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speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:41 am
by morelius21
Hi all,

I'm wiring up a studio and I want to put speaker cables for passive speaker cabinets in booth chambers. Im not sure what wire is ok for that purpose... typical speaker parallel wire is ok? there may be crosstalk betwhen normal line or mic level and speaker lines that are runing parallel to the connectors box?

Thanks ;)

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:20 pm
by Soundman2020
Hi there "morelius21". Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things! :)

- Stuart -

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:37 pm
by morelius21
Hi,
First excuse me for not read the rules of this forum :oops:

In this moment I make the all wiring in a studio in Barcelona. This studio record a lot of rock'n'roll or similar style.
The man of studio wants have the Guitar o Bass amp in control room and send the signal to the booths. In the booths are the cabinets with passive speakers. I know which wire I need for the power and distance in this booth.


My question is:

I'm worry about if i send together the mic line and amp line to the same box of connections (studiobox??) in the booth . will have problems with noise or crosstalk?

I need to send in diferents box of connections the mic line and the amp line? or can I send together?

Thanks again

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:53 am
by Speedskater
The magic word is 'twisted'. All multi-conductor/core cables and cords should be twisted. An example is, you can send four audio signals down a 100 meter long Cat5 cable with no cross-talk (-95dB).
For speaker cables use Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) while most other cables are Shielded Twisted Pair (STP).

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 3:14 am
by Soundman2020
For speaker cables use Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
That's fine, as long as the cross section of the conductors is sufficient to carry the signal with negligible losses, and the impedance is reasonable. For speakers, both the voltage and current can be high-ish. That's why I normally don't recommend long runs for passive speaker cables. It is far better to have the amp close to the speaker, and just send a balanced (or even unbalanced) audio signal to the amp, over the same multi-core snake as the mic and other signals. Or if you do want to have the amps in another room, then use twisted speaker cable with decent cross section, not ordinary UTP wiring.

- Stuart -

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:12 am
by Speedskater
"ordinary UTP" is not a special type of cable.
All cables and cords that:
a] Have 2 conductors/cores
b] Are twisted
c] Are NOT shielded
As a description, they are an "UTP" Unshielded Twisted Pair construction.

UTP is about construction, it's not about size or intended use.

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:19 pm
by morelius21
Hi,
thanks for the replies.

I understand which cable should i to use. My last question is about if i can send together powerline cable an balance mic cable in the same path .
Is possible crosstalk o interference between they?

thanks again

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 12:19 am
by Soundman2020
Theoretically there should not be a problem with that if you are using good quality cables and connectors with everything grounded correctly, but in general it is better to keep power cables and signal cables separate from each other. Rod Gervais (and others) recommend running all electrical cables at the top of the walls, and signal cables at the bottom, then if they do have to cross over each other to make sure that they only cross at an angle of 90°.

- Stuart -

Re: speaker cable connections in a studio

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:04 am
by morelius21
Hi,

thanks again!!

Marc