John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

[vacuphile]

Latching midgets

For my hifi system, i have changed a lot of RCAs for those mini XLR:

Yes, I believe Cannon was the ones who design the standard, and we too named those plugs Cannon before Neutrik came on the market with more fashionable parts.

Esperado,

I just received some of these from RS just to check them out for a next project and I think they have a lot going for them. And they latch .

Problem is to find a good cable. Standard balanced cable is a bit too fat. Do you have any recommendations?

 

[bcarso]

Esperado,

I just received some of these from RS just to check them out for a next project and I think they have a lot going for them. And they latch .

Problem is to find a good cable. Standard balanced cable is a bit too fat. Do you have any recommendations?

Would the star quad Canare fit? The smaller variety, L-4E5C, has an OD of 4.8mm.

 

[dimitri]

Metal cap only page 23
http://www.ittcannon.com/uploadedFiles/Product_PDFs/Audio XL.pdf

 

[vacuphile]

Brad,

Thanks. That looks like really good cable and it would fit! For now I can only find it here in Europe in the L-4E6 version, but I will look further later. First have to fix dinner for my kids who are stopping by in a minute, hungry and well.

 

[Esperado]

Do you have any recommendations?

I like Belden 1023A cables. (very fast to weld, because the shield foil is glued to the isolator, and goes away with it, while the ground wire in contact with the foil is very clean and rigid enough). Those cables save hours when you have to cable big audio systems with hundred of ways.
http://www.belden.com/techdatas/metric/1023A.pdf

(We had forgotten to add Switchcraft as a good XLR & Mini XLR manufacturer.)

 

[john curl]

I have not been too happy with the mini-XLR plugs. I tried them in products from about 30 years ago. I found them hard to wire, and kind of crummy in construction. Perhaps they have improved. I think that I selected Switchcraft, initially, for the mini-XLR plugs.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Christophe- interesting, mine does. The connectors make a satisfying "click" when they're inserted and cannot pull out.

Which isn't always a good thing. Someone trips over a cable, and I'd rather have the cable come out than the equipment end up crashing onto the floor.

se

 

[31697B]

Maybe an XLR without a latch should not be called an XLR as the L stands for the Latch model/version?

 

[Steve Eddy]

I have not been too happy with the mini-XLR plugs. I tried them in products from about 30 years ago. I found them hard to wire, and kind of crummy in construction. Perhaps they have improved. I think that I selected Switchcraft, initially, for the mini-XLR plugs.

It was Switchcraft who originally designed and patented the mini-XLR.

The Rean plugs are quite nice, though they only make the female version.

se

 

[31697B]

Which isn't always a good thing. Someone trips over a cable, and I'd rather have the cable come out than the equipment end up crashing onto the floor.

se

Not me... I want the person to land on the floor. Racked equipment, you know.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Problem is to find a good cable. Standard balanced cable is a bit too fat. Do you have any recommendations?

Mogami W2697. It has a single served shield. Unwrap it, twist it up nice and tight, tin it and it's a piece of cake to terminate.

se

 

[Steve Eddy]

Not me... I want the person to land on the floor. Racked equipment, you know.

Who wants racked equipment in their home audio system? Not me.

se

 

[31697B]

Who wants racked equipment in their home audio system? Not me.

se

I do. And I want connectors that dont come out unless i want them to.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Brad,

Thanks. That looks like really good cable and it would fit!

Yeah, it would fit through the *** end of the barrel, but you've got four relatively large wires to deal with, doubling them up and trying to solder them to some really small solder cups and a braided shield to try and terminate to pin 1.

Talk about a mess.

se

 

[Steve Eddy]

I do. And I want connectors that dont come out unless i want them to.

Great.

se

 

[Esperado]

I found them hard to wire, and kind of crummy in construction.

Indeed, and i would not use them in any professional equipment. But with a little effort for a home system, and, when done once, the behave better than CINCHs for very long time. And we can plug them hot, without hum noise.
I could not use standard XLRs on my preamp: too many plugs for the size, so i was happy to find them.

 

[simon7000]

The minor problem with Cannon connectors is the US distributor is Newark and on most of the "specialty" items the minimum order is 1500 pieces. Often at "List" price. So a full size Neutrik even in single piece lots is less expensive.

The mini XLR is the most popular connector on wireless microphones. It is also almost always the point of failure.

Now for folks who want a difficult to assemble top of the line connector the Lemo B & 00 series are great. Pricey too.

http://intra.lemo.ch/catalog/ROW/UK_English/unipole_multipole.pdf

 

[pooge]

I like Belden 1023A cables. (very fast to weld, because the shield foil is glued to the isolator, and goes away with it, while the ground wire in contact with the foil is very clean and rigid enough). Those cables save hours when you have to cable big audio systems with hundred of ways.
http://www.belden.com/techdatas/metric/1023A.pdf

Foil/drain wire constructions have a higher shield current induced noise than other constructions.

http://www.google.com/url?url=http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dhttp://audiosystemsgroup.com/AES-SCIN-ASGWeb.pdf%26sa%3DX%26scisig%3DAAGBfm1MDDMGWkjUu9sAHcjZ4aBJXRAu1Q%26oi%3Dscholarr&rct=j&sa=X&ei=wXQFUbW3LorlyAH3ioGwDg&ved=0CDAQgAMoATAA&q=shield+current+induced+noise&usg=AFQjCNHBAychhy6Kq3LlwIXvr0I55xLfIw

 

[Esperado]

Now for folks who want a difficult to assemble top of the line connector the Lemo B & 00 series are great. Pricey too.
http://intra.lemo.ch/catalog/ROW/UK_English/unipole_multipole.pdf

YESSS !
Fantastic connectors, waterproof and easy to plug/unplug. We use them with HF mikes, and portable mixing desks or movie sound recorders in EU.

Foil/drain wire constructions have a higher shield current induced noise than other constructions.

When symetrical, you don't care, when asym, never weld the shield target side, use the white wire for ground reference instead. In real world, the wires are rigid enough, they are not microphonic, very well shielded, and sound great.

 

[1audio]

Mogami W2697. It has a single served shield. Unwrap it, twist it up nice and tight, tin it and it's a piece of cake to terminate.

se

Served shield? After all the intense discussions about shielding here I'm surprised to see anyone recommending a served (single spiral) shield. It makes for a very flexible cable but the shield performance is not as good as a braid. I would have thought anything less than a quad shield construction would be unacceptable, except for those who think shielded cables are bad. . .