wiring question

Eric Best · Post by **Eric Best** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:27 am

I did a search and didn't come up with anything.

In my original plan, I was going to take apart my 100' 16 channel snake, cut it up into 3 pieces to do my runs from different rooms. I have recently scored (for free!!!!) about 300' of shielded cable with 12 conductors. The wire is 22 awg. Is this too thin?

Thanks,

Eric

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:38 am

22 gauge is fine for fixed applications audio - as long as the pairs are individually shielded. If you don't have the mfg part #, try to get hold of a multimeter that has a capacitance function - check the capacitance between conductors of a pair, and from one conductor to ground of that pair - divide by the # of feet to get capacitance per foot. If it's less than about 30 picofarads per foot, you're fine. More than that I wouldn't use it for high impedance unbalanced runs. Better snake cable can run as low as 12-13 pf/foot, and some 110 ohm "AES" type digital cable can run down in the 7-8 pf range. The lower the capacitance, the less high frequency attenuation. This can add up pretty fast when each channel's wiring can get to 50-60 feet long easily...

Lower impedance balanced line signals can handle more like 60-90 pf per foot and still sound OK, but lower is always better, unless it's at a cost of worse shielding... Steve

Eric Best · Post by **Eric Best** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:41 am

Thanks Steve. This is going to be all balanced wiring so it won't be as critical.