Saturday Project: Better Than Mogami Studio Cables

Jun 19, 2010 14:46

Every once in a while I need a project with a clearly-defined start and end--something easily achievable within the span of an afternoon. I like building high-quality audio gear myself, and since I had finally accumulated all of the necessary parts to make a new pair of balanced audio cables for my studio rig, I chose today to give it a try. I had been using a pair of old unbalanced guitar cables to connect the audio interface to the speakers: the first two cables I had ever bought (ca. 1997). It was way past time for an upgrade. On to the photos:



Measuring the cable. I used Belden 1800F, currently the best available twisted-pair cable but hard to find in rolls under 500 feet long. I was able to source a short run from rawcable.com. Sweet!



Tools of the trade: adjustable clamp to hold the connector in place, copper brillo pad, Weller soldering iron, copper desoldering braid, Cardas Quad Eutectic silver solder, respirator, Neutrik black/gold-plated TRS connectors, Neutrik black/gold-plated XLR connectors, side-cutters, wire strippers. Not shown: multimeter, essential for testing continuity between cable ends. It's the red thing in the first photo.



TRS end soldered. I cleaned it up a little afterward.



XLR end soldered.



I was really out of practice, so I had to resolder the ends a handful of times both to get the pinout right and because I kept forgetting to put the boot on first. Frustrating! But here they are with the chucks on just prior to shifting up the boots, putting on the barrels, and screwing the two together.



Fully-finished TRS ends plugged into my audio interface.



Fully-finished XLR end plugged into one of my studio monitors.

Why spend a couple of hours building these cables? First, because balanced cables have a significant signal-to-noise improvement over unbalanced cables, and second, because I didn't want to pay a ton of money for Mogami Gold pre-made cables when I could make something better for less. This 13' pair would be in the $100+ range at a music store even with inferior cable and solder. I paid $5 per connector, a few dollars for the solder, and $1 per foot for the cable. Total: under $50 for absolute top-quality stuff.

They're sounding good! A successful Saturday.
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