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Cable making details: Pin1 to shell or no? What works for you?


Derek H

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I'll be making some new cable soon, particularly short jumpers for use

in mic-to-boom, boom-to mixer connections and want to see if I can

find a consensus on the best way to do solder these up.  Obviously

pin1-ground, pin2-hot, pin3-reverse, but I wanted to see where you all

stand on the more optional connection of pin1(cable shield) to the XLR

shell lug, as well as the idea of using ferrite beads and capacitors

to soak up extra RF/EMI.  If anyone has been implementing these kinds

of "extras" into their audio cable with success I'd love to hear about

it.

I've heard many opinions and positions on these oft-overlooked

details.  Some people firmly believe that the shell should never be

connected (to avoid ground loops), whereas some seem to believe that

connecting the shell provides a more complete level of shielding (both

Ron of PSC, and Jon Tatooles of SD were in this camp).  One tech I

talked to (an amp designer) thought that the ideal situation would be

to connect the ground to shell but use caps and ferrite beads to ward

off any ground loops that you may encounter.

I get the feeling that the answer depends on the purpose of the cable

as well as the connected equipment's relationship to mains ground.

eg.. maybe a mic jumper should be fully shielded, whereas a 100' cable

operating at line-level used for patching one panel mixer to another

on AC should not have a link to the shell (ground issues)... ??

For my purposes, all of this cable will live in an OTS rig powered by

batteries 99% of the time, and occasionally tethered to cameras that

may be plugged into AC about 5% of the time...  if that helps

btw, I'll be using L-4E6S as well as some cloth Neumann hose (for

shock-mount jumpers), and standard (silver-colored) Neutrik NC3FX/MX

parts.

Thanks,

-d

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Obviously pin1-ground, pin2-hot, pin3-reverse, but I wanted to see where you all

stand on the more optional connection of pin1(cable shield) to the XLR

shell lug

-d

This has been debated for as long as I have been in the business (and possibly longer). I remember asking the question first in 1969 when I went to make my first audio cable myself. I got several different answers then and just last year when I asked the question again, almost 30 years later, I still do not have a clear answer. You are right, I believe, that the key question needs to be asked: what is the length and intended purpose of the cable and how will it be used. Armed with the answers to those questions, it seems someone should be able to give a definitive answer.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

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I've cross-listed this topic on Ramps, where there is a lot of active discussion----> http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.production.sound/browse_thread/thread/2c651ff19e70e022?tvc=2&fwc=2

To Philip and Jeff: Thanks for your replies.  Jeff it's good to hear that I'm not the only one that hasn't found a clear answer to this question!

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