REVIEW - SoundLab Cable Tester

[Brian]

I've just bought a couple of these from CPC...

 

 

...to stick in my various toolboxes. It was a bit of a gamble as I'd never seen them before.

 

It's a cable tester for audio cables priced at just £27.41 incl VAT

 

It can test the following cables...

 

• Speakon 8-pole
  
• Speakon 4-pole
  
• Mini-DIN 4-pin
  
• 6.3mm TRS jack
  
• 3.5mm TRS jack
  
• phono
  
• DIN 3/5/7/8-pin
  
• XLR5
  
• XLR3
  

 

Testing involves plugging both end of the cable in and turning the rotary switch. LEDs show which pins are connected together. There is also an LED to show if any pins are connected to the connector shell. The switch has 8 positions for signal pins plus a 9th battery test position. You can also test leads which have different connectors at each end; useful for audio adaptors.

 

A nice feature is that there is no ON-OFF switch. With no cable plugged in it consumes no current.

 

An additional feature is a pair of 4mm Banana sockets connected to another LED and a bleeper. Armed with a pair of test leads you can then test other 'odd' cables. With 100 Ohms across them you still get a bleep and an LED so it'll test lamps as well.

 

It's built into a very sturdy steel case, is coloured bright orange so you don't lose it and takes a single 9v battery.

 

All in all a fantastic bit of kit, especially at the price.

[Pete Alcock]

Thanks Brian!

 

Sounds good value - I doubt you could buy all the sockets alone for that money (assuming you were into making test boxes). Wish I'd known about it yesterday as I placed a big order with CPC. Have to wait till next week now.

[revbobuk]

It's identical (I think) to the Thomann MCT-20, which is even cheaper at £18.27 - click here I have the simpler MCT-10, and it's been brilliant. Stick a bit of Gaffer over the battery enclosure cover, though, as the cover falls off.

[Brian]

It's identical (I think) to the Thomann MCT-20,...

Looks very similar, the SoundLab unit has 4-pin mini-DINS, the Thomann unit has RJ45s.

 

Thomann does need you to spend £195 before you get free shipping though.

[billy jim]

It's built into a very sturdy steel case, is coloured bright orange so you don't lose it and takes a single 9v battery.

 

You say that, but I had one of the Thomann versions, and it's gone walkabout!

I do have a sneaking suspicion that a kid's nicked it though...

[handyandi]

I've had one of these for a month or so now. Have had an EMO tester for years but wanted one that did NL8 speakons & this was the only one could find other than the £150 EMO. Did have to wait quite a few months for it come into stock and the date kept going back but does seem to be a very good value for money unit. Does on the box list the other variants which show the RJ45's at the expense of the 4 pin dins.

[Doug Siddons]

They also make a good holder for plugs whilst your trying to solder them :)

[TomHoward]

I have a Velleman VTTEST15, which looks identical to the two previously mentioned. Since all the connectors on the same side are paralleled, I've used it (without batteries in as a precautionary measure) as an adaptor in a couple of bodges in the past - as Phono-XLR etc.

 

I also find that the exposed earth on the phono connector is useful, and you can use it to 'sniff out' muticore cables - identifying colours in a 8-pin DIN, for example, without needing to hold a probe at both ends. I considered paralleling one side of the probe terminals with one of the cores to allow you to do this with the test leads, or alternatively make a phono-probe lead.

 

Also - the spacing for the probe sockets is also just the right width for a PAR56/64.

[benweblight]

It's identical (I think) to the Thomann MCT-20, which is even cheaper at £18.27 - click here I have the simpler MCT-10, and it's been brilliant. Stick a bit of Gaffer over the battery enclosure cover, though, as the cover falls off.

 

I have one of the Millennium MC10 versions and I've found it to be a pretty useful bit of kit.

 

One gripe though..the phono connectors are poor quality and they worked loose and span around....tangling up the cables inside and breaking some of the connections; quite annoying if your fault finding and the fault is in the tester. Was a simple solder job to fix it though.