LaCie flat firewire cables

[Panelhead]

Someone recommended these s cheap cables that perform well to connect the computer to an interface. I like cheap so ordered a couple off ebay to try.

Opened one up to look at the construction. And to clip the white power wire to isolate the FW power. The cable is a 9 x 6 pin.

There are six wires laying in the middle of the cable, ground (black), power (white), then the four signal wires. There is a paper looking cover that may offer some shielding.

The wires are not twisted pairs like the cable design shows. Also would think it would be better if the power leg was outside the ground and not between the ground and a signal wire. The wire gauge all appears to be the same, 28 ga as a guess.

The construction quality is very poor compared to a good quality FW cable. The good ones have a braid shield, foil under that, filller, then twisted pairs with foil on each pair. Thousand time better construction than the LaCie flat cable.

But the LaCie with the power wire snipped sounds fine. And at least after a short listen works perfectly. Maybe the FW cable IS NOT very important.

I am going back to the better built round cables though. Cannot hurt.

 

George

 

[tubes59]

I've been using LaCie firewire orange cables bought on amazon for about a month now with no problems at all. I've got both the firewire 800 to 800 and the 400 to 800 cables in use with no issues at all. I like them.

 

[mustech]

George was on to something when he commented on the ground. I have 16 of these in my classroom to connect an audio interface. I can touch the box with a static charge in my body and actually turn the box off! In fact, I have turned off multiple machines by touching one box. This does not happen on the one machine that is not using the Lacie orange cable. Now I need to replace them. Read posts on Amazon to find many more people having connectivity issues.

 

[barrows]

Maybe the flat construction with perfectly spaced wires, and guaranteed equal length of the wires, as well as very well controlled impedance is actually an advantage vs. twisted pair designs...

 

just speculating...

 

[Panelhead]

Since I opened it up to cut the power wire before using it I have no idea how well it works out of the box.

But it is a cheaply made product. The design specs for 1394B is well documented. The lack of shielding and layout are out of spec.

I have seen references to replacing the LaCie cable with a high cost FireWire cable. The reported result was improved playback. I think the LaCie was used for a reason.

I think I am just down on LaCie. Read their external drives were top not h when I first started in this computer audio hobby. Paid a premium for two. Replaced my 180.00 drives with 120.00 models that turn on consistently.

These cables were a letdown also. But I am eyeballing their Thunderbolt drive. Hoping to see the 1TB prices closer to 100.00 and the cables available in shorter lengths.

 

George