I have some Canare Star-Quad on hand and I am going to be building some RCA interconnects with it.
I know to connect the shield to the neutral side at one end only. My question concerns the conductors and the best way to connect them.
1. Pair the Blues and Whites and connect them to their respective locations on the RCA Plug?
2. Use only one of the Blues and Whites each?
3. Use one Blue on the center plug and all others on the Neutral?
4. Other combinations that I haven't considered?
I'm not concerned with hearing about how there are better cable choices for this application, just about the best way to construct them. I already have the Star Quad on hand so that's what I'll be using.
I know to connect the shield to the neutral side at one end only. My question concerns the conductors and the best way to connect them.
1. Pair the Blues and Whites and connect them to their respective locations on the RCA Plug?
2. Use only one of the Blues and Whites each?
3. Use one Blue on the center plug and all others on the Neutral?
4. Other combinations that I haven't considered?
I'm not concerned with hearing about how there are better cable choices for this application, just about the best way to construct them. I already have the Star Quad on hand so that's what I'll be using.
Star Quad is a 4 wire connection.
The 4 wires are arranged at 90 degrees around a centroid.
That centroid may have a fibre content to attenuate handling noise and to maintain the 4 core geometry.
Two opposite wires carry the flow.
The other two opposite wires carry the return.
If you want to maintain the effectiveness of the screen, then use a 3pole connector, eg. XLR.
The 4 wires are arranged at 90 degrees around a centroid.
That centroid may have a fibre content to attenuate handling noise and to maintain the 4 core geometry.
Two opposite wires carry the flow.
The other two opposite wires carry the return.
If you want to maintain the effectiveness of the screen, then use a 3pole connector, eg. XLR.
The twisted of unbalanced 2 core is very effective at attenuating interference.
I use it for most of my external interconnects and for all of my internal wiring.
Thanks for all of the informative replies. What I'm understanding is that if I want more effective use of the shield I should connect it at both ends and that the geometry of the twist of this cable helps with the rejection of interference. I do see some arguments to these statements as well though.
I don't have the option of using balanced connectors unfortunately. Given all of these compromises I'm still confused as to which method I should use when terminating these cables. Here's my thought process.
-Use both sets of the wires in order to take advantage of the noise rejection qualities of the 4 core geometry.
-don't connect the shield at all if capacitance is the main concern.
-connect one end of the shield only if I want to reject low freq interference only.
-connect both ends of the shield if I want to reject RF.
Currently I'm using unshielded twisted solid core plenum as interconnects on everything except from the TT to Phono Stage and it works well. On that connection I am forced to use something coaxial or shielded (Tara Labs currently). I'm wondering if I would benefit from connecting the shield only on the TT-Pre wires and not on the others. In this case will it be best to connect one or both ends of the shield? I suppose I'll have to experiment with that one. It seems like the braided shield is considered a source of distortion in some of the articles I've read.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't have the option of using balanced connectors unfortunately. Given all of these compromises I'm still confused as to which method I should use when terminating these cables. Here's my thought process.
-Use both sets of the wires in order to take advantage of the noise rejection qualities of the 4 core geometry.
-don't connect the shield at all if capacitance is the main concern.
-connect one end of the shield only if I want to reject low freq interference only.
-connect both ends of the shield if I want to reject RF.
Currently I'm using unshielded twisted solid core plenum as interconnects on everything except from the TT to Phono Stage and it works well. On that connection I am forced to use something coaxial or shielded (Tara Labs currently). I'm wondering if I would benefit from connecting the shield only on the TT-Pre wires and not on the others. In this case will it be best to connect one or both ends of the shield? I suppose I'll have to experiment with that one. It seems like the braided shield is considered a source of distortion in some of the articles I've read.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited:
TT to phono stage is normally pseudo-balanced, in that the cartridge has no ground reference, so a balanced connection can work. Shielding (in this case connected at the preamp end only) may help.
Unshielded twisted pair interconnects can be used for balanced connections, or unbalanced where there is little RF interference and a low impedance source or a tolerant listener (i.e. in situations where the cable does not matter). I can't think of a reason why twisted pair might be better for an unbalanced connection.
