Best 2 & 4 conductor small-gauge cables for jumpers

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

What is the thinnest decent-quality cable stock for making adapters and jumper cables?

About 90% of the cables I make seem to be 12" jumper cables that adapt some obscure connection to another.  They are nearly always 2 or 4 conductors with a ground.  I've been using generic mic cable that is readily available at local retail, but these cables are invariably too thick, especially the 4 conductor stock (ideally, it would fit into a TA5 headshell).  I've run into this enough that I think it's time for me to buy a reel each of 2-conductor & 4-conductor cable stock that I can just have on hand.

I know Belden is commonly recommended, but I'm looking for best compromise between a small cable gauge and quality, not necessarily the best quality, period.  For the short cables I'm building, any decent quality cable should be fine I think.

Bonus points if it is thin enough to jam 4x into a DB-15 (VGA) headshell, or 2x into a TA5 headshell.

[rich]

for 2 core, i like the mogami 3031. it will allow you to get 4 wires into a DB-15, or 2 into a TA5.

ive not found (or looked that hard) for a starquad that is thinner than the 4.8mm offerings from mogami or canare that is as flexible or sturdy.

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

Thanks.  The Mogami looks good.

For four-conductor, I'm not actually looking for Starquad ... I actually want four signal cables for use with TA5 inputs / outputs (i.e. 2 channels in one cable).  The usual Canare is definitely too fat for a TA5 connector.

[Rick Reineke]

23 hours ago, The Documentary Sound Guy said:

The usual Canare is definitely too fat for a TA5 connector.

There is the Canare L-4E5C Mini Star Quad  which fits in a TA  (mini XLR) connector.

For connectors, the Neutrik REAN mini XLR comes with two clamps, one for small (lavaliere) sized cables and another for larger star-quad mini size.

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

2 minutes ago, Rick Reineke said:

There is the Canare Star-quad mini, L-4E6S. which fits in a TA  (mini XLR) connectors.

Any concerns about using Star-quad mini for non-star-quad applications?  I've done it in a pinch, but I always though running separate signals through twisted pairs was a bad idea.  I was under the impression that a proper 2-ch cable was four conductors, untwisted.

[Fred Salles]

Sommer Cable from Germany makes very decent cables and has become a good alternative for some application in my kit to Canare, Mogami, Belden or Gotham.

You have the Sommer Cable SC-CICADA 4 , starquad at 3.4mm outershell, not as strong as the Belden 1804A but easier to solder and very decent anyway.

the Sommercable Scuba 14, one pair+shield at 3.8mm (perfect TA4 cable for non starquad short cable)

and the very thin the Sommer Cable Cicada SO-D14, one pair+shield at 2.6mm

 

https://www.sommercable.com/en-us/Patch-Microphone-Cable-SC-Scuba-14-2-x-0-14-mm2-PVC-OE-3-80-mm-black/200-0311#neonCfg=pulength::pu100

[Rick Reineke]

I have run four channels of unbalanced audio ( -10dB ) through star-quad w/o issue. But the cable run was only a few feet. I used the custom 4-channel RCA connector cable for about two weeks on a unique set-up.

[Derek H]

Belden 1804A

[artofnois]

I’ve used Mogami 2534 (2-conductor) and 2549 (4-conductor) cables for making jumper cables and adapters, and they’ve worked out really well. They’re thin enough to fit into tight spots like DB-15 or TA5 headshells without being too bulky, but still feel durable and flexible. I’ve found them to be a solid balance between quality and size—nothing too heavy-duty but still reliable. The 2534 is about 0.18" thick, which is about as thin as I’d go for stuff like this, and the 2549, while a bit thicker, isn’t much of an issue for short cables.