Analog Cable Help

[One and a half]

For the metal conduit to be effective, it needs to be connected to a ground rather than float, in the latter case, it's only mechanical protection. It is possible to buy EMP proof conduit, and you thought exotic cable prices are stratospheric. The difficulty is sizing the conduit to allow for the large XLR connectors for ready made cables, perhaps consider soldering the XLR ends and choose a smaller conduit diameter. 

 

Or run the Romex in the conduit, and leave the XLR cable as is.

 

[fas42]

2 hours ago, kelvinwsy said:

5. I can swear that my whole system's residual /background noise levels drops further and further each time I increase the shielding on my PC's and Signal cables.

You can hear that digitalis and harshness is banished and sweet Hi-frequencies, superior ambient sonic stage, superior thumping bass on my Abyss 1266 Phi/cc is increasing in clarity, depth of low bass( more like a Rumble and GROWL now!) are now more evident.

   ...

7. At the back of the DAC, I have done the same but with Mu - metal sheets to cover the RCA/XLR output cables. Even my IsoRegen and SMS 200Ultra Neo have their own Mu metal shields.

This material I had left over from a DIY preamp project.  Again a noticeable drop in residual noise and increase in clarity  in ambience / hall echo sound on Playback; (especially evident in Live albums well recorded say in 24bit/96khz. 

 

 

Yes, the process of eliminating all the little, niggling "not quite good enough" 's steadily advances the key, subjectively important qualities - all part of the step by step ... ... 😉.

[kelvinwsy]

Ooh my conduits are earthed linked back to the earth pin on 1 connection on my Furutech power back ETP - 60 thru a star ground wiring loom . I use a clip and ground wire on the conduit. Or I have an exposed part of the JSSG double shield which is then linked back to the Earth pin. Works that way. Otherwise it is only a mechanical shield. May have a bit with magnetic flux inductance. Of course I tried to measure RFI/EMF using a ebay portable meter, its sensitivity range was awfully inadequate. So back to Ears Mark I for subjective checks.

YMMV

Kelvin

[One and a half]

4 hours ago, kelvinwsy said:

Ooh my conduits are earthed linked back to the earth pin on 1 connection on my Furutech power back ETP - 60 thru a star ground wiring loom . I use a clip and ground wire on the conduit. Or I have an exposed part of the JSSG double shield which is then linked back to the Earth pin. Works that way. Otherwise it is only a mechanical shield. May have a bit with magnetic flux inductance. Of course I tried to measure RFI/EMF using a ebay portable meter, its sensitivity range was awfully inadequate. So back to Ears Mark I for subjective checks.

YMMV

Kelvin

That's the way to earth (ground) the conduits. Does the clip come off though, would a banjo work for your conduit as an earth point?

 

[lucretius]

15 hours ago, JoeWhip said:

Mogami works very well.

 

As does Canare.

[lucretius]

delete

[4est]

13 hours ago, esldude said:

 

 

 

I have my doubts this would work well, and for only 30' it seems overly complex. EMT is not air tight and has a lot of friction. Vacuum works best on larger diameters to increase the vacuum force area. Remember a perfect vacuum is only about 15 psi. An electrician would likely just use a fish tape. 1" EMT is a stretch too. One needs to factor in that you need to pull both cables simultaneously. Therefore it is the connector plus cable diameter plus some tape or what have you to attach the fish tape or rope. String is probably not strong enough to pull the cabling through either. Off course there are other things one can do such as use an extra XLR plug as the attachment, but this all seems iffy with the EMT conduit.

 

Chris, is a straight shot, or will there be bends? I kinda get this might be running though a joist bay from your description. If you do not want to use PVC plumbing, the grey electrical pvc or even solid metal conduit might be the ticket- both have sweep 90s available.

[marce]

I have a set of flexible fibre glass rods for easier pulls and a flat wire loop for harder pulls... avoid 90 degrees at all costs, a conduit with a smooth internal wall, laid with gentle curves is the best way. If I am laying the conduit my self I use string as I go along. It's a job that either works the first couple of goes or life becomes dark! especially when it nearly does it for the fiftieth time... I have had 2 years of laying, pulling and sorting cables etc.  Still got some to go including 75mm ventilation pipes, just no incentive😀

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I ordered the Gotham 11301 GAC-4/1 UltraPro from Ghent. 
 

https://www.ghentaudio.com/part/x01.html

 

http://gothamcable.com/en/gothamcables/starquad/11301gac41ultrapro

 

Will decide on how to run it when it arrives. 

