Speaker Wire - Speaker
cable has two parallel multi-strand conductors. It is designed to carry large
amounts of energy. It should be used between the power section of your
equipment and the speakers only. The size or gauge of the wire also has an
effect on the performance of your equipment. The amount of power used and the
length of the cable determines the gauge of wire that you need. Generally
speaking the larger the wire the better. Note: Smaller AWG number = larger wire
diameter.
IEC carries a wide variety of Speaker
Wires.
Maximum Cable Length Based on Wire Gauge and Speaker Ohms
at .5 dB Loss| | 24 AWG | 22 AWG | 20
AWG | 18 AWG | 16 AWG | 14 AWG | 12
AWG | | 4 Ohm | 10 feet | 15 feet | 25
feet | 40 feet | 60 feet | 90 feet | 140
feet | | 8 Ohm | 20 feet | 35 feet | 50
feet | 85 feet | 115 feet | 185 feet | 285
feet | | 16 Ohm | 30 feet | 35 feet | 40
feet | 50 feet | 100 feet | 200 feet | 300
feet |
Microphone Cable - There are two kinds of
wire used for microphones. Professional microphones use balanced (3 conductor)
cables and low cost microphones use cable that is the same as instrument cable
(2 conductor). The advantage of the 3 conductor-cable is it has 2 wires that
carry the signal and a shield that acts only to carry away the airborne
interference. This design allows cable runs of over 1000 feet without
noticeable signal loss. The 2-conductor wire should not exceed 20 feet or
signal loss and increased noise may occur. If you have a balanced microphone
and need to connect it to a 2-wire system (1/4" jack) you should use a
transformer at the 1/4" end to convert the signal from balanced to unbalanced.
Without the transformer, although it will "work", you have the same effect as a
2-wire system but with some frequency loss. Also longer cable lengths should be
avoided. Click
here to see our Microphone cable.
Instrument Cable -
Instrument cable is shielded which means that it has an inner wire that is
completely surrounded by another wire. The outside wire is referred to as the
shield. The shield serves the purpose of directing airborne interference, like
radio waves or fluorescent light noise, away from the cable. The shield
protects the inner wire from these waves. Use this cable in low level
applications to connect between components such as guitar to amp, effects to
amp, or any areas where "power" is not involved. Do not use Instrument cable
for speakers, as amplifier damage or poor performance can
occur.
GROUND LOOPSAlmost all cases of noise can be
traced directly to ground loops, grounding or lack thereof. It is important to
understand the mechanism that causes grounding noise in order too effectively
eliminates it. Each component of a sound system produces its own ground
internally. This ground is usually called the audio signal ground. Connecting
devices together with the interconnecting cables can tie the signal grounds of
the two units together in one place through the conductors in the cable. Ground
loops occur when the grounds of the two units are also tied together in another
place: via the third wire in the line cord, by tying the metal chassis together
through the rack rails, etc. These situations create a circuit through which
current may flow in a closed "loop" from one unit's ground out to a second unit
and back to the first. It is not simply the presence of this current that
creates the hum-it is when this current flows through a unit's audio signal
ground that creates the hum. In fact, even without a ground loop, a little
noise current always flows through every interconnecting cable (i.e., it is
impossible to eliminate these currents entirely). The mere presence of this
ground loop current is no cause for alarm if your system uses properly
implemented and completely balanced interconnects, which are
excellent at rejecting ground loop and other noise currents. Balanced
interconnect was developed to be immune to these noise currents, which can
never be entirely eliminated. What makes a ground loop current annoying is that
the audio signal is affected. Unfortunately, many manufacturers of balanced
audio equipment design the internal grounding system improperly; thus creating
balanced equipment that is not immune to the noise currents in the cabling.
This is one reason for the bad reputation sometimes given to balanced
interconnects.
A second reason for the bad reputation of balanced
interconnects comes from those who think connecting unbalanced equipment into
"superior" balanced equipment should improve things. Sorry. Balanced
interconnect is not compatible with unbalanced. The small physical nature and
short cable runs of completely unbalanced systems (home audio) also contain
these ground loop noise currents. However, the currents in unbalanced systems
never get large enough to affect the audio to the point where it is a nuisance.
Mixing balanced and unbalanced equipment, however, is an entirely different
story, since balanced and unbalanced interconnect are truly not
compatible.
The potential or voltage that pushes these noise
currents through the circuit is developed between the independent grounds of
the two or more units in the system. The impedance of this circuit is low, and
even though the voltage is low, the current is high, thanks to Mr. Ohm, without
whose help we wouldn't have these problems. It would take a very
high-resolution ohmmeter to measure the impedance of the steel chassis or the
rack rails. We're talking thousandths of an ohm. So trying to measure this
stuff won't necessarily help you. We just thought we'd warn you.I.E.C. IS ABLE TO BUILD ANY CABLE YOU MIGHT NEED FOR YOUR
SYSTEM OR INSTRUMENT.Click here to see our WIDE VARIETY OF ADAPTERS
FOR AUDIO SYSTEMS. |
