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Which cable?
#1
Hello Tube Doctors!


I'm in the market for buying soms shielded cable.
I used Doug Hoffmans cable, but now I wnat to order at Mouser with the rest of the parts.

I can't find good cable there, what do you folks use?


Warm regards,


Strelok
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#2
Hey Man

What do you consider good?

Sometimes I find the search thingy at Mouser to be sort of wonky and I have to try different things to get the kinda parts I want. I think the trick is to first just select IN STOCK, then only pick one parameter at a time. Sometimes you pick something there should be a lot of and the site says 0 or 1 choice - it's crazy.

Peace
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#3
Oh, and it is for preamp wiring.

Hey Nauta!
At the moment I am using a RG-174 cable.

Yes the search at Mouser's can be wonky for me too.
I landed somewhere with about 5 results, starting at USD 1000 each haha.
Like you said, there should be a lot of it.
Later searches provided better results.
Good for me is what you guys are using, I don't know about diameters and so.
And what's with this coax 50 Ohms stuff, I don't want 50 Ohims in my cable but I am misunderstanding that I hope.

Anyone has some favorites to share?



Strelok
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#4
Hi Guys

50R and 75R cable is what the impedance is at RF. Cable is often simulated using a ladder where the rungs are capacitors and the legs are resistors. At AF you only need to look at the capacitance.

Audio signals are infinitesimally small currents at often quite low voltage, so thin inner conductor is fine - really any gauge is good. I use #24 just because it was what was available at low cost from my supplier back in the '80s. (shaky voice) "Back in my day..." #30 is totally fine but just needs a bit more care.

Avoid steel braids and wire as steel will add harmonic distortion. Oxygen-free copper? Not worth the mark-up in price but if it is otherwise what you want, like or can afford, then fine.Foil shields are supposed to be good as electrostatic screens but the drain wire is the lowest resistance path for the signal. Spiral and braided shields have their application - spiral being easier to work with but offers lower shielding.

1-conductor, 2-conductor - use what fits or that you can get a good price on.

There is a discussion of wire in another thread here, and RG174 was mentioned there, as well. Someone suggested wire from an aviation supply place that looked pretty nice but is a bit expensive.

TUT3 discusses wire and coax and shows how to deal with braided shields.

Have fun
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#5
I read that aviator wire story somewhere, did not know it was on this site!
I also read about RG174 somewhere.
I havegood cable I think but I don't know the part number haha.
Yes you said steel braid is not so good, so I will look for copper.

Oxygen-free I tried, but the outside diameter of that cable was hefty and the inner wire had so thin isolation you cut right through it, unworkable.

TUT3 gives exccelent informarion thanks!


Thanks for all the info, I will select copper and gauge and go from there.
Only thing I cannot select is stiffness, I have some multi-conductor cable that is so stiff it is not funny anymore.

So thank you all, it will work now.



Eric-Jan
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