Audio Cables and Connectors

Common Audio Cables Balanced: Have two conductors and a shield or ground. Used for low impedance - balanced circuits (+4 dBu) Balanced: Have two conductors and a shield or ground. Used for low impedance - balanced circuits (+4 dBu) Unbalanced: Have one conductor and a shield. Used for high impedance unbalanced, or -10 dBV signals Unbalanced: Have one conductor and a shield. Used for high impedance unbalanced, or -10 dBV signals Speaker wire: 2 conductors and no shield Speaker wire: 2 conductors and no shield

A Balanced Line

An Unbalanced Line

Speaker Wire

3 Electrical Characteristics of Wire Resistance/ Impedance: Will decrease the audio signal level Resistance/ Impedance: Will decrease the audio signal level Capacitance: Will roll off high frequencies Capacitance: Will roll off high frequencies Inductance: Will alter the frequencies of the signal in various ways Inductance: Will alter the frequencies of the signal in various ways

Specs for quality wire Resistance/ Impedance: Less than 100 ohms per 1000 feet Resistance/ Impedance: Less than 100 ohms per 1000 feet Capacitance: Under 100 Pico farads per foot Capacitance: Under 100 Pico farads per foot Inductance: Depends on how the wire lays - coiled wire has more inductance than uncoiled wire Inductance: Depends on how the wire lays - coiled wire has more inductance than uncoiled wire

Wire Gauge The diameter of wire is measured in gauges The diameter of wire is measured in gauges The smaller the gauge - the bigger the diameter The smaller the gauge - the bigger the diameter Audio cables are typically gauge Audio cables are typically gauge Speaker cables can be from 18 and down depending on the system Speaker cables can be from 18 and down depending on the system

Comparison of Balanced/ Unbalanced Lines BalancedUnbalanced Fairly insensitive to electrostatic noise/ RF interference Very sensitive to electrostatic noise Can be used in lengths from feet At lengths greater than 25, much of the high frequencies in the signal start to disappear XLR, TRS Connectors TS, RCA Connectors Used for low mics, pro line level gear Used for high mics, line level instruments, consumer or semi-pro gear

Guidelines for Speaker Cable If you are driving an audio system outputting under 500 watts RMS, and your speaker wire runs are under 100 feet, use 18 gauge speaker cable If you are driving an audio system outputting under 500 watts RMS, and your speaker wire runs are under 100 feet, use 18 gauge speaker cable If you are under 500 watts RMS and greater than 100 feet, but under 250 feet of wire, use 16 gauge speaker cable If you are under 500 watts RMS and greater than 100 feet, but under 250 feet of wire, use 16 gauge speaker cable If you are between 500 and 2000 watts RMS and under 100 feet of speaker wire runs, use 16 gauge speaker cable If you are between 500 and 2000 watts RMS and under 100 feet of speaker wire runs, use 16 gauge speaker cable If you are between 500 and 2000 watts RMS and and greater than 100 feet, but under 250 feet of speaker wire runs, use 14 gauge speaker cable If you are between 500 and 2000 watts RMS and and greater than 100 feet, but under 250 feet of speaker wire runs, use 14 gauge speaker cable If in excess of 2000 watts, you should refer to the documentation associated with your PA system power amplifiers and use what they recommend. If in excess of 2000 watts, you should refer to the documentation associated with your PA system power amplifiers and use what they recommend.

Balanced (TRS) 1/4 Connectors T = Tip R = Ring S = Sleeve

Balanced XLR (Mic) Connectors Male XLR Female XLR

Unbalanced (TS)1/4 Connectors Sometimes called an instrument or guitar cable

Unbalanced RCA Connectors

Common Speaker Connector found in Studios

Balanced Multi-pin Cable Used to connect 2 or more channels of audio on a single connector. Commonly found on recording console I/O,DAW interface I/O, audio patchbays, as well as multi track tape machines. Used in conjunction with multi channel audio connectors.

Balanced Multi-pin Connectors ELCO

D-SUB

DL

Audio Patchbays Each patch point is electrically balanced. Front panel switches make it easy to change between full, half and non-normalled connections. Most pro audio studios use TT (tiny telephone) patchbays.

Punch style patchbay by ADC

Patchbay with soldered connections