Making up cables

[stephenb1]

Hi

When making up cables, rca and xlr is it advisable to make them up as short as possible ?

[tonyvdb]

You can go as long as needed I have run home made cables as far as 30' without issue. But its always advisable to only make them as long as needed to ensure the least amount of interference can be picked up by the cable as possible. XLR can be run much farther due to the better shielding.

[stephenb1]

Thanks

[imbeaujp]

They should be not too short, not too long. Too short may cause more damages than too long because this could break the connector or causing a short. Also, they should be long enough to avoid AC cables. I you have a rack, I think the best way is to place AC cables grouped at one side (right), and audio at the other (left).

JP

[Anthony]

Make them a little long, but not so much that you have to loop the extra slack.

Longest run I ever made was a 40' subwoofer cable that did not pick up any hum, but careful placement of the wire did more for that than the shielding.

Also, XLR cables have good shielding, but the primary reason they are good for long runs is that the combined + to ground and - to ground signals cancel out any intereference. That's why they are the standard for pro gear, which is usually set up in an non-idea environment much farther away from the speakers, amps, stage, etc.

Having made both and RCA to XLR (unbalanced) adapter cables, I prefer crimp on RCA by far. 5 minutes versus 30 minutes for the XLRs. Undoing the braided sheath is a pain, then combining and soldering wires onto tiny tabs -- no thank you.

For rca, it's usually strip, pin crimp, set the body, then body crimp. Done. The hardest part is remembering to put things like heat shrink or boots on the cable BEFORE I crimp on the ends That's happened more than once -- DOH!

Good luck.

[stephenb1]

Hi thanks for the info,
by the way you aren't the only one to forget the boots or the screw part of the socket for that matter !

It s still so much better than paying all that money for expensive cables and have someone else make them up.