Posted by: "artsonics"
>
> hi
> Thanks Dan and Julian for advice on previous query(I'm in NZ) .I am
> going to have a go at making some cables and I have a query to those
> using the Canare L4-E5c and L4-E6s. I need to know how you went about
> making up 'y'breakouts. Looking at a picture of some commercial
> available ones I see it looks like two cables emerge from a 5pin XLR.
> My question is are you chaps using other cable with a narrower
> diameter than the above mentioned ones or is it the same cable but
> using a larger diameter XLR connector (5pin for stereo) to accommodate
> the two cables thru the connector.If so what special XLR connectors
> are used. Also I was looking to see if Canare made a smaller diameter
> cable for mono that could be used for'Y'breakouts.(twin core plus screen).
> I am also considering the Neutrik XX series XLR connectors for ease of
> availability (the gold pin versions) ....anyone have advice or
> experience with these? eg: how good would they be outdoors and
> environment? thank you again everyone.
What I do is strip out the inner cables of a piece of 2 channel Canare
Snake Cable. (you could probably use any number of channel snake for
this) Those are smaller than either of the regular cables as they have a
thinner outer layer (not designed to take as much wear), but they are
the same star quad design. Two of those cables will fit through the cap
of the Neutrik connectors so you carry your shielding and protection
through normally. Also on the mic end I sleeve each cable with soft
fabric braid to help cut down on a potential noise source. In the past I
used the outer braid stripped from boot laces for this, but at the
moment am using some kevlar tubular braid that I found on ebay. You can
make the Y cables extremely short, my recorder end ones only have about
3" of cable exposed.
I considered that these Y's would not be as durable as the main cables,
but so far I've not had any fail in many years of use. I do have spares
along. I did once have the fabric braid wick moisture into a connector
and temporarily fail until I opened it up and dried it. But it had an
excuse, I was out in a pond to the top of my hip boots holding the SASS
just above the water recording Gopher Frogs and the Y was in the water.
If you want to save some money on connectors you can probably use
non-waterproof connectors on the 3 pin ends of your Y's. If you get out
in any moisture at all you are much safer using waterproof X-HD series
in all your 5 pin connections. Even nightime dew can get into the
others. I use the X series 3 pin and X-HD 5 pin in my system. The inner
cores of the two series are interchangeable.
Walt
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