cable question ... need quick answer, plz

M

mcr

New member
I need to buy cables and just saw that there's a distinction between lo-z and hi-z cables. lo-z = low impedance? I don't really know. What's the difference and please tell me what I need?

I want to connect:
a) my mic to a preamp (VC1Q, Envoice)
b) my preamp and compressor (RNC) to my soundcard
c) my syntheziser (Motif8) to my soundcard
d) my soundcard to my monitors (HR824)

What cables should I look for: lo-z, hi-z, ...any-zing else?
Any recommendations?

Hope I get a few answers quickly ... want to buy today.
 
All of those devices probably use 1/4" unbalanced high-impedance cables. Check your jacks to make sure they are all 1/4" . The only time you use low impedance is for Mics and Balanced jacks. Balanced jacks take a stereo 1/4" jack.
 
thanks a lot ....

what's a reasonable price range for, say, 3FT cables. I saw some 3FT Monster Cables for $18,- ... does that make sense for a decent homestudio or could I be content with some cheaper Rapco or Hosa cables?
I never tried Monster Cables so I don't know how audible a difference in cable quality is.
 
I can only say this:

Stay AWAY from Monster and Hosa.

Monster is a sham...expensive and over rated. I imagine others will chime in on this.

Hosa is crap....just bad stuff.

Most other stuff will do ya....I've got some nicely made horizon stuff. If ya wanna get serious, get Belden or Mogami. This stuff is tops AND cheaper than Monster.


heylow
 
Okay, I'll chime in on this....

Yes, Hosa is crap.... stay away from it.

Monster is "a sham and overrated"?
Hmmm... you're either mis-informed or very biased with that statement.

While Mogami, Belden, and Canare are excellent "bang for your buck" cables, they're basically the same pro-studio quality as the Monsters.
Now the Monsters may cost a bit more, but they're easier to find and have a lifetime warranty.

If the plan is to buy LOTS of cable (especially in longer lengths), then the afformentioned "bang for your buck" cables would be the way to go. But if you need 4 or 5 "high quality" cables and you need them "now", the Monsters are an excellent choice.

I see from your post that you "want to buy today" and only need a limited amount of cables. It's possible that the Monster's may be the better choice for you based on that criteria, since you can get them at just about any decent music store. The small amount of money you save by going with the other brands might not be worth the wait or effort.

Anyway, you'll be fine as long as you stick with the better brands mentioned here.
 
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Buck62 said:

Monster is "a sham and overrated"?
Hmmm... you're either mis-informed or very biased with that statement.
Click to expand...

Pehaps I should have said "in my opinion."

And sham may not be the word...more like scam, in my opinion.
That stuff is no better than anything else on the semi to semi pro market and if it were, home reccers would never have the benefit of hearing the "difference."

More qualified folks than me have said much worse about the stuff. I'm sure one could search this very board and find some opinions that resemble mine. At the end of the day though, it IS my opinion and thats all it is. I DO want to clarify that I dont mean to say Monster is bad cable...just a scam.

Buck has a good point on buying "today" though....although I would feel safe telling you that the real difference would not be realized in the home environment. Most music stores carry brands like Horizon, Conquest and Rapco that will do you just as well and leave a few bucks for something else....like new car:D


Just my opinion,

heylow
 
thanks for the replies everyone ...

I actually bouth them that very day. Got a couple of Whirlwinds, BLUE Kiwis and a pair of Hosa toslink-type fiber-optic cables ... I reckoned that Hosa is cheap but how badly can they influence an optical connection? Enlighten me.

Anyone heard of/used Whirlwind Leader cables?
 
c7sus said:
Check out the Kiwi Cable by BLUE. Virgin materials. 4-conductor. Excellent quality. About 30 bucks at GC.
Click to expand...

Good call on that one, C7... I have two of those cables and they're an excellent for the money!

mcr,
I bought a Hosa fiber-optic cable when I first started doing digital recordings about 3 years ago.
I lost the cable, so I went out and paid more $$ and got a Monster fiber-optic cable to replace it.
Well, I ended up finding the Hosa cable two days later at the bottom of my file cabinet drawer.
I compared the two and there actually WAS a difference!
For some reason, the Hosa's lost a slight bit of low-end during the transfer to my stand-alone CDR.
I thought the same as you, until I heard them side-by-side.

I hope you kept the receipt! :eek:
 
It's possible for a cheap digital cable to add jitter to a signal while your are monitoring it but once it is recorded to disc there shouldnt be any ill effects on playback.

This site www.digido.com has more than you'll ever want to know about digital recording.
 
