[sdiy] Building audio cables...

[Tim Ressel]

Yo Rainer,

Okay, here we go: First concern is the type of
shielding on the coax. The best is foil with braid;
gives 100% coverage. Braid alone gives less than 100%
coverage, and therefore leaves gaps that can let crap
in.

Second, Are the plugs shielded? It is defeating to use
$10/foot cable with a plastic plug, so for max
performance get metal plugs.

Third is: Ground loops. Any potenial difference
between the chassis, ac or dc, will turn into current
flowing down the shield. And any current flowing in
the shield couples directly into the center conductor
as noise.

Here is how to fix:
1. Convert all you gear to balanced i/o
2. Go to the hardware store, but the biggest copper
wire you can find. They usually carry large bare
grounding wire, 8 ga or so. Now ground the chassis of
each piece of gear to the copper, and tie the copper
to good earth ground. Now when you make the cables,
leave the shield unattached at one end. That way
current cannot flow thru the shield, but the return
path is maintained thru the copper wire. I have done
this with studios and my own gear. It works well.

--TR
--- Rainer Buchty <buchty at cs.tum.edu> wrote:
> Ok, this might be the most stupid question ever
> asked in here, but I just
> have to:
> 
> Assuming, I have a two-wire shielded cable (shield
> is common to both
> wires), what's the best way to create an audio cable
> which does not
> collect each and every hiss and buzz coming from
> nearby monitors,
> transformers etc.?
> 
> I thought that taking one wire for GND, the other
> for signal plus
> connecting the shield at least on one side of the
> cable to GND of a 6.3mm
> plug would be the best way to go. However, what I
> built seems to
> behave more like an antenna, especially for the
> noise of my good
> old Atari SM124 monitor and each and every
> transformer it meets on its way
> between mixer and audio device.
> 
> Any advice?
> 
> Rainer
> 
> -- 
> 
> Rainer Buchty, LRR, Technical University of Munich
> Phone: +49 89 289-28401, Fax +49 89 289-28232, Room
> S3240
> 


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