NEVER buy Horizon XLR mic cables
Denny Strauser
designed. The female ends have pin sleeves that expand over use; and
will eventually fail after repeated use. If used in a static &
stationary position, they may last long. But if used on a moving mic,
the cables will break contact eventually.
Am I the only one who has noticed this? NEVER buy Horizon XLR Mic cables
.....
- Denny
Bob Howes
"Denny Strauser" <dsdenn...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:j0qrrn$323$1...@dont-email.me...
I've never noticed it because I pretty much never buy commercially made mic
cables.
If I can give one bit of advice to anybody getting involved in sound, it's
to spend a few dollars on a decent soldering iron and teach yourself to use
it.
Putting XLRs (or jacks) on a cable is about the easiest soldering there is.
Get yourself a reel of good, easy to handle cable and a handful of assorted
connectors--then you can "roll your own" for years and know exactly what
they're made from and what connectors are used. The ones you make yourself
will be as good or better than any you can buy and, even if something goes
wrong, the same skills let you repair a solder joint or, if it's a cable
break, just cut off the bad bit and make a shorter cable.
It's time and effort well spent.
Bob
Tim Perry
I have noticed.
The snakes are no better. While they can be repaired, it isn't worthwhile
and the wire is junk and the connector are junk.
I just bought ten new 20 ft whirlwind cables on e-bay for less then what is
would cost to buy the parts. ($5 each). we shall see how they hold up.
Krooburg Science
> "Denny Strauser" <dsdennyso...@gmail.com> wrote in message
Some of us larger sound companies don't have the time sitting around
soldering mic cables Bob, though I do agree that it's a requirement to
be able to make and repair them. You can get excellent pricing when
doing bulk purchases of quality mic cables like those by Whirlwind
which don't cost you much more than doing them yourself. This is
especially true when considering the cost of the time itself to make
said cables.
And as far as buying so called 'bargain' mic cables, they're certainly
no bargain when the fail due to crappy quality. Not worth the savings
even if they're a fraction of the price of real cables.
- K
Denny Strauser
> On Jul 28, 12:08 am, "Bob Howes"<no.emailatnowhere.com> wrote:
>> "Denny Strauser"<dsdennyso...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:j0qrrn$323$1...@dont-email.me...
>>
>>> I have noticed for over a decade that Horizon XLR mic cables are poorly
>>> designed. The female ends have pin sleeves that expand over use; and will
There is a music store in Pittsburgh (Pianos & Stuff) that sells their
own "house brand" of cables at a great price. Outstanding heavy-duty
cable & quality ends. There was a time I made my own cables - buying
bulk cable & Switchcraft ends. But as KS says, when time is considered,
it is more cost effective to buy quality cables.
But in my house engineer jobs, and my visiting engineer jobs, I've seen
way too many places that buy Horizon cables because of the price. I can
tell a Horizon cable as soon as I look at the ends. I try to only use
them on mics that will never be moved, or even vibrated by clip-on drum
mics.
- Denny
Bob Howes
"Krooburg Science" <kroo...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:7677b4f1-54d2-4348...@u28g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
- K
I would have thought a "larger" sound company would be exactly the sort of
place that WOULD have the time and resources to make their own cables.
I'm retired now but previously was in charge of operations and engineering
for a company in London. We had a dedicated maintenance department and one
of their responsibilities was to make up any cables that we required. We
bought the raw cable and connectors in bulk and made up exactly what we
needed when we needed it.
The only problem we had was once when one of our wiremen was manic
depressive and decided he was Jesus and could perform a miracle to make up a
set of cables...but that's another story....
Bob
Richard Webb
> I would have thought a "larger" sound company would be exactly the
> sort of place that WOULD have the time and resources to make
> their own cables.
INdeed you would, but like a lot of other businesses and
industries it's all about let somebody else do it. Beyond
that though, you've got enough of that sort of work to be
done with custom cables such as multicore to house standard
for multipin connections, interconnects for equipment racks, etc.
People who are diligent enough to take the care you want
fabricating are expensive to hire these days, and many of
the folks doing this are either shorthanded manpower, or are doing another endeavor along with the sr business.
sOmebody like George who does fixed installs etc. can
probably fab his own because he can keep somebody with the
necessary skills busy enough to actually employ them.
> I'm retired now but previously was in charge of operations and
> engineering for a company in London. We had a dedicated
> maintenance department and one of their responsibilities was to
> make up any cables that we required. We bought the raw cable and
> connectors in bulk and made up exactly what we needed when we
> needed it.
I'd still take the time if I had good workspace here, but
it's often cheaper for folks to buy the cheap ready mades,
when it goes bad snip an end off, later back at the shop
make a new shorter cable out of the good part <g>.
My next big fab project is 13.8 vdc power bus around the
remote truck's control room for its other life as a mobile
comms post. I've also got what was 200 foot of 28 channels
that are going to get cut up, short good sections found and
our house standard to others done.
That's alright, I remember a man I worked for fabricating
new sub snakes that weren't tested at all about a big show,
we had to scramble to work around that one on the fly on the spot.
Regards,
Richard
... Remote audio in the southland: See www.gatasound.com
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| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own.
Arny Krueger
"Bob Howes" <no.emailatnowhere.com> wrote in message
news:4e310b17$0$13393$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
> If I can give one bit of advice to anybody getting involved in sound, it's
> to spend a few dollars on a decent soldering iron and teach yourself to
> use it.
