why are mic and line xlr cables the same?

[FALKEN]

if you use an xlr cable between your mic and your pre

and an xlr cable between your pre and your recorder.

why aren't the cables different thicknesses? Wouldn't you want to match the wire to the signal strength?

 

[Farview]

Even though the signals are different strengths, they both fall under the heading of 'low voltage'.

 

[Track Rat]

SIze makes no difference. It's the balanced configuration.

 

[Robert D]

SIze makes no difference. It's the balanced configuration.

That's not what your wife said.

 

[FALKEN]

daaamn. you got tooooold.

heh.

I think thickness would make a huge difference. I see what Farview is saying about how not enough difference to matter. I am not an engineer so I wouldn't know but my line of thinking just feels intuitive to me.

 

[Farview]

Mic cable is more than thick enough to deal with mic levels and line levels. Going to thinner wire for mics would lead to durability problems. If you look at snakes, you will notice that the wire tends to be thinner than mic cables, but you don't have Roger Daltry swinging a 58 around at the end of snake cable.

 

[FALKEN]

ah. operational constraints.

 

[Halion]

Yes. Also, the thickness of the cable doesn't always (infact, hardly ever as far as I know) say anything about the thickness of the actual core wires. I have a Fatsoflex cable (by spectraflex) that is thicker than anything I know. It has a lifelong garrantee, I can park a forklift truck on that thing for a month and it would still work, because it has a very thick and strong fabric braiding around the core wires, however, the wires themselves are no thicker than most other cables.

 

[RAMI]

I have a Fatsoflex cable (by spectraflex) that is thicker than anything I know.

That's a shame.

 

[Track Rat]

I run low Z balanced audio through way over 100' of 22 AWG lines every day with zero degradation.

 

[dgatwood]

I run low Z balanced audio through way over 100' of 22 AWG lines every day with zero degradation.

That's what I just finished running for all my permanent connections in the studio. Incredible stuff. Works just fine. Better than that, the 22 AWG cable I have is so small that I have a bundle of 17 of them that I can (just barely) curl my pinky finger all the way around and have it still touch my palm.

 

[Halion]

That's a shame.

I am not one to brag about sertain body parts

And yeah, I WAS just talking about cabling, the electrical kind

 

[ggunn]

daaamn. you got tooooold.

heh.

I think thickness would make a huge difference. I see what Farview is saying about how not enough difference to matter. I am not an engineer so I wouldn't know but my line of thinking just feels intuitive to me.

The thickness of normal mic cable wire has no bearing on its ability to carry signal at very low current levels, and both mic/instrument and line level signals are very low current. Speaker level signals can be very high current (depending on the watts being driven), so wire thickness does then come into play.

Wire diameter is kinda like the thickness of a hose. Whether you want to pull a few drops per minute (mic level) or an ounce per minute (line level) through it, a regular 3/8" hose will suffice; doubling the diameter doesn't buy you anything. If you want to move enough water to put out a serious fire, however, then you'd better get a bigger hose.