quality degredation, plugging xlr cables into....

[minofifa]

hey everybody....

well i'm still planning out my custom rack shelf and i had an idea but i thought i better run it by the people here before i started getting carried away buying connectors and drilling holes...

here is my idea. I am building a rack shelf that is, for the most part, as sound proof that it can be. it will have a door on the front and a back panel on it (there will be plenty of space for cooling still). Since i don't want to be putting a zillion holes in the back for the numerous cables, my idea is to drill 8-10 holes in the top and insert into each, a female to male xlr connector. This way i can plug my mics into the top of the rack shelf (which will be about 5 feet high) and have the wire run from the connector in the top of the unit to the appropiate piece of gear, probably the preamp / soundcard.

What i am finding however, is that it is hard to find female to male xlr connectors at a decent price. so i was wondering if i could just buy like 8 mic cables and have one end plugged into the rack gear on the inside of the rack and have the other end mounted into the wood of the roof of the rack so that just the end sticks up (ultimately producing the same setup i described).

would either of these setups (connectors or short cables) cause a serious degreation in quality? any advice or comments? even a link to a good connector / adaptor site would be helpful.

Thanks for the help.

[minofifa]

i am almost looking for a wall mount with 8 or so xlr imputs

[boingoman]

Hey, I don't know if you saw my reply to your other post- I can't remember where it was in here. CBI or Whirlwind will probably have what you want, or will definitely make it for you. They will even wire it up for you, with a multi-pair cable with a fan-out on the end to hook up your gear inside the rack. It will probably be cheaper than buying a bunch of mic cables. A local shop could make a panel with holes you could mount xlr panel jacks in, as well. They are easy to rivet. Whether you mount your jacks into your rack or use a panel, the quality of your signal won't be affected.
I'm kinda curious as to why you would want them on top, though. Is it a noise thing?

CBI

Whirlwind

These guys have good prices.
Redco

[minofifa]

cool, thanks for the resources.

I think i'm moreso just looking for the parts as i will prolly build my own as I go. I'm just not sure exactly what i want yet so when i need more connections i can add them later.

What i'm thinking though,is that i will use a couple of short snakes, one that is XLR and on that is TRS. So my question sort of remains, will i loose quality witht he following:

mic > mic cable 1 > mic cable 1 > preamp?

Thanks for the help.

[jtienhaara]

Use decent quality connectors, low AWG cable (22 should be fine) with good shielding, and you should be fine.

You can order the plates that boingoman mentioned from Markertek, although be warned that many of these film supply places try to rip you off on shipping when you're ordering from Canada.

Hope this helps,

Johann