Patch Cables???

[WERNER 1]

At the risk of getting flamed into oblivion, I've got a rather newbi'ish question in regards to cables....

I've just got my monitors and am in the process of hooking everything up. I made up some speaker cables using switch craft 1/4" jacks and some good speaker cable that I had from another project.

Ok, now on to some questions....

1. Do nearfield monitor (Speaker) cables need to be shielded? If so, where is a good place for purchasing some of this cable.?

2. When it comes to using what I call "Patch cables" to connect between different pieces of rack gear, would regular "guitar cables" work for this, or do I need something more specific? (Hooking up pre's, Compressors, and into a Delta 1010)

3 What are some of the differences in the 1/4" tips (TRS = Tip ring sleeve....what else??)

Sorry, I haven't done a search as I've been swamped at work........so go easy on my please.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[Wire]

Do nearfield monitor (Speaker) cables need to be shielded? If so, where is a good place for purchasing some of this cable.?

Yes they do. A great place is www.livewiresi.com give them a call they have everything you could ever want, but they don't have it all to buy on the site, you can also email them.

When it comes to using what I call "Patch cables" to connect between different pieces of rack gear, would regular "guitar cables" work for this, or do I need something more specific? (Hooking up pre's, Compressors, and into a Delta 1010)

No as guitar cable are unbalanced, and most of the equiptment you are dealing with is balanced. You will experiance a much higher noise floor and possible some interferance from EMI or RFI.

What are some of the differences in the 1/4" tips (TRS = Tip ring sleeve....what else??)

I am not sure what you mean by this. Rephrase this one please

Hope this helps

 

[Tim Brown]

Are these nearfield monitors powered?
If so, yes, if they are unpowered - meaning you have to drive them with an external power amp - I would definitely be against a a shielded cable.

A Shielded cables holds in heat, and when used between a power amp and a speaker, can cause the amplifier to overheat and burn up.



Tim

 

[silentman]

Are these nearfield monitors powered?
If so, yes, if they are unpowered - meaning you have to drive them with an external power amp - I would definitely be against a a shielded cable.

A Shielded cables holds in heat, and when used between a power amp and a speaker, can cause the amplifier to overheat and burn up.



Tim

Ah!!! You beat me to it!

As far as the patch cables go, it really depends on whether the ins/outs of your rack gear are balanced. When you are dealing with audio signals remember that low level signals (i.e. low Vsquared/R; power) are going to almost always need to be carried across balanced cables. Like Tim said, if you are carrying a high power signal, such as those after a power amp, you want to use unbalanced cables.

-JV

 

[Farview]

Tim is right. A speaker cable is the cable that goes between the amp and the speaker. If you are running power monitors, the speaker cable is inside the speaker cabinet and you don't have to deal with it.

If you are running powered monitors, you need to use line cables.

Guitar cables will work in unbalanced connections.

 

[WERNER 1]

This is beginning to sound like more money.

Tip/ring/sleeve - I don't know, I was hoping for someone to tell me.

I looked at some of the cables on Livewires site.......very cool stuff, but I have no idea what I actually need?? How do you get a shielded speaker cable that uses a standard 1/4" jack........where do you attach the shielding braided wire??

Same with the 1/4" patch cables, how do you make those "balanced"?

Sorry for being so stupid.

Rick

 

[Farview]

TRS cables are balanced. You need 2 conductor cables. one wire to the tip, one to the ring, and the shield to the sleeve.

TS cables (like guitar cables) are 1 conductor cable, the wire goes to the tip and the shield goes to the sleeve.

Speaker cables has a TS end and the wire is just like lamp cord. It has no shield, one wire to tip one to sleeve.

 

[WERNER 1]

hah! 3 post in the time it took me to post once!

Uhm yes, how stupid of me - My monitors are Powered......don't know what I was thinking on that one - Duh!

Arn't guitar patch cables shielded? (They use the outer braid as one of the conductors?)

Balanced Rack Gear? - I'm using DMP-3's and VTB-1's for my mic pre's. I've got a couple of DBX 163x's I'll be using in there at some point as well (1/4" in / 1/4" out). All of this will be running into my Delta 1010 8 in / 8 out rack module..........I have no Idea if these 1/4" connectors/jacks are balanced or not.

"If you are running powered monitors, you need to use line cables.

Guitar cables will work in unbalanced connections."

I guess I need to determine what is balanced and non-balanced before I proceed ....anyone want to explain this to me so I'm a little smarter today?

Thanks,
Rick

PS- How do the Neutrik connectors work? is it just a simple jack that can use either a balanced XLR , or unbalanced 1/4" (Did I use balance in the correct application here??? )

I've always thought that XLR's were Balanced and 1/4" were not.......are there exceptions to this ???

 

[WERNER 1]

We need a smiley with a light bulb lighting up!

OK, so a TRS (Tip Ring Sleeve) is basically a speaker cable with sheilding, and is "Balanced"?? Also the 1/4" jack it's self apparently has places for 3 solder connections? (I need to find a pic of the insides of one of these jacks) This would be used to interconnect my rack gear to one another?

TS - Guitar cable - Unbalanced

Speaker Cables are TS jacks but us a 2 conductor non sheilded cable.....

Man my head hurts!

Thanks,
Rick

 

[Farview]

TRS is balanced, TS is not

The neutriks can take balanced and unbalanced 1/4 connections.


TS is like the plug on a guitar cable

TRS is like a headphone plug

 

[easychair]

A Shielded cables holds in heat, and when used between a power amp and a speaker, can cause the amplifier to overheat and burn up.
Tim

Shielded cables don't hold heat more than any other, they get hot because they are usually much smaller than speaker cables, and can't handle the current.

Amp damage came from HF oscillation due to higher cable capacitance and poor amp designs, or shorts due to melted insulation. Modern SS and tube amps usually don't have this problem. SS amps also have short protection. Tube amps can still be damaged, though, because the restricted current flow can cause failures in the output transformer or power tubes, and a short due to melting insulation will be fatal as well.