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Installing XLR wall plates
I’m installing a 4 XLR microphone connection wall plate in a new sound booth. Can anybody advise me on which should be the best hookup wire to use. I got a 22-Gauge-Solid hookup wire at Radio Shack. The attendant could not tell me if this cable was right for connecting the Wall plates.
This is the picture of the cable I got.
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7 Replies
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Oooooo! Use the green, I like green.
If not green then definitely Belden 8451.
https://www.markertek.com/Cables/Bulk-Wire-Cable/Bulk-Audio-Cable/Belden-CDT-Inc/8451-010100.xhtmlSteve
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Well, you’ll probably want to use Riser or Plenum rated wire to keep things somewhat safe. That wire looks like THHN wire, available also at various home retail stores; I’m not sure of it’s in-wall use without conduit.
I recommend Belden or Gepco install wire. Go for a multi pair that has a few extra pairs than you need. +1 if it’s also for digital audio (keep the preamp close the mic, right?). Maybe consider adding a run or two of Cat6/Cat7 cable for futureproofness.
Wolf
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Well, you’ll probably want to use Riser or Plenum rated wire to keep things somewhat safe. That wire looks like THHN wire, available also at various home retail stores; I’m not sure of it’s in-wall use without conduit.
I recommend Belden or Gepco install wire. Go for a multi pair that has a few extra pairs than you need. +1 if it’s also 110Ohm for digital audio. Maybe consider adding a run or two of Cat6/Cat7 cable.
See this thread on another forum for some good advice.
Wolf
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Hello Ever and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
Solid wire will break if bent enough times. Having said that. The phone wire in residential homes is solid. It’s OK if the wire won’t be moved around, but, in general I like stranded. Gotham GAC-3 or even GAC-5 if you’re in an electrically noisy area. The GAC-5 lets you use two spiraled conductors per point and the spirals reduce noise pickup.
Also look at Neutrik EMC XLR connectors. They are a bit fiddly to solder to until you get the gist, but they also block RF from getting into your audio.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide -
It is not clear from your question what you are doing here? OK, you are connecting one end of your wires to the XLR connectors in the wall plate, but where is the other end going? And how far away is it?
Unless it is simply going 4 inches to another plate on the opposite side of the wall, that kind of unshielded wire (whether solid or stranded) is simply NOT appropriate for wiring microphone lines.
Even for a 4-inch run to the other side of the wall, I would use shielded cable (proper 1-pair, fully shielded microphone cable, specifically).
I can’t think of ANY legitimate use of that kind of unshielded hookup-wire for wiring to an XLR wall plate.
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Yes Richard, that’s exactly what I’m doing, connecting one female and male plates together on a 4 inch wall. I just wasn’t sure the type of cable I needed to use. I have a lot of spare microphone cables, some short ones that I don’t use. Could I use the mic cable for the connection?
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- NEVER use SOLID wire for that kind of application. You are just ASKING for it to break.
- If you are going to use individual strands of unshielded wire, at the very least TWIST the three wires together instead of leaving them flying at random. It would be good to use 3 different colors to help keep track of which wire goes where.
- I highly recommend using 2-conductor (hopefully twisted pair), shielded cable even for such a short run.
- It almost eliminates any possible problems with adjacent mic-level and line-level signals causing crosstalk.
- It protects the signal from ambient interference fields of many types. In some places, even 4 inches outside a shielded box is enough to ruin your whole day.
- It is good practice to leave a reasonable extra length on the wires so you have room to work on the panels without straining the wire or the connections. This will cause the wires to be close to each other when bundled up, and it will make using shielded cable even more important.
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