> Putting XLRs (or jacks) on a cable is about the easiest soldering there
> is. Get yourself a reel of good, easy to handle cable and a handful of
> assorted connectors--then you can "roll your own" for years and know
> exactly what they're made from and what connectors are used. The ones you
> make yourself will be as good or better than any you can buy and, even if
> something goes wrong, the same skills let you repair a solder joint or, if
> it's a cable break, just cut off the bad bit and make a shorter cable.
> It's time and effort well spent.
I *always* repair my own broken mic cables, but I *never* assemble my own
from parts.
I do make my own speaker cables because nobody seems to make them the way I
like them. My speaker cables are either custom cut for stable situations,
or for one-shot jobs are made up of 20' double-male main cables plus 20'
extension cables made with
Why? Simple economics.
Neutrik XLR cable ends - $3-5 each
Nice grade of mic cable in bulk - like $0.75-1.25 per foot.
Assembled 20' mic cable with genuine Neutrik ends, made from a good grade of
mic cable - under $30.
The last batch of mic cables I bought were Hosa CMK series. Genuine Neutrik
plugs and jacks, were made in USA, and the cable quality (20 AWG) was just
fine. Several of these are now more than a year old and they are holding up
perfectly.
Bob Howes
"Arny Krueger" <ar...@cocmast.net> wrote in message
news:FtSdnYHn_6PsxqXT...@giganews.com...
I'd say you're overpaying for raw materials then. I used to pay a lot less
back in the UK which is more expensive than the USA for most things. I just
double checked the web site for the supplier we used to use and found:
Van Damme mic cable: �75.37 per 100 metres. That's 75p per meter or about
40 cents a foot at today's exchange rate.
Neutrik XLRs are �1.99 each or about $3, i.e. your minimum cost. Those
prices are for single connectors or a single 100m. drum. Bought in true
bulk, the price goes down again by about 15%.
At the rates you list I can see your point...but frankly I'd shop around
rather than paying those prices.
Bob
Steve M
> Neutrik XLRs are �1.99 each or about $3, i.e. your minimum cost.
Even well known parts suppliers like Markertek have the Neutrik
nickel/silver connectors at 2.09 for the male, and 2.19 female.
Black with gold connectors run right around $3.
For a few years I worked at a venue where the purchasing was
done by someone else. I was just the 'monitor guy'. He bought
some those el cheapo mic cables that sold at 10/$50. They didn't
last very long, at all. No set screws in the strain relief, and a single
tiny phillips head screw for the assembly that fell out easily and
often. So much for "budget" cables.
I buy assembled cables for my stage use applications. The 20 to
50 ft ones. For shorter patch type XLR cables, I build my own.
I have found a few vendors who sell 'house' brand cables with
Neutrik connectors at a very good price. These go out on dry
hire and I haven't had a failure in years.
--
Steve McQ
Arny Krueger
So you have some way to not pay VAT? I can't find Van Damme cable from US
sources, but from international sources it is approx $2.61 per meter plus
shipping. I estimated a low price of $0.75 per per foot which is pretty
much the same. So, my estimate for cable is *not high*.
> Neutrik XLRs are �1.99 each or about $3, i.e. your minimum cost.
Good that we agree on that. Furthermore, my pricing was exclusive of
shipping, which can be very significant if you are buying materials for
building a small number of cables. For example Parts Express often has some
of the best prices on Neutrik, until you pay shipping.
Often when one needs cables, the need is somewhat immediate, and the time to
order in, ship, receive and schedule a little quiet time to do the actual
work becomes significant. I can buy pretty good mic cables pre-assmbled from
local sources in far less wall clock time and with far less effort.
Fact is I keep an inventory of 5-10 of all of the common connector types I
use for maintenance and emergency needs, and that alone represents an
investment of $100s and surprisingly signficiant amounts of storage space.
If I build some cables I have to reorder, or the benefits of my emergency
stash is lost.
It is far easier to find cables with Neutriks on them than from local
sources than to find loose Neutriks. And this is in a major US metro area.
The closest electronic store is Radio Shack who has Amphenol clones and the
next closest independent also has only Amphenol clones. I hate set screws!
> Those prices are for single connectors or a single 100m. drum. Bought
> in true bulk, the price goes down again by about 15%.
I add cables at the rate of no more than 4 or 5 per buy. True bulk prices
are thus meaningless to me, and they are also probably meaningless to most
of RAP readers, who are running small or home rcording operations.
So while your words falsely accuse me of "overpaying for ray materials", in
fact my pricing was very close to the best that you can cite.
Besides, a few dollars this way or that does not really speak to the total
situation - and I intentionally overstated the prices I've been paying for
good quality ready made cables.
Bob Howes
No false accusations at all. The rates I quoted are easily available to
anyone in the UK.
Here's one supplier in the UK who sell to small users:
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/results.jsp?N=411+705&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=microphone+cable&Ntx=&isGoback=false&isRedirect=true
Note that those are the prices for anyone walking in off the street (or off
their website). The company I was a manager for paid considerably less than
those prices shown because of the sizes of our orders. We dealt with the
parent company that uses CPC as their retailer and generally bought, not by
the 100 metres but by the thousand metres. Anyway, I remind you that YOU
started off referring to "large" companies, not RAP readers running "small
or home recording operations". Also, this isn't RAP, it's AAPLS and the "P"
stands for professional.
By the way, yes we found a way not to pay VAT. Any VAT registered company
in the UK can offset the VAT they SPEND against the VAT they charge to their
own clients. This means that, for all intents and purposes, companies do
not pay VAT on their purchases.
So settle down and go back to your church volunteers Arnie. Clearly your
knowledge of the professional side of the business isn't anything like as
good as you think.