Patchbay cable length? Shorter better, or go for length?

timpratt · Post by **timpratt** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:27 pm

I'm ordering new fan snakes for adding more patchbays. Getting them through Seismic Audio, who seem to have good bang for the buck cabling that has nice gold tipped ends which are easy to fix or modify (ie replace XLR-M end to XLR-F, etc).

Most of my cabling only needs to be 3-5ft, but I am wondering about moving equipment in the future, and adding more equipment as well. My question is should I get the 5ft cabling, or spend the extra $5-9 and get 10ft cables. Will there be a drastic loss in signal quality? Again, this isn't Mogami, but I know every little "edge" helps in squeezing out the best in audio.

What would you do? Anyone ever have to deal with this?

Thank you for the help!

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:06 pm

Not going to make any difference, with a decent quality balanced cord you should be able to have 100ft with minimal depreciation, so I'd say the difference between 5 and 10 is not going to be audible..

If you think you'll need the extra length later, get it now, but if you don't..don't.

timpratt · Post by **timpratt** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 1:21 pm

Thanks kslight! That is what I kind of figured, but didn't have anyone to bounce it off of to confirm.

It's all going through new Samson S-Patch Pro patchbays, so I'm thinking the connections should all be solid. Warren over at ZenPro (amongst others) have recommended to me the Samson patchbays. I ordered all MonoPrice TRS-TRS 1.5ft cables to use for patching. I've used Hosa and I've used Mogami, and the MonoPrice cables seem more towards the nicer end of things. They're 16AWG, which is thicker than any other patch cables I've been able to find, and the ends are very nice (and able to be worked on), with good coils to prevent kinking.

Next project up is a transformer color box to wire up to the patchbay using UTC-A20s and Triad HS-56Vs.

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:49 am

AES/EBU 110 ohm digital cable will sound more open than any audio cables. I use that stuff wherever a shielded cable is used.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 10:49 am

I think ergonomically, a 10ft cable is occasionally essential, and often in the way. I ended up with two patch bays in two racks next to each other where once in a while a 3 foot cable doesn't quite reach extreme ends, the rest of the time they're nice: less stuff to dangle.

If you're doing TT everything is even closer together.

Unless you mean the back of your racks. In that case I hate cable entropy enough that I'm willing to custom solder my own stuff so that it's just long enough for how my rack gear is spaced out.

dfuruta · Post by **dfuruta** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:46 pm

Jim Williams wrote:AES/EBU 110 ohm digital cable will sound more open than any audio cables. I use that stuff wherever a shielded cable is used.

really curious about a proposed mechanism for this with short cable lengths (the 10 feet the op mentioned, say). extraordinary claims etc...

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:08 am

Try it and compare for yourself. Everyone else that tries it prefers it.

dfuruta · Post by **dfuruta** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:52 pm

Jim Williams wrote:Try it and compare for yourself. Everyone else that tries it prefers it.

I've been playing loud music for long enough (not that long, even!) to know that my ears are suspect...would love to hear about it if there is a measurable, quantifiable difference (not trying to be snarky or challenge you, just curious and interested in learning).

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:58 am

Cable capacitance is measurable and significantly lower with AES/EBU cables.
Anyone can try the test by subtituting a normal star-quad audio mic cable with a digital AES cable. If you hear the difference or if another around you can, it may help.

Another great sounding cable for audio is the Belden 9182 LAN network cable. 8 pf capacitance and 70% propagation delay, (70% of the speed of light). It makes an excellent sounding mic cable. Paramount Pictures installed that cable throughout their foley building after I brought down some runs of it to try out back in 1994.

dfuruta · Post by **dfuruta** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:43 pm

I guess I just wonder whether a few tens of pF really matter on a 10 foot run. Going across the building, sure.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Wed Mar 18, 2015 3:05 pm

I made all the snakes for the interconnections/patch bays/outboard in my studio. It was tedious... especially since I was refurbishing old patch bays...

It was an expensive ordeal.. This day I really do wish I spent some extra money on making the snake cables leading from the console and gear racks to the bays 25'-30' instead of 15' or 20'.. That extra 5 or 10 feet comes in handy when your moving stuff around and not sure on where you'll end up in the future.

Osumosan · Post by **Osumosan** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:54 pm

Agreed on adding extra length. I just recently had to remake two 24-channel runs due to a reconfiguration and even if you're going to punchdown, prep on 144 points is a pain, yet somehow zenfully satisfying.

Osumosan · Post by **Osumosan** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:56 pm

Holy sh*t, Trodden, did we actually join TOMB on the same day twelve years ago?

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Patchbay cable length? Shorter better, or go for length?

Patchbay cable length? Shorter better, or go for length?

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