Premium Vishay Resistors for attenuation cables!

MattinSTL

MattinSTL

Sound Modulator
Does anybody have a good reason why I shouldn't go with some really good Vishay resistors for my custom mixer cables? Jay Rose says the resistors from Radio Shack are good enough for these, but I have two problems with that. The first is that you can't get exact values at RS and the tolerance is 5%... plus they don't mention the TC of the resistors which is a function of stability over a broad temperature range... and finally (is that three problems?) they have some metal film resistors, but they're mostly carbon film if you get close to the values we need.

Any thoughts? Why wouldn't the quality of the resistors matter in the cable between the mixer and recorder if they matter inside of the pre-amp? For anybody who's into audio you know that for resistors it's VISHAY or nothing.

For the record I plan to order a crap-load of them and offer them free to members who want to make their own mixer cables... I figured a dollar for shipping would be fair... and that way people wouldn't take 'em for no reason other then free. That buck would get you 6 resistors mailed to you... and if you order 6 on your own they will cost you around $7 plus shipping.

These will be the new thin-foil metal film resistors with 1% tolerance and +/- 50ppm with .6w rating which would make them indistructable in a line-out cable. They make resistors that are a step above these but the price goes up a lot.

Any thoughts on this?
 
MattinSTL said:
Does anybody have a good reason why I shouldn't go with some really good Vishay resistors for my custom mixer cables? Jay Rose says the resistors from Radio Shack are good enough for these, but I have two problems with that. The first is that you can't get exact values at RS and the tolerance is 5%... plus they don't mention the TC of the resistors which is a function of stability over a broad temperature range... and finally (is that three problems?) they have some metal film resistors, but they're mostly carbon film if you get close to the values we need.

Any thoughts? Why wouldn't the quality of the resistors matter in the cable between the mixer and recorder if they matter inside of the pre-amp? For anybody who's into audio you know that for resistors it's VISHAY or nothing.

For the record I plan to order a crap-load of them and offer them free to members who want to make their own mixer cables... I figured a dollar for shipping would be fair... and that way people wouldn't take 'em for no reason other then free. That buck would get you 6 resistors mailed to you... and if you order 6 on your own they will cost you around $7 plus shipping.

These will be the new thin-foil metal film resistors with 1% tolerance and +/- 50ppm with .6w rating which would make them indistructable in a line-out cable. They make resistors that are a step above these but the price goes up a lot.

Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...


How are you using resistors?

Regards,

Ty Ford
 
Well if I get just enough to do my own pair of cables they'll cost me around $8-9 for the six of them shipped. Otherwise I can get 200 for around $50... so I figured why not get enough that everybody that wants to do their own cables can have them... and I can still make cables for anybody that wants me to... probably for years.

This would be for transformer balanced output devices to RCA... as in Mixpre to DVX line-in... or Marantz 671 line-in... or to MicroTrack line-in.

I thought about getting the values needed to knock the me66 back to useable levels also... but it wouldn't take too many different values before I'd be buying $200 worth of resistors! Maybe I'll just hit the first price break on the other values... but for my own use, and for anybody who wants to go from +4dbu (pro-level zero) to -10dbu (unbalanced RCA or 1/4" of recorders or cameras) I can give those away because I'd be buying so many that the cost each is low.

If nobody else expresses an interest in either the resistors or custom cables then I may reel in my enthusiasm and just hit the first price break on those as well.

My Neutrik Pro-Fi RCA connectors came today and they're pretty nice... Canare RCA connectors will be here tomorrow and then I'll figure out which ones I like the best for a mixer bag.

I'll also offer this stuff as a kit if anybody is interested... all at my cost.

The resistors are your's for the asking though.

About a year ago I did this same thing with the FETs for modding an Oktava... I was surprised how few people responded then... so if there's just a few of us that want these cables or resistors then I'll figure out a plan B. 200 of them would be a lifetime supply if I'm the only one that needs 6.
 
Thanks for responding Ty... you are exactly the caliber person that I need opinions from!

These would just be for attenuating an XLR to RCA or similar cable. As per Jay Rose's book... CLICK HERE Figure 2 or 3.

Jay says it's pointless to get quality resistors in this use, but I'm having trouble understanding why it matters in a pre-amp design but not on an attenuation circuit. Isn't the cable still passing the entire bandwidth of audio?
 
Well Steve... I'm having second thoughts about ordering 200 of these resistors. It looks like I'll have 188 of them in storage for the rest of my life. 6 to you and 6 to me and then what?

I was really hoping to get up this morning and find at least a follow up from Ty (I'll edit this line out if you add to this Ty)... because I thought my stated use was rather clear. I read your question of "how are you using resistors" to imply that you thought premium resistors in this application was pointless... but now I'm beginning to think you genuinely didn't know. When you make those excellent recordings how are you going from mixer to recorder? I guess it's possible that you have an attenuation cable in the chain someplace and you forgot it's there. (or else your system stays 4dbu for 0 the entire time... and in that case I'm curious what recorder you're using?)

So it's just Steve and I that would use these huh?

To be specific each mixer cable would have 3 of these resistors in the male end... completely invisible and insulated with liquid electrical tape after being soldered in. I bought 18" long cables to run inside of my Petrol bag and 8" would have been more like it.
 
I'm ordering enough resistors for myself and Steve today... and maybe a handful more.

I think most people will need to go from transformer balanced outputs to unbalanced RCA or 1/4"... if you need something different now would be a good time to say so Steve.

In case you don't follow me any SD mixer would be tranformer balanced output... and any NON-XLR or NON-TRS input would be unbalanced.

I may get nutty and get the resistors to make come cables for you me66 guys too. I got enough stuff coming that they can just sit in my closet until somebody needs 'em.

I think if I post some pics of the cables I'm making that interest will suddenly perk up. Some parts are still on the way so that won't be until later this week.

Regarding lights... that deal is about to kick into high gear. I've stayed broke most of the year from buying either sound gear or lighting stuff... and I just got a bunch more stuff on the way to replace what I gradually sold through the summer. But let's just leave it at that unless you want to PM me or wait for that lighting post to pop up. You'll know when I have a bunch of 'em ready to go. I'm trying to decide on a new shape. After using these all summer I have some different ideas.

So resistors for me and Steve and maybe a handful for the closet eh? I don't know why I'm surprised this doesn't generate more interest... I think finished cables probably would... and I'm understanding that DIY isn't as popular as I thought it was.

EDIT: Steve I'll PM you when the resistors get here, but I'm not ordering 200 of them since you are the ONLY person to say they might want some! I'll get a high enough amount to wave the handling fee and I'll get some other values so it'll still be cheap, but it may be $2 instead of $1... that's your call though... if you want 'em they're yours. I'll have enough that anybody can get some for different purposes at a higher cost but still dirt cheap. I wanted to get enough that I could just give them away... but at this rate that wouldn't be smart because I'd just be storing 95% of them indefinitely.:huh:

Also I talked to Jay Rose about this and he cleared it up... but I'm still getting the good resistors anyway.:grin:
 
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