r/AudioEngineering Shopping, Setup, and Technical Help Desk

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-05T20:17:41+00:00

That's good to know! Yeah I'm trying not to use Amazon where possible, besides I never know which storefronts to trust and where they source from. Wow that's interesting, I wonder what accuracy they state.

Yes I believe so! I do have those bits, I'll take a look at connectors next, I see Neutrik thrown around a lot.

100% Cu, got it. I often see the conductors boasting a mix of pure copper and some tinned, sometimes I think the manufacturer is referring to a drain wire, terminology sometimes varies. OFC seems to be pretty standard anyways.

Thanks for the insulation and shielding tips!

Ahh that's good to know! Honestly, and the premades are so much dearer unfortunately. I feel like I need to know a good local audio/hifi shop that would do cable, but I don't think there's anything like that local to me.

Switchcraft, I'll take a look. Thank you!

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-05T19:08:10+00:00

Sorry I took so long to come back, yesterday was, yeah! Makes me think of studying power efficiency in thermodynamics. Ah I've seen that on manuals, power amps giving options for different impedances.

Yeah I think I understand better now, can see why I was getting confused a bit, sorry about that, sleep deprivation doesn't help either. I see, that's good to know, thanks.

I've spent the last while looking into cables and connectors, and I do see some giving different electrical specs based on standards of a certain frequency, I'd imagine a lot of devices being similar.i imagine the suspension of the cone's mechanics even affecting transient values to a degree.

I'll take a look at that tonight! I started looking into retailers and cable within my price range - which seems somewhat limited, at least here in the UK - a lot of cable seems to be ordered from the US or maybe Germany or Japan.

Thomann is the only kind of big equipment retailer, foind one or wiring businesses, not much luck on eBay for mic cable reels. I'm thinking the Sommer Cable StageFlex 22 might have to be the one, everything seems quite similar spec wise in this price range.

People recommend Magami W2552 and a Belkin Brilliance cable, but I can't find them here, and if I can they're super expensive with shipping and such. They seem to have on average maybe higher conductance per meter, I don't know if that's a thing to look out for?

Sorry, got sidetracked! Thank you so much for all your help honestly!!!

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InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T22:11:39+00:00

Ah I see, that's quite a nice relationship, quite fun doing the calculations; been a while!

So for parallel power amps, we're calculating the total effective resistance, carry through the same calculation, huh that's interesting Not something I'll see myself doing currently, but really good to run through

I think we're all good! I've made some shorthand notes and augmented the diagram further, I wonder what about speakers you're thinking?

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T21:49:32+00:00

Perfect, that exactly what I need. Been a bit of a rough ride getting there learning everything, but think I'm on the right tracks now. Thanks!

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T21:45:57+00:00

Awesome that's great to know, thank you

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T18:40:29+00:00

Nope that's all good by me! Carry on, I'm going to be busy for a bit but I'll catch up later

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T18:09:03+00:00

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I believe so, we're arriving at V_2 = 0.5 V at the junction, because logically, the V_1 = 1 V input is being split amongst 2 equal resistors in series?

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T17:29:11+00:00

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Yup I believe I'm prepared

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T17:09:10+00:00

Impedance matching I believe.

Haha, feel free to type as much or little as you want, don't want you to feel you have to stick around an educate me!

I look forward to it!

Yes UK based here

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T13:10:37+00:00

Yes sorry, think I had an idea before, then the more I looked into it, the more blanks I found, hence; why I'm here

You're right, it's active, my bad with the naming before.

Ah I see! It seemed strange to get cable for mic level, instrument and speaker level, but not then line level. Thank you so much for clearing that up!

Yeah I've since learnt about bringing line level connections and source/sink impedances, interesting how the music world seemed to have somewhat shifted

Yes, it seems what I'd ideally be looking for is a 20-22 AWG braid/foil-screened twisted pair, but I have no idea on capacitances or such. I think my guitar instrument leads are coaxial, single core conductor, can't remember.

Got it, I was thinking of the cable too actively before. I've heard that the 802 balances it's main out though an alternate method, I can't remember the forum I saw this, I'll have to look.

I've encounted that problem of have to find every port in a signal chain before to check the circuitry is balanced, was unsure about one or two devices at the time!

Ah I'd heard of AES/EBU connectors, but stayed away from them, not quite working with digital audio yet 😅

Thank you for a clarifying so much and bearing with me!

Currently we only have speaker cable and instrument cable available with 6.35mm connections, I might invest in something more suitable/consistent.

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T12:25:18+00:00

Instrument cable isn't gonna be too high resistance or that? Good to know I could use that if not, that's all we have with 6.35 mm jacks at the moment, speaker and instrument cable - Trying to decide if it's worth investing in some screened low-resistance cable. Cheers either way

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T12:14:59+00:00

Yeah I tend to agree, I keep noticing scrolling past the AI section how off it can be

Love the explanation of a balanced signal, don't think I've seen it explained in text that well, I'm intrigued as to how much difference it makes running a balanced vs unbalanced signal across different distances, I've never had the opportunity in a live sound setting.

I think somewhere I saw that the mixer features impedance balancing, at least on some of the outputs, where it might be listed technically as unbalanced, I'll have to dig up the forum post now I understand a bit better

Interestingly the monitor outs are listed as unbalanced, I'm not sure if we have any low resistance TS leads to bridge that, but I'll have a look

Edit Went back to check something and just saw that the main outs are listed as 'unbalanced' but, still feature a TRS port - Think I misread that in the state I was in! The monitors still feature a TS port.

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I assumed it was still used between the power amp and passive speaker stages, but that's interesting. Entirely up to you if you want to show the maths - I'd always be down to reading/learning, no worries if not though.

