Comments on: Star-quad cable

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 09:46:21 +0000

https://gothamcable.com/en/gothamcables/installationdigitalaesdmx/10640gac2miniaesfrnc

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:47:46 +0000

Cost has more to do with durability of the cable than if it’s better or worse at rejecting external noise.
Gold pins are pretty worthless in anything other than an ultra picky reference recording. Don’t waste your money.
A balanced cable has 3 conductors.
Hot (in phase) usually pin 2 on an XLR
Cold (reverse phase) usually pin 3 on an XLR
Screen (outer braid, grounded) pin 1 on an XLR

The grounded screen (P1) goes a long way to stop radiated electrical noise getting in to the cables underneath.
However, by having TWO wires carrying the signal, but in opposite phase (i.e. 180° apart) any noise that does get through is picked up by both cables equally and is in the SAME PHASE.

When the signal reaches the input…a mixing desk for instance…. Any noise that is present on BOTH wires in the same phase gets cancelled out by the electronics to leave a nice clean, interference free signal.
Cool, huh ?

This is particularly useful with microphones, as their signal voltage is extremely low.
It’s much less of a problem with interconnects between other gear, as the signal levels are much larger, but balanced cabling is retained, as it’s excellent practice to keep noise very low and costs no more to do.

Have a dig online for balanced and unbalanced cabling, there’s lots of good teachers far better than me that can explain all the ins and outs of why we do this.
Most pro touring companies use standard Van Damme cabling and Neutrik connectors.
If these are assembled with care and then coiled correctly after every use, you’ll easily get 10 years service out of a touring mic cable.

……..And if you want to introduce a test noise to a cable, wrap it around your cellphone a few times and get someone to call you.

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:20 +0000

Keep them away from AC power, and if they have to go to the same place, cross in a + and keep a foot or more between the power and audio on the run to the destination. Electromagnetic energy transfers. Simple theory really, like a transformer isolated snake or DI box with a ground lift. All the power in my studio walls was run near the ground and audio up high.

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:07:34 +0000

For the quality how well a XLR cable can avoid external noise is to wire the cable between a silent balanced audio source and one balanced input. Then bring noise sources near cables, listen and measure amount of noise that gets into cable. You need electrical field type noise and magnetic field type noise sources. Then you can do comparison.

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:01:41 +0000

Deping on the environment even the worst XLR will test extremely close or exactly the same as an expensive one. Now length is a factor. The lesser the quality the more reduction in signal straight witch might make you have to turn up your input gain more than normal raising your noise floor. But it really comes down to pin 1 shield. A lesser quality cable will have a lousy shield wire that will make it more susceptible to EM interference. Phasing issues only come by if the cable was made bad and/or not tested or improperly wired pin 2 and 3 are swapped on just one side.
I think you would be hard to find and or hear the difference between cheap vs expensive unless you setup a noisy situation. Like take a power strip and plug in some 9v and 12v adapters and lay the cables near and on them and see witch one rejects noise better. But a lot comes down to build quality and longevity.
But that’s just my opinion

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 17:47:29 +0000

Balanced Cable Hum Article
http://www.williamsonic.com/StarQuad/index.html

This is the online supplement to my article “Balanced Cable Hum: Cause and Cure”, appearing in the May 2009 issue of audioXpress magazine. It turns out that a simple wall outlet adapter can inject a signal that is 20 dB or more above the noise floor. After reviewing the theory of magnetic induction, I identify several possible solutions. The most attractive solution is the star-quad configuration which is now becoming available. However, the XLR connectors on the end of every mic cable are efficient hum antennas, no matter how good the cable itself is. I therefore call for a new standard for microphone connectors, and list the requirements for such a connector in the article

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:51:02 +0000

https://mogamicable.com/category/bulk/microphone/quad/

https://mogamicable.com/category/bulk/microphone/high_performance/

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 14:29:44 +0000

From https://www.facebook.com/groups/avdisasters/permalink/5448454255283041/

I Had AI write a song about XLR Cables.
Behold.

In the studio, in the booth
XLR cables carry the truth
Connecting microphones, to the mix
Sending signals, in a flash

Chorus:
XLR cables, XLR cables
The heartbeat of the sound
XLR cables, XLR cables
Without them, we’d be lost and found

Verse 2:
Balanced and sturdy, they hold the line
XLR cables, they work just fine
No matter the length, no matter the task
XLR cables, they never ask

Chorus:
XLR cables, XLR cables
The heartbeat of the sound
XLR cables, XLR cables
Without them, we’d be lost and found

Bridge:
From the stage, to the board
XLR cables carry the load
In the studio, on the road
XLR cables, they carry the show

Chorus:
XLR cables, XLR cables
The heartbeat of the sound
XLR cables, XLR cables
Without them, we’d be lost and found.