Cable Opinions

[Muckelroy]

I'm still in the process of getting started w/ my analog setup, and obviously, cables are gonna be one of my biggest financial pitfalls if I were to buy them retail

I understand the importance of high quality cable, but MAN, they rape your wallet. And running a patch bay setup, even with just 8 tracks is quite an endeavor, as far as cables are concerned.

So, I think I'll turn to ebay for the cable side of things. Now, I want to get all the same brand/type of cables, for consitency's sake.

The lowest prices ones I see are HOSA snakes. The only downside I know of is the rubber jackets, and the lack of fixability should they break. (but then again, I'm not gonna be yanking them around TOO much. It won't be a live sound rig.) Thoughts?

I have also entertained the idea of buying connectors and cable in bulk, and making my own. But I know that my soldering skills are questionable, and I don't want inconsistencies to affect the sound of those cables. Thoughts?

Any other brand of cables which are low cost, but high quality? er, in between?

Thanks!!
-callie-

[Herm]

I have several of the hosa 8 channel snakes that i use with my gear and have never had one problem with them in the last 9 years.
I think on any thing that is going to be left alone behind the mixer or recorder you should be fine with the hosa stuff.

[cjacek]

I use HOSA and never had a problem. Make sure to take care of them and they'll be fine.

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by cjacek

I use HOSA and never had a problem. Make sure to take care of them and they'll be fine.

... or simply leave them alone ...and they'll be fine.

In general, I'd say , if you are going into analog gear (or what ever gear, actually, but if your studio set-up gets more and more real-wired ), then THIS , or maybe even better - something like THIS - would be a good 'investment' ...that's for sure, cos' from time to time you may need (most likely will need) it.
As for soldering skills... arghhhhh, c'mon.... just practice a bit, do something for fun when you get a free minute.... Open-up couple cables ( different kinds or cables)... see how they are... cut em', chop em'... re-solder em'

I always say: "Save and Spend your cash for THE Gear"... not for wire, stands, clamp, rack furniture etc etc.... It's your home-base... make your own stuff. It may not look as pretty as from factory, but who do you need to impress ? ...your dog? I have actually two dogs, always watching me

/respects

[Dr ZEE]

HAH, look what i've found:how to solder video-clips

kinda' silly , but, well, for a person who never did it this may be actually 'helpful' , it's better to see one time than to read about it hundred times ...

/later

[Track Rat]

I'd have to recommend soldering as well. All your cableing is custom sized to your needs and repairable should you ever have a problem. A soldering iron and a volt/ohm meter are two of the most indespensable things in the studio.

[Seeker of Rock]

I was in the same boat a few weeks back. Several posters recommended good cables, and better yet to get good parts and make your own. I wasn't in the situation where I wanted to deal with trying my dumb electronic hands at making them just then, so I dished out some bucks. ProCo with Switchcraft ends. Apparently encouraged by the high-enders here, but really did I need to spend $250 on (2) 15' TS-RCA snakes (16TS from Mackie 24.8 into MSR-16 track, 16RCA out to 24.8 TS ins) for connection to my new 16 track reel. I don't know now, but ask me again in a year or so. I want to feel good that I bought decent wiring, but how absolutely necessary the ProCo instead of HOsa is I can't honestly tell you right now. Only that I respect those who know more than I on this forum and the ones responding at the time encouraged me to do so.
Food for thought.

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by Seeker of Rock

... I don't know now, but ask me again in a year or so. I want to feel good that I bought decent wiring, but how absolutely necessary the ProCo instead of HOsa is I can't honestly tell you right now.

I'd say, Just feel good, man ... cos' in short, you did the right thing. Having good cables takes away the 'question' hanging above your head: "are my cables ok? Or do I have problems?" ..heh heh ...

To deal or not with making your own cables? Really hard to tell for sure. I guess, it may depend on personality. Some people may enjoy doing it... for some it may be just a source of headache... so why asking for trouble?

Speaking of Food for thought ... how about this: "Why make your own music, when you can buy it already pre-made?"

so, another words, you can go as far (or as deep) as you feel like when it comes to 'making your own stuff'... generally speakin'

/respects

[Herm]

I have made a few cables and am not to bad at it and I know you can save some money.
But if you do make your own I would buy enough to make a few and see how it goes first. It can get old real quick when you need to solder that many connections. And think about what your time is worth. Also when it comes to making mic cables remember it only takes one mistake on a cord to ruin a microphone with phantom power or maybe burn up the phantom power supply in your mixer.

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by Herm

I have made a few cables and am not to bad at it and I know you can save some money.
But if you do make your own I would buy enough to make a few and see how it goes first. It can get old real quick when you need to solder that many connections. And think about what your time is worth. Also when it comes to making mic cables remember it only takes one mistake on a cord to ruin a microphone with phantom power or maybe burn up the phantom power supply in your mixer.

good point(s).
and, Yeah, Time is Money

[evm1024]

My Bias is simple.

Buy good quality cable (Bulk or premade) but never give Monster (TM) a dime.