Can somebody here please shine a light on Buck's experience with the Hosa fiber-optic cables? I thought toslink-type cables (like any other digital cable) transport zeros and ones only. So how is it possible for some specific frequency range (in this case the low-end) to get dampened when sent through the cable?
 
My S/PDIF cable is HOSA and it's a great cable, but then it's not the typical HOSA analog cable with molded plastic ends. It's got gold-plated ends and has never let me down.
 
drstawl said:
My S/PDIF cable is HOSA and it's a great cable, but then it's not the typical HOSA analog cable with molded plastic ends. It's got gold-plated ends and has never let me down.
Click to expand...

Geez - you mean HOSA actually sells non-gold plated end patch cable?

Wow. That's sad, that you have to pay a premium for gold plate. Even Acoustic Research cable (by Recoton) are all gold-plated.

As far as Monster being overrated, I'm looking at the Monster instrument cable I just bought, and I realise that I can't remember the last time I've even seen an instrument cable with gold-plated plugs. And this isn't even a top-of-the-line Monster. Expensive? Yes. Overrated? I don't know about that.
 
Gold connectors...

Griffinator said:
Geez - you mean HOSA actually sells non-gold plated end patch cable?

Wow. That's sad, that you have to pay a premium for gold plate. Even Acoustic Research cable (by Recoton) are all gold-plated.

As far as Monster being overrated, I'm looking at the Monster instrument cable I just bought, and I realise that I can't remember the last time I've even seen an instrument cable with gold-plated plugs. And this isn't even a top-of-the-line Monster. Expensive? Yes. Overrated? I don't know about that.
Click to expand...


:rolleyes:
Gold ends....yeah that makes ALL the difference. Nothing like the audiophile clean of cheap, thin gold plating. I'm not trying to disrespect but the gold plating thing is pretty over rated as well whether thick or thin. I mean, IF the difference COULD be apparent you A) would not hear it in home reccer equipment and B) would NOT hear it in all the stuff going on in an instrument to amplifier connection such as a guitar.

On the other point...I find the opposite. I have gold ends on almost all of my instrument cables....NOT by choice, really. Because of this myth and the consumers who get fished in, I find it harder to get a decent cable at my local store that DOESNT have gold ends. If you get anything other than the cheapest thing on the rack, it's got gold ends. And the best part is you sometimes find two versions....one is marked PRO. Same cable on both, of course....guess with one is PRO....suddenly the SAME cable, now with gold ends is tranformed to PRO.

Sorry but frankly I find it repulsive. Even radio shack is full of gold connectors. I dont know whats worse...the fact that these companies take advantage of consumers or the fact that consumers are so easily amused.

Take this for instance. I think we can all agree that your chain is only as good as the weakest link. Like, say a guitar player uses a guitar, a pedal board and an amp. He uses $1500 dollar cables from guitar to pedal board and pedal board to amp. HOWEVER...he hooks up all his pedals with HOSA patch cords.

How good is his signal??? Only as good as HOSA.

So when you plug in all your gold connectors to the not so gold jacks on all of your gear...how good is your signal?

It doesnt matter, really because gold connectors does not a good cable make.;)

Reminds me (in a way) of this thread: http://pub55.ezboard.com/ftapeopfrm2.showMessage?topicID=1346.topic

The above is only the opinion of one man who is an expert at nothing...take it with a grain of salt if you dont agree.:cool:


heylow
 
Maybe in terms of increased conductivity of gold connectors over non-gold connectors the claim of superiority is bogus, (the resistance of the wire is the resistance of the WHOLE wire, not just the resistance of the microscopic bit of gold at the connector) but gold connectors (RCA ends especially) slide in and out of the jack more easily while still fitting firmly. That's really important if you plug and unplug your equipment alot.
 
Cables

Hmm. Interesting variety of opinions in this thread.

First: The thread started with a question about "hi-Z" and "low-Z" cables. So far as I know, all cables sure had better be pretty darn low-Z in the application we're talking about. Sure, roll out a few thousand feet for a phone line or something, and impedance is a factor. But in 10 feet? Going into an input with an impedance in at least the hundred, and probably thousands, of ohms? Except for the fact the connectors may be wrong, you should be able to use pretty much the same cables for connecting microphones to preamps that you use to connect preamps to compressors, or inserts to EQs, or consoles to tape decks. (Okay, don't use the same cable to connect an amp to speakers ... or anything to the power outlet in your wall, for that matter).
In this application, capacitance is probably a bigger concern than impedance anyway.

Personally, I wouldn't pay up for cables. Consider the cost -- for example I've got 144 patch points in patchbays. Add in cables that don't run through the bays. Pay $20 per cable, and you've put more than $3,000 into cables.

