Mic Cable Quality, does cost mean best Options

[Steve1812]

Hi,

Ive ben following the recent thread on install and standard mic cable and another thought occurred...

Mic cable can cost anything thing from around 40p to £1.50 for a metre in bulk buys. The "quality" that you buy, is it coil-ability, lack of noise on long runs, lack of handling noise, something else or a combination?
Ive used cheap and cheerful standard mic cable from "Rapid" over 50 metres installed, and and its been, to me, noiseless.
Ive experienced cheap and cheerful at a theatre I help do sound at, and its horrible to handle, hangs horrendously from a microphone and kinks as son as you look at it.

I think my question really is does quality come from a particular manufacturer rather than solely by price?

Apologies for the ramble nature of my question - trust you guys have a more coherent answer.

Steve1812

[TimmyP1955]

I like Horizon LowZ1, Wireworks MusiLux, and Gotham GAC2. All have a spiral wrap plain copper shield and are available in a variety of colors. I use Horizon, as it's what I can get the easiest and cheapest. I like MusiLux the best. In the UK I expect that Gotham is the easiest to get.

[Brian]

...The "quality" that you buy, is it coil-ability, lack of noise on long runs, lack of handling noise, something else or a combination?...

I think my question really is does quality come from a particular manufacturer rather than solely by price?...

The price you pay depends on a lot of different factors. Working backwards from you to the manufacturing of the cable you have something like...

Reseller's profit margin
Reseller's cost of sale
Distributor's profit margin
Distributor's cost of sale
Manufacturer's profit margin
Manufacturer's cost of sale

...and then you finally arrive at the making of the cable itself...

Cost of manufacture
Cost of materials
NRE costs (Non-Recoverable Engineering = R&D)

It's generally fair to say that a premium brand cable will support higher profit margins down the chain. Once you get to the cable itself the actual raw material cost difference between the 'best' and 'cheapest' cables will be tiny; in the region of a few 'p' per metre. The same with the cost of manufacturing; cable made on a brand new machine in a EU factory will cost more than that made on a machine which has paid for itself many times over made where labour rates are lower. The cable made on the newer machine will probably have a more consistent quality though.

A few other things... not everyone makes their own cable. There are anonymous factories all over the world who will make it and brand it as yours. Cheaper brands of cable can often vary batch by batch as it may not be made in the same factory each time.

As to what makes a good cable; certainly everything you mentioned plus things like ease of termination - not too important if you make you own cables in small quantities but give a wireman a batch of cheap FST to wire 24 audio jackfields and see how much longer it takes than the good stuff.

Over then years I've bought 100's of km of signal cable, maybe even 1000's. I reckon there is a 'sweet spot' on pricing. There's no point in buying the most expensive as you're starting to pay over the odds for the brand name and everyone's profit margins. And there's no point buying the cheapest; it's a false economy. What you want is a cable with consistent quality from a manufacturer with decent after-sales service; try sending back a few km of cheap cable because the jacket doesn't strip easily and see how far you get.

[soundant]

If you coil cables on a regular basis you will appreciate 'coil-ability' - particularly when de-rigging after a long show. This would be my number one feature in a cable assuming it can do the 'pass a signal well' bit too.

Starquad cable is I believe the best you can get in terms of induction rejection ie hum from mains cables, dimmer racks etc. It uses 2 pairs plus a screen to help cancel any induced noise. The BBC use it in their standard 7 pair looms - they may have even invented it.....

I am assuming here you are using standard 3 pin balanced circuits ie XLR3 or TRS jacks?

I buy cable from VDC Trading and Bryant Broadcast.

Starquad works out at about 70 pence per meter - lasts a lifetime and coils well, resists damage etc.

Make sure it is wired correctly though.



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Nice answer brian....

[paulears]

'Best' is subjective. If you work in nasty electrical environments, and long lifepsan is the criteria you require, the starquad is 'best'. If, however, it's for a one-off project, with no interference issues and a stretched budget then 'best' could be something else. 'Best for particular use' might be better.

[wmcalin]

Hi, I've used cheap balanced cable in the past, but have always found it takes longer
to make the terminations making it more expensive, cores hard to tin, also not enough chalk within the cable making it very difficult to use a cable stripper..... always try to use Belden, van damme/Klotz. Canford also sell decent cable.