' of good quality cable if I can find some and get the rest of the length from a regular mic cable from the PSU.
 
Here's what I use, mainly because I'm used to working with it and I have thousands of feet of it on hand :razz:

Star Quad for mic cables.

For analog permanent installs:
Clark SPA22GS single-pair
Clark RS22G2 two-pair "siamese" (Very handy!)
Belden 8723 two pair with common drain
Belden 82761 very thin single-pair

AES permanent installs:
Belden 1801B
...and some two-pair AES cable from Clark, part # not handy at the moment.
 
For studio work IMO it's all about mogami quad cable. It sounds great.
But for live work and or on ther movie set it's not the best in to world as it is a bit more fragile. Fo that gotta go with the belden. It's ahrder to wrap IMO but more durable...
 
I'm with Dave :green:

there must be a broadcast DNA flowing through us

Star Quad and the Belden install cables are my bread and butter
 
ok
if I get the chance I have another go
it is the dual braid and conductor crosssection that gives the StarQuad some survival skills

300 and 500 meter cables and heavy handed OB cable pullers give cables quite a stretch during pack up.
 
yep
I know
as the topic title suggests ... I'll check Gotham again for price and stock and have another look as OB is now well out of my brief. The TV bussiness here is changing so Studio Floor only for me now.

I do have 100 meter studio floor cables and they often come from the OB stock cables cut back as during repairs
The studio floor can also be a rough place with Camera Peds running over them AND cables being stretched when tangled with moving Lighting Rigs.
 
I know this is insane but you could always just buy a bunch of cable and take the time and listen to it and see what you like the best and form your own opinion, why should you care about mine? Cable is cheap and you can buy it by the foot and whatever money you invest into the process will lead you to an opinion of your own with authority rather than trusting some crap you read on the internet. Im not taking a stab at anyone posting on this thread but I have listened to enough different cable to know that saying X is the best cable is just not an angle that suggests having listened to lots of different cable. A type of cable that may be best for guitar cabs might not be what you want for a snare drum. If you buy quality brands, as have been suggested, in the big picture you likely wont tell the difference but with a/b comparisons the shit sounds night and day different sometimes. Quad cable in general sounds different than regular pair cable. And the shields can add to the effect as well. Which one is best? I have one type of cable that I use for vocals but have other preferences for different sources. Is the guitar mic cable better than the vocal mic cable or is one just more appropriate than the other? If you are in a high RF environment quad cable might just be the quietest making someone's suggestion about the best studio cable wholly and pitifully irrelevant. Put some effort into this shit, its completely affordable and totally easy to do. Why trust someone else's generalization that might not even apply to what you are up against in your working environment.

dave
 
please accept my apology for suggesting on this forum that users do an a/b listening test to determine what works best for their own taste.

I truly am sorry.

canare is the best for the herd.

there ya go.

dave
 
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