Small mono cable

[eamon]

Hi all

 

I am looking to get hold of some thin mono cable. I am intending to make up a couple of decent mini jack to 2no. RCA leads. My local supplier, who is generally very good, only stocks v.cheap leads as above. My problem is that said leads tend to break very easily and I have decided to move away from them. They have caused me to many problems and are too weak a piece in the signal chain.

 

I am decent enough at soldering and the task itself poses no problems but I am having some trouble trying to find a roll of "thin" 1 core plus signal cable. Typically enough I have purchased the parts to make the leads and discovered the hard way that the uni 1 cable is to thick to squeeze into the mini jack plug. I intend to heat shrink and sleeve the cables where necessary for a more durable lead etc. I am making mini jack stereo to 2 x RCA plugs and using adaptors for XLR & 1/4"jack etc. IMO, this gives me a good deal of versatility.

 

Can anybody reccommend a decent cable that fits this description? I looked at a made to order option and fell off my chair with the price...! I will probably buy a roll and over the years, just keep building onto my stock

 

With more & more laptops coming in, I am finding these cables indispensable.

 

Many thanks in advance

 

Eamon

[revbobuk]

You've left a few questions begging to be answered, and a few reservations to be expressed. Like what exactly do you mean by '1 core plus signal' - especially when you're intending to construct a 'mini-jack stereo to 2 RCA plugs' cable. Most of the pre-made cables use a figure-8 cable, but this gives DIY problems as the cable clamp doesn't grip figure-8 neatly. A round two-core cable with screen just moves the problem to the other end, as you then need to have either an in-line split, or bring a loop out of one RCA connector and back into the other, which means two cables in one RCA plug.

 

I've found the pre-made stuff from CPC perfectly adequate, and I like the moulded 3.5mm plug. Failing that, I use the Neutrik 3.5mm plug, which has a good enough cable grip to hold figure-8 cable.

 

Just be a bit careful with the 'adaptors for XLR' - all too easy to end up squirting phantom power into the laptop sound card. I tend to avoid leads that do this, which makes sure that a proper isolation transformer gets used instead.

[TomHoward]

Personally I don't solder the Minijack ends - I find the same difficulty with fitting decent cable into a solder minijack connector - personally I buy decent quality Minijack - Minijack cables with moulded connectors and Fig8 cable (so it can be split into the 2x RCA / XLR / whatever without needing a jumper cable) then cut the cable halfway and fit the other connectors.

[Shez]

Last time CPC had an offer on minijack to XLR cables, I bought a batch. Quite chunky cables - they seem nicely robust. Some stayed as they were (LS9 only has inputs on XLR) and some I soldered decent phonos or jacks on to instead of the XLR. Life is far too short to faff around soldering minijacks!

[grumpy 2]

I use http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/31-076_CANFORD-FST-CABLE-1-pair-Blue for this. Its only 4mm OD and fits into Neutrik 3.5mm jack.

Or if you want flexable then http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/20468/31-280_CANFORD-FST-F-CABLE-1-pair. Its only 3.6mm OD

[revbobuk]

I use http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/31-076_CANFORD-FST-CABLE-1-pair-Blue for this. Its only 4mm OD and fits into Neutrik 3.5mm jack.

Or if you want flexable then http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/20468/31-280_CANFORD-FST-F-CABLE-1-pair. Its only 3.6mm OD

 

So how do you fan this out into 2 RCA?

[eamon]

Hi all

 

 

Many thanks for the replies.

 

 

At Revobuck

 

I am intending to run 2no. "mono" cables from the stereo jack plug to the rca phono plugs. I had looked at the link & loop out of the rca plug with the uni 1 cable but have discarded it as an option. I could not think of the term figure of 8 hence my "mono" cable reference.

 

I do not use CPC but I might give them a try.

 

I am aware of the phantom power and mini jack sockets issue. I have an LS 9 and couple of analogue desks hence the desire to go to phono and use adaptors depending on the usage. I will probably end up making mini jack to XLR & 1/4" jack.

 

I agree with you re the proper isolated transformer's. I had one and it was kindly nicked on me.... It is the ever increasing use of laptop, ipods, mp3 players as playback that is motivating me. Too many people come in and complain when I don't have leads for their equipment and as for the cheap vista crap laptops with crap power supplies...........

 

I blame a lot on Qlab!! It is just making it easier to deal with these users who bring the gear but look strangely at you when you look for their cabling to make their equipment work.

 

 

Many thanks to all for the links. I will pursue in due course. I will look at the idea of the mini jack to mini jack cable.

 

 

eamon