Confused about wires, cables etc

V

vomortis

New member
Hi - I've searched this forum for information on this (seriously newbie-ish) subject, but couldn't find anything. I am setting up a small home recording project studio, and am a bit confused on the terminoligy behind cables & wires.

Firstly, are all 1/4 inch jack leads the same? Are they all made to carry stereo, or are some made for mono? Also, does the fact that they are balenced make any difference? And do I use the same 1/4 inch cables I normally use to connect my guitar to a DI, to connect my Audiobuddy pre to my RNC compresser?

I'm a bit confused, as you may have noticed. Any help is much appreciated!
 
Yes they make 1/4" plugs in mono and stereo. YOu can tell if it is stereo or mono by looking at the black lines, in about the center of the 1/4" plug. If it has 1 Black ring: It's momo. If i has 2 Black rings: It's Stereo. In fact if you plug a stereo plug in the input halfway ( just to where the first Black ring is in) then the plug becomes mono.

And yes, it does make a diffurence if the wires are balenced and unbalence. If you run a long( 30'-above) cable that is unbalenced, you will lose power and loudnest that you want in a recording. But if it's balenced, then you should have no problems. But i you use unbalenced cables that are about 25' and below, you should be ok.

ZEke
 
To add a little more to what ZEKE SAYER says, the majority of 1/4" plugs are unbalanced mono connectors. So-called guitar cables or instrument cables are this type. Unbalanced cables are usually only found in recording environments.

And it does make a difference what you plug in to what. The ideal thing is to plug unbalanced plugs into unbalanced jacks, and balanced plugs into balanced jacks. There is also the stereo issue-- the same TRS jacks and plugs used for 1/4" balanced gear and cables are also used for stereo applications of in mixer insert points to provide both the outbound signal and returning signal from one jack...

It sounds complicated but basically all you need to do is know what each piece of gear needs and use the appropriate cable. The specs will usually say, and if they don't, this would always mean it's a standard mono unbalanced connection.

This issue comes up a lot, as you might suspect. In fact there was a similar threas a few days ago. I'm going to give you the same link thata member gave the other guy on that thread, to a document on Rane's website that discusses all these issues throughly:

http://www.rane.com/note110.html (kudos to M. Brane for finding this one)

The other thread itself you can look over at

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=79604

if you want.
 
Thanks for all of the help & information - I think I understand the whole balanced/unbalanced thing now. Now I've just got to make sure I buy the right ones ...

Thanks!
 
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