As for gold-plated connectors, my impression is that they are most common at Radio Shack. Take from that what you will. Their main value, so far as I can tell, is that they resist corrosion. Electroplating a minute amount of gold onto a connector can't cost much. I guess I could justify choosing a gold-plated connector over another one if the price reflects the miniscule difference in cost, or it's a permenant-ish connection (the plate will rub off after a dozen insertions anyway) in a home studio in a seaside shack or something.

So far as I can tell, the only reason I'd pay more for a particular brand of pre-made cable is because the connectors are sturdier, and then only if it was a connector I was going to fool around with, rather than generally leave in place.
 
Re: Gold connectors...

heylow said:



:rolleyes:
Gold ends....yeah that makes ALL the difference. Nothing like the audiophile clean of cheap, thin gold plating. I'm not trying to disrespect but the gold plating thing is pretty over rated as well whether thick or thin. I mean, IF the difference COULD be apparent you A) would not hear it in home reccer equipment and B) would NOT hear it in all the stuff going on in an instrument to amplifier connection such as a guitar.

On the other point...I find the opposite. I have gold ends on almost all of my instrument cables....NOT by choice, really. Because of this myth and the consumers who get fished in, I find it harder to get a decent cable at my local store that DOESNT have gold ends. If you get anything other than the cheapest thing on the rack, it's got gold ends. And the best part is you sometimes find two versions....one is marked PRO. Same cable on both, of course....guess with one is PRO....suddenly the SAME cable, now with gold ends is tranformed to PRO.

Sorry but frankly I find it repulsive. Even radio shack is full of gold connectors. I dont know whats worse...the fact that these companies take advantage of consumers or the fact that consumers are so easily amused.

Take this for instance. I think we can all agree that your chain is only as good as the weakest link. Like, say a guitar player uses a guitar, a pedal board and an amp. He uses $1500 dollar cables from guitar to pedal board and pedal board to amp. HOWEVER...he hooks up all his pedals with HOSA patch cords.

How good is his signal??? Only as good as HOSA.

So when you plug in all your gold connectors to the not so gold jacks on all of your gear...how good is your signal?

It doesnt matter, really because gold connectors does not a good cable make.;)

Reminds me (in a way) of this thread: http://pub55.ezboard.com/ftapeopfrm2.showMessage?topicID=1346.topic

The above is only the opinion of one man who is an expert at nothing...take it with a grain of salt if you dont agree.:cool:


heylow
Click to expand...

Man, you've gone and personally attacked me based on your assumption of why I think gold-plated ends are crucial on instrument cables.

That thin bit of gold on the ends of your cables is what protects those terminals from corrosion. What's that mean? longer cable life. I'm not an idiot - I don't think that better conductor on the end of the cable is going to improve the conductivity of the entire cable.

Whatever, man. I'm sorry that you felt it necessary to insult me personally because you think I hold a viewpoint that I don't even hold.

That's cool, though. Go on and feel proud of yourself for tearing someone down.
 
Take this for instance. I think we can all agree that your chain is only as good as the weakest link. Like, say a guitar player uses a guitar, a pedal board and an amp. He uses $1500 dollar cables from guitar to pedal board and pedal board to amp. HOWEVER...he hooks up all his pedals with HOSA patch cords.
Click to expand...
I think in this case the weakest link would be the guitar player. And I don't doubt that a guy with gear that stupidly overpriced would suck ass.
 
No doubt. A guitar player who would spend $1500 on cables to go to an amp from a bunch of stomp boxes is definitely an ignoramus. Spend that $1500 on a proper FX processor :p
 
Hey man, don't be so hard on those $1500 guitar cables. I got me some of those and they sound so good. In fact, I gots me a couple extra ones lyin' round here and I'm gettin ready to sell them here and now to anyone interested. In fact, since you's is all so special to me, I'm gonna give em away at the basement bargain price of $1299.95. Just sent all yo money to P.O Box...
 
Re: Cables

sjjohnston said:
First: The thread started with a question about "hi-Z" and "low-Z" cables. So far as I know, all cables sure had better be pretty darn low-Z in the application we're talking about. Sure, roll out a few thousand feet for a phone line or something, and impedance is a factor. But in 10 feet? Going into an input with an impedance in at least the hundred, and probably thousands, of ohms?

In this application, capacitance is probably a bigger concern than impedance anyway.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but I'm afraid you don't understand the term impedance as it applies to cables.;)

A coaxial cable's impedance is a specifically calculated and measured value based on the resistance, the capacitance, and the inductance of the conductor(s) and the dielectric material, for a given frequency range.

The impedance of a cable is constant over that frequency range, no matter the length.

I started to get into an explanation of how impedance relates to voltage transfer and power transfer, but it's too freakin' late. I deleted it and i'm going to bed. :)

mike
 
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