My Custom DIY XLR to RCA cables

[Owen Bartley]

Thought I'd pop in and show off the cables I made to add the BFD into my chain of equipment. I had been wanting to do some cables for a long time, and for my first ones, I am pretty happy with these. I could/should have done a little more research and possibly found a way to eliminate the ground loop hum, but once I got the BFD I was dying to get it up and running, so I just went ahead and did it the easy way and used a cheater plug.

I flattened out the response and added a bit of a house curve, but still have to figure out how to get more response in closer to 20Hz. That will probably be a rainy weekend project.

Here's a link to the more detailed page: Cables

And a quick pic for the lazy folks.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Nicely done, Owen! I’ve never seen those XLRs before – look really pricey!

Since it’s just a sub we’re talking about, I’m planning a simpler tact with my cables. I’m going to use these Neutrik RCAs.

Quality connector, and you can’t beat the price. I like the way they secure the cable with a chuck-type grip that encircles the complete cable. Much more secure than a set screw, IMO. I also like the slim barrel - just barely wider than plug itself. Not that it matters much with a subwoofer, but that makes it easier to get a grip on them when they’re plugged into the back of your receiver, since they have their RCA jacks crammed so close together. Most higher end RCAs are so fat it’s hard to disconnect one in the middle without disconnecting the whole row.

For the BFD itself, I’ll be using these Dayton 1/4” plugs.

I used the nickel plated version of these for my guitar cables for over 15 years. If they’re robust enough for stage use, I think they’ll be fine sitting in a stationary rack!

For cabling I’m going with Canare’s L-2E5 mini microphone cable...

Hard to beat Canare when it comes to good cabling! Another excellent Canare wire is their very cool L-4E mini star quad cable. It’s available in colors!

Regards,
Wayne

[Anthony]

2nd for the Canare cable.

As a custom installer, I only use Canare to make RCA/BNC cables. I haven't used their speaker cable, but if the quality to price is the same as their LV-77S and X-XVFB (basically RG6 variants for video and audio), I'm sold.

Right now I'm using a LV-77S with RCA for my FBD with a rat shack RCA to 1/4" plug adapter. But I would love to get rid of that and go straight to XLR. Nice work!

Anthony

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks guys!

Wayne, those connectors weren't actually too expensive, if you do a search for them on ebay they should pop up.

As for the cable, I looked around a bunch of places and the one I ended up using wasn't ideal, the shield could have been thicker, but it was the best I could come up with for a reasonable price, and I'm not aware of anything negative in the sound. I'll be doing some interconnects eventually and I'll put more research into it.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Oh, I’m sure it’s just fine, Owen, especially for subwoofer. Don’t know what you paid, but the Canare is very affordable – typically 35-40c/ft. Mogami is another excellent brand - Marketek sells it, too. As far as the XLRs, I’m a Swithcraft guy!

But I would love to get rid of that and go straight to XLR.

LOL – I’m sure that’s no problem for an installer!

Regards,
Wayne

[Anthony]

Wayne A. Pflughaupt wrote:

Oh, I’m sure it’s just fine, Owen, especially for subwoofer. Don’t know what you paid, but the Canare is very affordable – typically 35-40c/ft. Mogami is another excellent brand - Marketek sells it, too. As far as the XLRs, I’m a Swithcraft guy!

LOL – I’m sure that’s no problem for an installer!

Regards,
Wayne

Well, most of my clients are low to mid fi, so I don't usually get requests for balanced XLR connections. And I've had my BFD for over 6 years now; back then I had no "custom wiring" skills at all. Things have definitely changed since then -- it's amazing what you can do when you dive in head first

[Owen Bartley]

Anthony, you're totally right. Once you actually dive into a project you learn at least as much again as you do during all the research and prep work. Whenever I do my next cables they will be 80% easier now that I've gone through the process.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Well, most of my clients are low to mid fi, so I don't usually get requests for balanced XLR connections.

Hmm, didn’t think about that! I guess overall there isn’t much demand for XLRs with home theater. Still, they’re not a problem if you can solder, and I never met an installer who couldn’t!

Regards,
Wayne

[Anthony]

Oh yeah. I love soldering stuff. I've done dozens of car radio installs for friends and even built a Bottlehead preamp. I went with the Canare stuff because crimping is so much quicker and their 75 Ohm RCA connectors can't be beat.

That being said, I'm ordering a bunch of stuff from Parts Express and Markertek to try this unbalanced-XLR to RCA cable. I have some people with FBD's that are already interested!

[Bergowitz]

Hi Owen

Which of these figures have you been using ?

http://www.vandenhul.com/artpap/wiring2.htm

I am a noob to DIY cables but would like to make a couple between my BFD and my new SVS PB12/plus2

Nice job btw

[Anthony]

According to the BFD 1124 manual (available at parts express online), pins 1 and 3 must be bridged (i.e. shorted) for unbalanced use.

I would guess that's Figure 2 on the webpage you linked.

Good luck!

[Bergowitz]

Anthony wrote:

According to the BFD 1124 manual (available at parts express online), pins 1 and 3 must be bridged (i.e. shorted) for unbalanced use.

I would guess that's Figure 2 on the webpage you linked.

Good luck!

Thanx i will try that then, and hopefully it won´t then

[Owen Bartley]

Yep, I did a slight variation on fig. 2.

Take a look at my page (link in 1st post) at the 3rd and 5th pictures. I connected each one (+, -, shield) to a pin on the XLR, and twisted together the shield and (-) at the RCA end. Sorry, I didn't take any pics of the XLR end assembly cause I was in a groove.

It seemed to work for me. Just be careful, because one XLR will be male and one will be female, and the pins will be reversed on them. Not to mention you're looking at the pins from the reverse side a lot of the time to add to the confusion.

[Bergowitz]

Owen Bartley wrote:

Yep, I did a slight variation on fig. 2.

Take a look at my page (link in 1st post) at the 3rd and 5th pictures. I connected each one (+, -, shield) to a pin on the XLR, and twisted together the shield and (-) at the RCA end. Sorry, I didn't take any pics of the XLR end assembly cause I was in a groove.

It seemed to work for me. Just be careful, because one XLR will be male and one will be female, and the pins will be reversed on them. Not to mention you're looking at the pins from the reverse side a lot of the time to add to the confusion.

I am buying some german XLR connectors (Neutrik) they are numbered 1,2 and 3. (but aren´t they all ? )

I will try this one of the next days. Today I have ordered the SVS PB12/Plus2