Cables

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ndycus1

New member
I need to buy TRS cables to run from my preamps to my Delta 1010. I have a fairly limited budget. And I'm wondering, considering the length will only be about 3 feet, if I need to spend $25/cable for a higher quality cable. Or, could I just spend $6/cable for a Hosa cable and get similar results. Is the higher cost worth the quality difference at such short cable lengths?
 
I'm using Hosa (XLR - balanced jack or balanced jack-jack) cables from the back of my preamps into the Delta1010 with no probs.....so far!
They cost more than US$6 though! (around the Aus$16 mark - are we being screwed down here or what!!??) :eek:

Dags
 
I agree that Hosa sucks. Even if they have a professional line that is "better," their name leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I bought a Hosa insert cable a few months ago so I could insert a compressor for vocals on a mixer. The only insert cable at the store was Hosa and I figured "Hey it's just an insert cable that will be plugged in once and never moved... Hosa should be up to that task."

Boy was I wrong. Within 2 weeks the damn thing was shorting out. It's unusable now. You can jiggle it and hear the noise it creates and it won't pass audio. I could understand if this was a patch cable for effects pedals that was constantly being unplugged and plugged-in. But this cable was literally plugged-in once and then never touched again. It managed to short itself out just sitting there-- amazing.

That's my recent experience with Hosa. I doubt I'll have any more experience with their cables in the future. :D
 
If you think you'll need 3 footers, you'll probably really need 6 footers.
 
Scottgman said:
I agree that Hosa sucks. Even if they have a professional line that is "better," their name leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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The Hosa "Pro" cables that I received are as well made as anything that I've seen from any other vendor. These have NOTHING to do with the typical Hosa stuff that I see at Guitar Center. I don't buy that stuff.

These use a good quality snake cable and all-metal TRS connectors. These are not your typical molded connectors - they can be easily disassembled for repair if it's ever necessary. And the soldering inside is perfect.

You can turn up your nose if you like, but you might want to look them over before you do so.
 
Heck, I've used Radio Shack insert cables for years, I still use the same ones and they work fine :D
 
pvanscherpe said:
Are the Hosa Pro cable twisted pairs (quads)?
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They are twisted pairs. As far as I can tell by looking, the ground wire is not a full shield, just a drain wire running along with the signal pair. The construction appears similar to other snake tails that I've seen. Here's a photo:
CSS-800Pro.gif
 
darrin_h2000 said:
I just buy Mogami by the foot and Neutrick ends and make my cables...its cheaper that way.
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That depends on how much you value your time. I do that for any specialized cable that I can't easily (or cheaply) buy, but I rarely want to spend my time making up routine XLR to XLR or TRS to TRS cables when I can buy them so cheaply.

My 8 channel snake is made up of six feet of snake cable, plus 16 Switchcraft TRS plugs. Ignoring the cost of the wire, Markertek sells 16 of these plugs for $40.48. I paid $42 for the ready made cable. I don't find much incentive to make my own in this case.
 
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I have had problems with Hosa...

But it has been my experience that All cables with molded ends eventually crap out. Spend a bit more and get some cables with soldered connectors (switchcraft) or better.

Dom :)
 
Dom Franco said:
But it has been my experience that All cables with molded ends eventually crap out. Spend a bit more and get some cables with soldered connectors (switchcraft) or better.
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Right. They may fail too, eventually, but at least you can fix them if it ever happens.
 
I have some Hosa snakes that I have had for about 8 years now that work just fine!

Indeed, I don't abuse them, so they have held up quite well. For interconnect cables on a budget, nothing will beat Hosa.
 
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