PS sent from my XP laptop using Firefox
Unshielded twisted pair interconnects can be used for balanced connections, or unbalanced where there is little RF interference and a low impedance source or a tolerant listener (i.e. in situations where the cable does not matter). I can't think of a reason why twisted pair might be better for an unbalanced connection.
I note the word "considered"; some people seem to 'consider' almost any good engineering practice to be damaging to audio. If the shield resistance is very low when compared to the load impedance then it can't be a source of significant distortion.
PS sent from my XP laptop using Firefox
Last edited:
No,
The shield of the coaxial is the Signal Return. Don't think of it as a "shield" when it is actually a return that gives little "shielding" to the signal from interference.
That shield MUST be part of the Return circuit for the Flow part. It MUST be close coupled throughout the whole route, including the terminations.*
The shield MUST be connected to the Source Signal Return terminal and it MUST be connected to the Receiver Signal Return terminal. Any connectors in that coax route MUST have the Flow Hot signal connected and MUST have the Return Cold signal connected.
* Look at the shielding of an RF cable from your TV aerial. The close coupling is taken to FULLY enclose the Hot all the way around and through the connector.
Inserting a small loop into the flow and return, introduces the risk of interference getting in that severely affects the viability of the low level RF signals
The shield of the coaxial is the Signal Return. Don't think of it as a "shield" when it is actually a return that gives little "shielding" to the signal from interference.
That shield MUST be part of the Return circuit for the Flow part. It MUST be close coupled throughout the whole route, including the terminations.*
The shield MUST be connected to the Source Signal Return terminal and it MUST be connected to the Receiver Signal Return terminal. Any connectors in that coax route MUST have the Flow Hot signal connected and MUST have the Return Cold signal connected.
* Look at the shielding of an RF cable from your TV aerial. The close coupling is taken to FULLY enclose the Hot all the way around and through the connector.
Inserting a small loop into the flow and return, introduces the risk of interference getting in that severely affects the viability of the low level RF signals
Last edited:
I understand the wiring of coaxial and I see what you're saying about the shield in a coax not being an actual shield but just part of the circuit.
So your recommendation is to connect the shield of the star quad to one side of the assembly only?
I have an email in to Canare as well. I'm interested in hearing what they have to say.
So your recommendation is to connect the shield of the star quad to one side of the assembly only?
I have an email in to Canare as well. I'm interested in hearing what they have to say.
From the Canare website.
Two conductor twisted pair cable such as L-2B2AT (or 4-cond L-4E6S Star Quad) are intended for Balanced circuits, but may also be used for Unbalanced assemblies. One of several wiring tricks, is to solder the blue conductor to the connector's center pin and the white conductor to the shield ground contact. An installer may then choose to "float the cable shield" by not soldering the overall braid (or drain wire) at one or both ends of the cable. This technique may result in better "unbalanced" circuit noise rejection.
Two conductor twisted pair cable such as L-2B2AT (or 4-cond L-4E6S Star Quad) are intended for Balanced circuits, but may also be used for Unbalanced assemblies. One of several wiring tricks, is to solder the blue conductor to the connector's center pin and the white conductor to the shield ground contact. An installer may then choose to "float the cable shield" by not soldering the overall braid (or drain wire) at one or both ends of the cable. This technique may result in better "unbalanced" circuit noise rejection.
Personally, having paid for a 4core + screen cable I would want to use that combination to best advantage.
That means using two diametrically opposed cores as the signal flow and the other two diametrically opposed cores as the signal return and the shield connected at both ends to the CHASSIS at each end. NOT to the Signal Return.
If I don't do that then I am wasting my resources.
BTW,
I recently converted an old amp, that I was updating, to XLR inputs for an unbalanced signal. I had already fitted the DCB1 with XLR outputs.
That means using two diametrically opposed cores as the signal flow and the other two diametrically opposed cores as the signal return and the shield connected at both ends to the CHASSIS at each end. NOT to the Signal Return.
If I don't do that then I am wasting my resources.
BTW,
I recently converted an old amp, that I was updating, to XLR inputs for an unbalanced signal. I had already fitted the DCB1 with XLR outputs.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.