What gauge mic cable?

K

Ken Hull

Well-known member
I'm shopping for a cable to go from mic to mixer. I'll be using 48v phantom power. I see gauges ranging from 20AWG down to 24AWG, and even a few outside that range. Is the choice of gauge based solely on length of cable run,:undecided or does it also depend on something else, like line-level vs. mic-level?
 
You will probably obtain more authoritative answers from other members of this forum.

In the meantime, here are some general guidelines about cables.


  • Cable gauge is one thing, but pay attention to the connectors. More precisely how well the cable and connector fit together. Bad quality here will surely results (at best) in low life time or (at worst) in scratches while recording.
  • Greater is the cable diameter, lower is its resistance. High resistance will result in DC attenuation over its length.
  • But, cables have capacitance too. Combined with the impedance of the input device (mic, instrument, etc.), cable will form a low-pass filter, that might or might not have impact on the audio spectrum. See the link below to calculate that:

http://www.mogami.com/e/cad/mic-cable.html

- Sylvain
 
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Any good quality balanced mic cable will work usually to at least 300 foot runs without audible performance issues.. longer for line level. (balanced of course) I've been using Canare L-4E6S Star-Quad microphone cable for years. It's flexible, coils easily and is a pleasure to work with. It will likely last a entire career. (barring catastrophic accidents or loss) If you make your own cables, the cable stock can be purchased for about $0.50 USD a foot. (Neutrik XLR connectors are highly regarded and low cost too) The Canare 2-conductor L-2T2S is another good option. Both the 4-conductor (Star-Quad) and 2 conductor are available in a thinner, lighter "mini" version. (L-4E5 and L-2E5) I prefer the mini for 'bag' interconnections.
 
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Ken Hull said:
I'm shopping for a cable to go from mic to mixer. I'll be using 48v phantom power.
Click to expand...

The AT8314 XLR cables are excellent. I don't have a clue what gauge they are, and I don't care. People make 1000' runs with 'em, and that's way way way longer than I'm ever going to need. What's more important to me is the quality of the connectors, and the ability to coil them correctly (over / under). These are good enough that I never have to think about them; one less thing to worry about. And that is a good thing.
 
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