[Ralf11]

This is a great opportunity to test a baseboard install (distance) vs. a 30 ft. parallel run next to your Romex...

 

Think of the tax advantages...

[Samuel T Cogley]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I ordered the Gotham 11301 GAC-4/1 UltraPro from Ghent. 
 

https://www.ghentaudio.com/part/x01.html

 

http://gothamcable.com/en/gothamcables/starquad/11301gac41ultrapro

 

Will decide on how to run it when it arrives. 

 

Looks like you found a great sweet spot of quality and price.

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Looks like you found a great sweet spot of quality and price.

I think so. I did some research after everyone offered such good advice and came to the conclusion that this cable is a really good one and that I can benefit from its shielding. 

 

Check out this PDF about the cables. A good read. 

 

 

UltraWhtPaper.docx.pdf

[Speedskater]

Well the Ultra White paper starts out OK, but then drifts into audiophile nonsense.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Speedskater said:

Well the Ultra White paper starts out OK, but then drifts into audiophile nonsense.

 

"Starts out OK" is high praise! 😉

[StephenJK]

On 12/19/2019 at 11:12 AM, marce said:

I would worry about magnetic coupling from the Romex, especially if they are very close, screening out h fields is harder than e fields...

I use a fair bit of balanced cable,  I just get a decent one pro one so as to type I could not advise on...

If I was making one I would be tempted to use starquad configuration for your run, it does have some advantages when it comes to noise pick up.

Running the cable through a rigid or flexible metal sleeve should eliminate any possible interference from the Romex.  Or, a more practical solution would be to run a BX cable instead of Romex. It has a metal sheath and a twisted wire configuration. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - The cables from Ghent arrived while I was on vacation. I'm going to figure out the install under the floor this afternoon (hopefully).

 

[Ralf11]

take pics & videos - sound track also (we want to hear how Minnesotans curse)

[AudioDoctor]

Well gosh darn it anyway!!

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

take pics & videos - sound track also (we want to hear how Minnesotans curse)

 

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

Well gosh darn it anyway!!

 

Just finished up. There were a few f-bombs when I nearly sliced my fiber cables that run form the basement to the upstairs in half.

 

Photos to come. 

[Ralf11]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

Well gosh darn it anyway!!

 

Ah, Holy Hot Dish!

[The Computer Audiophile]

Ok, I have everything done and music playing. Here are some photos, one video, and some explanations of what's what. 

 

Rather than run the new audio interconnect next to and likely on top of the Romex power wire, I decided to drill a second hole in the floor and run the new interconnect under the floor without any other cables near it. 

 

 

 

 

After drilling holes on both sides of the listening room, I taped the new interconnect to my wire fishing flexible fiberglass rods. These rods are about three feet long each and just screw on to the end of another one. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the end of one rod. I pushed them through and just kept screwing additional rods on until I hit the end on the other side of the house 

 

 

 

Here is the cable coming up through the new hole behind my components on the other side of the listening room. 

 

 

 

Here is the cable coming out of the hole behind my components. 

 

 

My crawl space after running the new analog interconnects and the existing fiber connections from downstairs in the basement and out to audio endpoints that support fiber. There is a black fiber "whip" cable that contains about 8 fiber strands inside. I nearly cit this cable in half with the hole saw because it was still spinning when I took it out of the hole and set it down. Close call. 

 

 

Everything looks a bit messier when the Ethernet cables are added and run through the wall into my listening room. I also added tinfoil over the holes. Once in a while mice get into our attic and I want to make sure I know if they ever reach this crawl space. This won't stop them, but at least I'll know they were there.

 

 

 

Three Ethernet cables, two fiber cables, and two analog interconnects (one go through this hole twice to coil up the 40 feet of extra on the right channel).

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who helped me with this project. I highly recommend Ghent cable. They made me a 40 foot pair of balanced interconnects and shipped them out right away. The price was very reasonable. 

[Ralf11]

"without any other cables near it" - good idea

 

you need a sharper hole saw if it smoked; a nice cordless drill is good too

 

I had thought the floor was finished - are the holes in the listening room or next to  it?

[Samuel T Cogley]

The computer nerd in me likes the Ubiquiti WAP 👍

[The Computer Audiophile]

25 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

"without any other cables near it" - good idea

 

you need a sharper hole saw if it smoked; a nice cordless drill is good too

 

I had thought the floor was finished - are the holes in the listening room or next to  it?

Floor in the listening room is finished. Floor in the crawl spaces on each side of the listening room is unfinished. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

23 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

The computer nerd in me likes the Ubiquiti WAP 👍

Great stuff. My network is all UniFi.