What cable is recomended

[Guest joewhite903]

Im planning very soon to make up loads off XLR-XLR, Jack-XLR and Jack-Jack. Leads Obv with neutrik Connectors, Im just wondering what cable is recomended for me to use, I used to all ways use VanDamme but im finding less and less Leads using it now, Is there somthing better out there that im not aware off, Thanks joe

[paulears]

I suspect you'll get as many different answers as you can cope with.

 

I tend to always use the same stuff for as much as I can - I use Canford HST. I never use Van Damm. In the past I really liked Musiflex, but it isn't as easy to source now.

[Bobbsy]

Personally I still quite like Van Damme and tend to use that, though for some installation stuff I use Canford FST or PSN types.

 

I have in the past (when I couldn't get the right VDC for whatever reason) used Canare and that was fine as well.

 

Bob

[Shez]

I've pretty much always used musiflex cable - you can still buy them here.

[Rob_Beech]

I do like the van damme stuff, however, I've had nothing but good results from cbbr4168 from cpc. I tend to use alot of that, hence knowing the number.

[Simon Lewis]

I've had instability problems with longer lengths of Musiflex, and in one installation had to exchange 8 way multicores made of the stuff for copper / foil based cable.

 

Van Damme standard mic lead is good, but I do not find it quite so nice to terminate. Similarly, Klotz is good, but not quite what I like. I've just been using some Canford HST mic lead - one of a batch made for a tour in 1985. It's still going strong, never let me down, and I'm happy to still use it for important gigs.

 

I'm with Paulears.... Canford HST is an easy cable to coil and terminate, is reasonably priced and performs welll !

 

Simon

[StevieR]

If you're happy with the Van Damme then stick with it. We use it almost exclusively in our hire dept without any issues. Its also the main line we sell and I've not had any customer complaints either. Sure there are plenty of other options out there but as the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke..."

 

Steve

[Shez]

I've had instability problems with longer lengths of Musiflex

 

Could you elaborate on that Simon? (Not sure what you mean by instability...)

I think my longest of those cables are 30m; most are only 10m so I might not be using long enough ones to see any problems.

[Simon Lewis]

Shez,

 

I think there were two mains problems (this was the late 80s - perhaps things have improved since then!):

 

1) the lay length (number of pair twists per cm) wasn't particularly good, so the ability to reject magnetic interference wasn't great.

 

2) the carbon loaded tube that formed the screen wasn't always in good contact with the drain wire (which seemed to be made of steel rather than copper).

 

One installation suffered from some form of electromagnetic feedback (possibly the multi picking up the induction loop) and another would pick up the hash from any fluorescent light in the vicinity. I also had problems with an in house sound system that disappeared when we substituted our own copper & aluminium foil multi. The early examples of Musiflex had a hard PVC sheath and rather uncoilable steel cores. The outer jacket was replaced with a softer material later.

 

Given the problems I had, I switched to Canford's cables, which cured the problems listed above. Having said all that, I still have a drum with 2 x 50m lengths of musiflex on, and that seems to work OK!

 

 

Simon

[tokm]

In the past I really liked Musiflex, but it isn't as easy to source now.

Viking Stage Lighting in Norwich stock it :)

 

IMO, if you use any of the major brand flex, you can't go wrong. VDC, Canford, Musiflex, they all do a perfectly good job!

 

Tom