AES cable 75ohm or 110ohm?

[EarthTone]

Can I use this Canare 75ohm LV-61s 1606 cable to make AES digital cables? I originally bought a ProCo AES to SPDIF cable from Sweetwater to get my AES XLR input DAC to monitor out of my Apollo which has SPDIF output kn RCA jacks. That worked great. But not I am switching to an RME interface which has AES i/o on XLR jacks so I need to make or modify new cables. I don’t want to bite the bullet and buy $100 worth of two AES cables if I can make them out of this cable I have here.

But I heard AES needs to be 110ohm cable. So I guess I can’t use this to make them? Or can I?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Newmarket]

You real issue is that you have co-axial cable. XLR requires screened twisted pair like mic cable. Wrt impedance it should be 110 Ohm cable but this isn't critical over moderate distances. And tbh there's nothing particularly "110 Ohm" about an XLR connector. I'd say give normal mic lead/cable a go in there.

 

[ccaudle]

Two AES cables should not cost $100 unless you need 30m cables (assuming you are making them yourself and are not accounting the cost of your own labor). Low capacitance twisted pair from a decent manufacturer like Belden, Mogami, or Canare can be purchased for anywhere from US$0.50 to US$1.50 per foot even in small lengths, a pair of Neutrik connectors is under $10.

 

[Newmarket]

Two AES cables should not cost $100 unless you need 30m cables (assuming you are making them yourself and are not accounting the cost of your own labor). Low capacitance twisted pair from a decent manufacturer like Belden, Mogami, or Canare can be purchased for anywhere from US$0.50 to US$1.50 per foot even in small lengths, a pair of Neutrik connectors is under $10.

Agree. With caveat that depending where jou are it can now be difficult to purchase cable on short / moderate lengths.

 

[Ike Zimbel]

Can I use this Canare 75ohm LV-61s 1606 cable to make AES digital cables? I originally bought a ProCo AES to SPDIF cable from Sweetwater to get my AES XLR input DAC to monitor out of my Apollo which has SPDIF output kn RCA jacks. That worked great. But not I am switching to an RME interface which has AES i/o on XLR jacks so I need to make or modify new cables. I don’t want to bite the bullet and buy $100 worth of two AES cables if I can make them out of this cable I have here.

But I heard AES needs to be 110ohm cable. So I guess I can’t use this to make them? Or can I?

Thanks,
Matt

I have some short-to-medium lengths of 110 ohm AES cable kicking around. What lengths do you need?

 

[EarthTone]

I have some short-to-medium lengths of 110 ohm AES cable kicking around. What lengths do you need?

Thanks guys! I didn’t even look at the cable directly before I posted this: Of course this won’t work! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Ike- Very kind of you. It looks like I don’t need very much length, but I have deep-dived and it appears everyone recommends 1.5m minimum lengths for short digital cable because of some sort of data reflections… I didn’t want to worry too much about all these details so I just bought a few short Mogami AES and BNC wordclock cables in 1.5m lengths. So I think I’m ok for now. I may order some AES cable and spare connectors from Redco to keep around for the future in case of needing more of them. Cheers,

Matt