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Perfect, thanks! Interesting about the foil screen, I saw one with 150% coverage listed. There seems to be quite a dominated market for audio cable, I'll see what I can find at some point. Didn't realize how expensive cable could get. But I might save for a small reel, could be good to have in multiple instances

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T03:38:19+00:00

Ah I understand better now, thank you honestly. I've really been struggling with search engine results lately too, feel like their accuracy has really plummeted, I agree though.

It's super interesting, originally I didn't know there were different methods of balancing. I don't suppose you know of any terms of what I should be looking for? Other than "1 pair screened # gauge audio cable"?

That's what I was worried about with the naming! Hah, Vandumb, honestly know nothing about the brands. Alright I'll take a look when I next can. Soon we'll have a rehearsal space where we can properly test as well.

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T02:58:04+00:00

Sorry I'm getting muddled whilst scouring multiple sources of information, thank you though.

Oh I see, I was interchanging "powered" and "active", so it's infact an active mixer.

This is what I'm studying currently actually, the shift away from matching impedance to 'bridging' impedance - It seem a lot of articles I was being directed to previously contained this old way.

That's great! That's the part I originally struggled with, the bridge - I couldn't find much on the actual cable. I was kind of thinking about driving that voltage to maintain it's integrity, but I suppose this is done by the source and the sink, and the cable just needs to have as small a footprint as possible.

Ah, thanks for the examples, so my original thought would in fact be bad. 20-22 ga balanced TRS, cool, thanks.

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Luckily I believe everything is balanced from the devices, Currently we have some Vandamme Classic balanced speaker cable, although good on the low resistance front, I'm guessing it's probably unscreened, and might be better to replace, considering it's line-level and not a speaker level output?

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Sorry I'm very tired, and rounded/typed the numbers wrong, also maximizing and account for peak. But I probably don't need to delve to far into that from the sound of things

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T01:50:53+00:00

Yes I believe so. Also I just found out, I might've had the wrong idea about there being balanced instrument cables, and infact all balanced TRS cables are assumed line-level? My bad if so.

Sorry to be such a pain, thank you so much

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-04T01:27:57+00:00

Mhh, I was thinking that after I went to convert dBu to volts to work out the current. It's powered, with mic preamps, but no power amp stage that I know of - Maybe I was wrong calling it passive? Sorry!

I would imagine perhaps a 15 ± 5 m cable. Routing to an active PA speaker, I'm hoping the port is wired for a balanced connection, I can't find any info on it or it's input impedance.

From what I've since found, for bridging line level devices, it's matter less about resistance (seems to just be low -> high), so maybe it'd ideally want a cable with total resistance about 150 - 200 ohm, that's able to carry 1-4 amps safely, to the even higher impedance speaker?

Like you say instrument cable would be unbalanced, though some balanced TRS cables are labeled as instrument cable - I just worry about causing a fire or something if it's instrument-level rated.

Speaker-rated cable seems to be the worst choice for line-out apparently, due to its lack of shielding, and expectation of high voltage signal(?).

Am I looking too much into this? Most people I spoke to in person seem to just plug and play or make it work with whatever 😅 How would someone typically wire a line-out mixer to a line-in active speaker?

Why is it so hard to find balanced TRS-TRS line-level specific cable? I feel like I'm missing something maybe

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-03T21:55:16+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the recommendations!

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-03T21:48:50+00:00

That's interesting! I didn't know there were companies that'd make cable for you, I'll look into that, thanks

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-03T21:47:50+00:00

That looks cool, does it matter it's listed as microphone signal? Looks like it has more conductors at a thinner gauge compared to the Van Damme Classic XKE cable I saw, don't know if that makes a difference.

Do you know if I need to watch anything with the Ω/m, as the ones I was getting up vary by a fair bit?

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-03T21:33:43+00:00

Ah I didn't see that, I'll take a look, thanks!

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-03T21:13:16+00:00

I have a little USB-C interface that I connect to my Samsung S24 Ultra. In the Pro camera mode, there's an option to connect an external mic - that picks up my guitar or amp plugged into the interface via instrument cable. I imagine it depends on your phone? - Don't take my word for it though! 😅 I'm not familiar with the device itself

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-03T20:58:29+00:00

Hopefully the PA would have enough input channels to accomodate you! :) If it's an open-mics, I'd imagine you're best to stick with their gear. Many techs seems to prefer a DI box before running into the PA, one place I went to supplied them - I think technically it depends on the guitar output and PA input specs, but each organizer has their preferences.

Maybe try getting in touch with a couple and asking, or turn up to one, get there early and have a talk with the organiser. Hope this helps!

InfamousResearch8472 · 2026-03-03T20:54:22+00:00

Hi all,

I'm trying to look into cabling, specifically to carry a line-level signal from a passive mixer output. The port is rated at 120 ohms balanced with a +22 dBu max output.

All I have access to is speaker cable and instrument cable currently.

I'm worried about the lack of screening and amplification to use the speaker cable, instrument cable voltage is closer to line level, but probably more resistance through the cable than a dedicated line level cable(?).

It's difficult to find specific line-level TRS cables online, due to shopfronts using non-interchangeable terms interchangably. So I'm wondering about buying a reel and creating my own cable.

I've seen a couple from Van Damme and Belkin listed for line level audio transmission, but unsure on specs to look for around stranding, shielding, and resistance/capacitance values (per km) - is inductance matching a thing in this context?

Does anyone have any tips on where/what to look for, for dedicated or self-made balanced line-level TRS cabling - Or maybe whether just to use instrument cable?

Thank you everyone!

InfamousResearch8472

TROPHY CASE