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cable noise

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I've got a room built like a concrete bunker in the basement of our auditorium. We've used a portable PA in there for years, and now I want to run mic cables around the room, with XLR wall plate connectors set in receptical boxes on each wall. Problem is, I can't run cable behind the walls, and must go along the floors and under the metal doorway thresholds for some of these cable runs, and over the ceiling through the plenum for others. All mics are phantom powered condensors.

When I connect up the wall plates I get crackling sounds on some but not all of the floor runs! At first I used a very slim shielded XLR (sorry, don't have the brand and number with me), and this cable crackled from the start. Then I switched to foil shield Belden 8719, which I had a supply of, and the noise went away. UNTIL my second run, when the crackling came back intermittently, especially when I touched the wall plate screws with a screwdriver. I'm also having to tack down these floor runs with a stapler, and I know I pierced the cable jackets at least once...

Portable cables - I mean those with their own plugs, not soldered to the wall plates - have never given me a problem. These are braided shield XLR, which I'd prefer not to use for the new hardwired runs. I haven't been flexing the new foil wrap stuff very much, and the one that sounds worst has no turns at all.

What's causing the problem? The foil punctures? Do I need a better shielded cable? The receptical boxes are glued to the concrete walls, and are made of pot metal - should I replace these with plastic? Every other element in the chain works fine - it's just when I try these new connections that I get problems.


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Topic - cable noise - carson 10:39:56 08/07/02 (3)


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