Hey gurus!

What's the basis for selecting braided copper shield vs. foil wrapped shield Canare Star Quad? Aside from the obvious (briad = mic cable ; foil = install), are there any real benefits other than durability?

Markertek stocks both, and the foil is $.19/ft while the braid works out to $.31 /ft.

I've gotta order-up my bulk wire for my stu-stu-studio, and it seems Canare L-4E is a good bet, if I can't fund Tara...

Thanks,

Mark

Anyone?

Oh yeah - I did hear that Gore used 100% foil jacket, but the folks at the Dept of Homeland Security were quite partial to the copper braid....

Foil Metal Jacket!

mlange,
for what its worth I rewired my whole studio with Canari Star Quad and my gear guy who is very knowledgeable (and I trust him cause he is not the used car salesman type) told me that while he was working at Cello studios they did many shootouts and he felt he could hear the difference. I rewired my studio front to back with Canari Star Quad and really like the improvement. I think I hear it most on drums or when there are a lot of mics going and I used to just plug in any ol' cable I had laying around. Its amazing that every little bit counts. That being said its a pain to strip and solder.
my2

Thanks Tlix! I think you're referencing the braided shield, because of the time.... but I don't want to assume. Both of these "models" are by Canare and called Star Quad. So did you use the braided copper shield version or the aluminum foil shield version?

Has anybody ever A/B'ed these two cables? Here's the links from Canare site:

Canare L-4E6s Star Quad Braided Shield

L-4E6AT Canare Star Quad Solid Shield

Aside from the shields, the foil version actally has larger diameter wires (20AWG vs the braided's 21AWG).

The spools are 600+ feet , so I really apprciate the opinions and insights

Nothing on sound, but Markertek is pretty pricey, no?

Amen my brotha' - feel free to recommend your favorite Canare vendor!

FWIW, this is the link to the tech specs of the two flavors:

Canare Quad Tech stuff

A TOTAL ASIDE -

Mark O'Connor, Edgar Meyer, and Yo-Yo Ma just performed "1B" live on Backstage and it was flippin' amazingly killer awesomely incredible!!!!! I can barely type rthe goosebumps are so massive

Foil shield is for permanent installations where the wires will not move around much. Usually foil shield type installations lay on the ground in an area to be undisturbed or are run through walls, ceilings and floors.

Foil shield wires kink very easily and the foil shield ends up tearing or taking on some kind of other distortion.

However, foil shielding offers more coverage, if you will. It is closer to 100% since the foil wraps around the cable completely and geometrically there are no holes for RF/EMI interference to get through.

Now to contradict myself! Foil shielding is also found in many multi connector cables, such as those found in some less expensive snakes. The fanouts on some of those cheaper snakes get all kinked up in a hurry and then sooner or later the connections fail.

Braided sheild wire should be used anywhere the cables will need to move around, even if you are planning to reorganize your studio once in a while.

Yes it is a pain to comb the shield out, there aren't many tricks I know to make that go faster.

Canare L4E6s is a good choice for braided wire. It is a cable that has higher capacitance, but if the cable is constructed properly (twisting the the two twisted pair all the way to the solder termination) the rejection is very effective.

Greg