Hi Vicky,
The Canare star quad use braided copper shielding.
http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDisplay.aspx?productItemID=3D53
So does that Belden.
http://www.belden.com/techdatas/metric/1804a.pdf
The tinned copper might look like aluminum.
John Hartog
rockscallop.org
--- In vickipowys <> wrote:
>
> Jez,
>
> When I was first shown how to make up my own leads (by the legendary
> Ed Slater) he recommended using Canare cables which are beautifully
> flexible even in cold conditions, and that the advantage of using
> quad cable for stereo recording was that you had back up with 2 cores =
> going to each channel, instead of just one. Also you would have
> better external noise rejection because the wires were spiralled
> together rather than laying flat. All the Canare cables seem to use
> aluminium shielding.
>
> The lightest Canare cable I can find is 4E5C and very nice cable it
> is too.
>
> Even lighter is Belden mini-star quad 1804A, which has aluminium
> shielding and is very flexible, suitable for super lightweight rigs,
> but rather fiddly to solder. I use two strands of it with two XLR
> mics for stereo recording (a 6-meter length), and the two strands are =
> held together every half metre with a small piece of shrink tubing.
>
> Regarding 4-quad cable, the Belden website says this:
>
> <How Quad Microphone Cables Works
> Combining pairs in a spiral configuration affects what is called the
> "loop area". That means, the closer the wires stay together, the more =
> likely that the noise and interference they encounter will be the
> same on each wire and the more likely the noise can be canceled by
> being a balanced line. Quad cable has the added advantage of having
> pairs of wires. They provide noise cancellation ("common mode
> rejection") at each pin, as well, due to the connection as a balanced =
> line.>
>
> Another cable that I have used for electret mics is Tasker figure 8
> cable 'shielded twin cable C118'. This uses copper strands for the
> shield, and also for the core. It has 2 cores, 1 for each channel.
> Made in Italy, impossible to obtain in Australia, beautifully
> flexible (unlike most other fig 8 cables that I've seen). I can't
> see why it wouldn't work for XLR connections too. For long cables in =
> noisy environments perhaps it would be more likely to pick up noise,
> than the Canare and Belden type of cables?
>
> I am absolutely NO expert on cables, but just mention my own personal =
> experiences.
>
> I was also told never to wind the cable onto a barrel (strains the
> cable), but to hand-loop the cable in a way that it would not kink.
>
> Vicki Powys
> Australia
>
>
> On 22/06/2012, at 12:43 AM, Jez wrote:
>
> > thanks - some confusion here. I am talking about mid to higher end
> > balanced microphone cable, such as some made by Klotz, Van Damme
> > etc & it states, for example:
> >
> > 2 core, balanced pro microphone cable, aluminium braided shield and =
> > stranded copper cores.
> >
> > I'm also slightly confused by the comment about the number of wires =
> > inside the shielding - 2 cores is balanced audio cable, 4 is quad
> > etc, but 2 wires (2 cores) is standard for balanced audio.
> >
> > --- In Magnus Bergsson
> > <fieldrecording.net@> wrote:
> >>
> >> @Jez. The reason is just that Aliminium is very good material to
> >> screen off
> >> all electrical noise pollution in surroundings. If the cable do
> >> not have
> >> any parallel copper wire with the shield I would think the cable
> >> is made
> >> for something else than audio.
> >> It also depends of how many wires are inside the aluminum shield.
> >> If they are just two I would not use it for balanced audio. If
> >> they are
> >> three or four they must be twisted. Then I think the aluminium shield
> >> should be connected to equipment outer case. For this reason John
> >> is right
> >> when he say cable with aluminium shield are specially made for fixed
> >> installations.
> >>
> >> Magnus
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 8:17 AM, Jez <tempjez@> wrote:
> >>
> >>> **
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> thanks Magnus. When you say its not good for audio signals it
> >>> makes me ask
> >>> even more why some very high cost cable manufacturers use an
> >>> aluminium
> >>> shield !
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --- In Magnus Bergsson
> >>> <fieldrecording.net@> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> I just know that aluminium is the best material to shield
> >>>> electrical
> >>> noise
> >>>> pollution. It is not only the price of the material why it is so =
> >>>> widely
> >>>> used. That is one of the reason why aluminium is common use for
> >>>> shielding
> >>>> in UHF transmitting and receiving technology.
> >>>> Aluminium is not good for audio signal, so parallel with the
> >>>> aluminium
> >>> foil
> >>>> should be a copper wire.
> >>>>
> >>>> By the way...
> >>>> I have make a cheap 50 meter stereo snake with Cat6 cable.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> https://picasaweb.google.com/104187345157190691446/
> >>> Stereo50mCAT6Snake?authuser=3D0&feat=3Ddirectlink
> >>>>
> >>>> I have not notice any electrical noise pollution with this
> >>>> snake, even
> >>>> though it has no shield. Probably because it is mostly used
> >>>> outdoor.
> >>>> Differently twisted pair is also very good technique to shield high
> >>>> frequency.
> >>>> But anyway, I always try to delete or minimize all source of
> >>>> electrical
> >>>> pollutions before it makes a problem to other equipment or
> >>>> humans :-)
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Bestu kve=F0jur / Best regards
> >>>> *Magn=FAs Bergsson
> >>>> *Tel: + 354 6162904*
> >>>> *
> >>>> http://fieldrecording.net
> >>>
> >>>
>
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