[David D]

Hello All! Newbie to the forum, but I've been lurking for a while. I have a pretty decent background in audio (professional and hobbyist), but I was looking at the DIY cable sticky and am curious how the Canare Star-Quad cable is used.

I bought some Canare Mini Star-Quad and Neutrik 1/8" & 1/4" TRS connectors from Markertek to make some interconnects. I've got some iPod dock connectors on the way as well. I'm making a line out connector to go from my iPod to my Portaphile amp, and another interconnect to go from a mixing desk to my headphone amp (amongst other things, I do live sound for a large local band).

I'm curious about the use of conductors. In pro audio, the braided shield would be used for ground, the whites (+) for one side of your balanced line and blues (-) for the other.The DIY sticky states to use the white conductors for the signal (using blue for ground). I also noticed there wasn't a reference to use of the braided shield. Something about using two of the same color wire for different channels goes against my nature

. I'm assuming the DIY sticky is done the way it is due to the way the wires are twisted together (alternating blue/white)? Has anyone used any other configuration, e.g., one white & blue pair for left/right signal the other for ground, and the shield tied to ground at one end? Just curious!

Thanks!

David

 

[meat01]

You may have better luck asking this in the DIY forum here. There are quite a few cable builders there.

 

[grandenigma1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by David D Hello All! Newbie to the forum, but I've been lurking for a while. I have a pretty decent background in audio (professional and hobbyist), but I was looking at the DIY cable sticky and am curious how the Canare Star-Quad cable is used. I bought some Canare Mini Star-Quad and Neutrik 1/8" & 1/4" TRS connectors from Markertek to make some interconnects. I've got some iPod dock connectors on the way as well. I'm making a line out connector to go from my iPod to my Portaphile amp, and another interconnect to go from a mixing desk to my headphone amp (amongst other things, I do live sound for a large local band). I'm curious about the use of conductors. In pro audio, the braided shield would be used for ground, the whites (+) for one side of your balanced line and blues (-) for the other.The DIY sticky states to use the white conductors for the signal (using blue for ground). I also noticed there wasn't a reference to use of the braided shield. Something about using two of the same color wire for different channels goes against my nature . I'm assuming the DIY sticky is done the way it is due to the way the wires are twisted together (alternating blue/white)? Has anyone used any other configuration, e.g., one white & blue pair for left/right signal the other for ground, and the shield tied to ground at one end? Just curious! Thanks! David

As long as you have the polarity right on each end you should be good to go... as for the shielding just make sure not to make an antenna of it

 

[Gino]

I've always used the shield as common ground for my mini cables with good results. The colored wires I use for left and right.