John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hope you'll forgive a "noob" question. I have a small home studio and am hoping to connect a couple of wall-plates (Pro Co WP 2040's - http://www.directproaudio.com/product.c ... ctid=56454) at opposite ends of my studio. I will be running balanced and unbalanced signals, as well as the output of my condenser mic (Rode NT-1a) prior to any "pre".

I plan to run flexible metal conduit through the walls to minimize interference from power lines. The run is about 25 feet. Here's my question... do I need to run specialized audio cabling through the conduit? Or will simple wires do (since it's shielded by the conduit)? If the latter, what gauge should I use? Will CAT-5e or CAT 6 work?

Thank you in advance for any advice

Eric Samstad
Baltimore, MD

One thing I forgot to add.. I may want to route MIDI as well. But, the conduit is 1/2", so I think it will fit everything.

e

In my opinion, I'd really suggest that you use proper shielded audio snake cable, and separate runs for MIDI, Ethernet, telephone, video, or whatever else you might need. You MIGHT be able to get away with other cable, but the risk just isn't worth it to save a few dollars. I've seen all kinds of really-hard-to-trace problems in post production studios, where customers have tried to save a couple of bucks with "unusual" cables and connectors, and usually the best way I find to fix that is to rip out their cheap stuff, and then install the correct stuff. So they end up wasting a lot of money from trying to save a some pennies. It really isn't worth it.

- Stuart -

Thanks for the info. One question... what gauge wire should I use? Is 26 AWG okay? Or do I need 22 AWG?

Also, is it okay that the balanced/unbalanced signals share a multicore with the mic? I'd prefer to keep everything inside the same metal conduit if possible. Okay to do this?

Eric