Regards

[Beck]

I've always made most of my cables with Canare and other similar brands I used to buy locally. I decided to give the lower cost Hosa line a try (tired of making cables after 25 years). I bought two Hosa 8-channel RCA-RCA snakes I use with a Tascam TSR-8. The quality and sound are excellent -- it was a good buy.

Buy the shortest length you can, but not so short as to be stressed. You want plenty of slack, just not coils of cable doing nothing but lying around attenuating signal and adding noise. 9 feet if you can do it with unbalanced RCA or ¼”. I planned the layout of my studio pretty carefully so I’ll never need to separate the deck from the console more than that.

If you're working with balanced lines of course you can get away with gratuitous lengths... to a point.

-Tim

[arjoll]

I tend to make most of my cables, but have cheated on occasion and bought cheap Computer Dynamics cables, chopped off the ends I don't want and replaced them with something eles

Recently I've used Proel cable and TS, TRS and RCA connectors - good value, robust enough but they don't seem to have much presence in the US. They definately wipe the floor with what I can buy locally from Dick Smith (and are about the same price). For XLRs you can't go past Neutrik and they're really not that expensive.

[Muckelroy]

Yeah, I DO have soldering gear, and I have used it quite a bit on my Hammond M3. I added foldback to it some time ago, and it was one hell of a task. Unfortunateley, some of the terminal strip connections have questionable soldering, which I continue to open up and correct TO THIS DAY when I have a dead note on that thing

Indeed, time is money, and I think that I'll make my own mic cables, to save money and whatnot.

But as far as patch bay snakes are concerned, don't think I wanna waste 67 hours making those. seems like HOSA is my best intersection of cost and reliability.

Thanks for the input, guys. any other comments, feel free


(not like you need my premission to post or anything....)
-callie-

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by Muckelroy

Yeah, I DO have soldering gear, and I have used it quite a bit on my Hammond M3. I added foldback to it some time ago, and it was one hell of a task. -

Wow, !!! Fixing a Big-H!!!??? then you ARE an expert. You can teach classes ..heh heh

Originally Posted by Muckelroy

But as far as patch bay snakes are concerned, don't think I wanna waste 67 hours making those. -

Yeah... just couple weeks ago I've spent hours 'converting' two HOSA TRS-TRS to TRS-RCA .... and it was a big pain in tha' A*S work ...

[Track Rat]

The last time I rebuilt my patchbays it took almost a month of steady work.

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by Track Rat

The last time I rebuilt my patchbays it took almost a month of steady work.

my goodness... how may bays you've got there ?

[SteveMac]

I got my snakes from These Guys and they've been doing fine by me. I guess they would be comprable to Hosa. I don't remember why I chose them instead.

[Muckelroy]

Originally Posted by Dr ZEE

Wow, !!! Fixing a Big-H!!!??? then you ARE an expert. You can teach classes ..heh heh

Nah, I still suck at soldering

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by SteveMac

I don't remember why I chose them instead.

..it must be 'gold factor' ...????

looks like Pulsar beats all the prices around. King of cheap cables!
they've got nice site: http://www.pulsartech.net ... llots of good looking cheap things.

I don't know. .... hmmm, If it works - it works, Then it's good. Or is it not?

btw, 20' snake - that's a hell-of-a-long damn snake .... I my studio-room this thing could wrap around my neck many times and choke me to death. If you get few of this things in small studio room set-up you maybe asking for potential trouble.... well, maybe not.... but depending on how complex your setup is (gets as it grows)... you may get some ugly noise "generated", especially if you've got bunch of curls and rolls of cables laying around, (assumingly that most (or allot) of connections are unbalanced).

[SteveMac]

Originally Posted by Dr ZEE

btw, 20' snake - that's a hell-of-a-long damn snake .... I my studio-room this thing could wrap around my neck many times and choke me to death. If you get few of this things in small studio room set-up you maybe asking for potential trouble.... well, maybe not.... but depending on how complex your setup is (gets as it grows)... you may get some ugly noise "generated", especially if you've got bunch of curls and rolls of cables laying around, (assumingly that most (or allot) of connections are unbalanced).

HAHA, No actually I think the ones I have are 8' or 10' I just grabbed that link for an example. A 10 yr warranty and they have 100% feedback. Sounded good to me!

[Track Rat]

Originally Posted by Dr ZEE

my goodness... how may bays you've got there ?

Six fifty-two point Switchcraft patchbays.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9076
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9078
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9082
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9083
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9084
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9085
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9144
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9272

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by Track Rat

Six fifty-two point Switchcraft patchbays.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9076
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9078
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9082
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9083
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9084
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9085
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9144
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...achmentid=9272

WOW! Some heavy neurosurgery there! Nice work.
Did Sprite help going through? How many cans you had to consume? heh heh
I see some 'fresh plywood'? Did you build the desk too? Looks cool.

I've built my console desk/rack simply using 2x6(s) raw lumber... I've stain-finished it thou ... to make it look like hi-sh*t

/respects

[Track Rat]

Thanks. Yeah, I built the desk, racks, the room, the headphone amp and distribution system, etc.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/attachm...chmentid=11856

[Herm]

Nice desk there track rat. But where is the Reel to Reel?