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[John Warren]

After searching for and finding out that our church buys a new mic chord every time one fails, we did not have a spare during rehearsal.

After finding that our spares were failed chords, my Pastor told me to run down to our local music store and purchase another.

Since I have decent soldering skills and an excellent ohmmeter and know the fundamental requirement that every goood electrician should have ( If a wire smokes, it does nt have enough insulation on it to hold the smoke in, get more insulation of which usually comes equipped with a larger wire   )Took them home and repaired them

My question, Would you share on what you do to keep cost down.

[david berthelot sr]

i am blessed with pastors who believe in getting the best for the job

[Tom Young]

A well made cable (mic, line, loudspeaker) should last years befor it needs repair. You need to stop buying mic cables from the music store and also coach your band and sound folks in how to coil them properly when the cables are not plugged in.

Look for mic cables made with Belden cable (8412 and others) that feature a braided shield. Use Neutrik connectors, preferably with gold plated contacts. There are also other cables and connectors that work well. But there are far more that do not.

Paying $30.00 and less for a 25' mic cable is, in essence, the culprit.

[Justin Rygel]

I show everyone the correct way to coil a cable (over and under) and anyone who can't figure it out is given another job.  

Also, I try to pre-empt the need to buy cables at the local music store, much bettter deals for good quality stuff are available on-line.

I disagree with Tom that a good quality 25' cable cannot be had for less than $30.  This is true for major manufacturers and certainly for what is available at Guitar Center.  However, the EWI pro-quad cables available at audiopile.net are at least as good as any of the other cables in our inventory of decent quality ($30ish) Horizon and Whirlwind cables, and only cost $15 for a 25 footer.  I haven't actually taken apart any of the pro-quads, but I can confirm that the star-quads ($10 for a 25') do have a braided shield . . . There are probably other off-brands that have a good cost/performance ratio, but I haven't found any better, and Mark and Liz are great to deal with.

[Ivan Beaver]

What Tom was eluding to was the OVERALL quality.  For examples: The 8412 is a 20ga cable-most other cables (at best) are 22 ga, with most being 24ga.  Also how tight the braid is and the gauge used on the braid. 8412 is a pain to work with (undoing the braid), but when done correctly, will last MANY years.  It also has much tougher insulation on both the individual conductors and the overall jacket allowing it to "lay better" and last longer.

There is more to quality than just a single spec.  The 8412 cable cost quite a bit more and is worth it.  It has been the standard of the tour world for decades-and for reason.

You can buy Horizon cables made with 8412-but they cost more-for good reason.

[Tom Young]

I may, or may not, stand corrected. Why don't your report back in 1, 3, 5 and then 10 years. Then we can see if these $15.00 cables last as long as the more expensive ones I mentioned.

Understand I am not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying that the cables I use and specify have proven to be very good long term investments. There is only one way to test this.

[Mark Tranchant]

Our church had a wide variety of microphone cables made with any old cable and cheapo XLRs. They would fail on a weekly basis, and I'd often end up repairing them.

When this became my proper responsibility, I binned the lot and blew most of my year's meagre PA budget on some Van Damme cable (blue, to distinguish the new cables from any old ones that escaped the purge) and Neutrik XLRs. I made up some 15 cables of varying lengths, all carefully labelled with ID and length at both ends.

That was nearly two years ago. Despite being taken out, used and put away without particular care at least twice a week ever since, we have not had a single failure in any one of the cables or 90 solder joints.

Although you needn't pay silly markup (which is easy to do with cables!), cheap and nasty raw materials are a false economy.

[Tom Young]

"Although you needn't pay silly markup (which is easy to do with cables!), cheap and nasty raw materials are a false economy."

I agree with this completely.

You may also apply this rule-of-thumb to all other audio gear but also throw in the term "lackluster engineering".

Even the best stuff available occasionaly fails. So it is imperative to buy from reputable sellers and manufacturers who provide post-sale support and reasonable warranty policies.

[Justin Rygel]

I learn something new every day around here.  I thought I was doing pretty well with the 22 ga EWI pro-quads, I don't think we own a single 20 ga . . . That being said, I have been doing this for 10 years and the only cables I have ever had fail are the really cheap, 4 for $20 at Guitar Center variety (I had a chat with our worship pastor over that, between those and some $20 mic stands he bought, he is no longer allowed to buy sound stuff).  It seems to me that a church environment is pretty light use compared to touring given a decent level of training.  Obviously, coiling over the elbow will trash even the best mic cable pretty quickly . . . And I do know how to treat a cable right, which may not be the case for a lot of churches.

In any case, I'm rambling and I think I stand corrected, I've only been doing this for 10 years, and don't have the experience that Tom and Ivan have to say that this product will last 15 years, even if initial quality seems to indicate that it could . . .

[ProSoundWeb Community]