cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

M

Matt Vivlamore

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Jan 11, 2011
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Southern MD, USA
www.meerkatsound.com
I am on the next phase of building my custom multi pin snakes. For my first set of looms, I chopped off the CBI fan-fan tails snake; this cable had foil wrapped lines with heat shrink covering. Now I'm ready to build my second snake which is going to be a custom length cables for the drums and a couple backline items.

What cable do you use when building multi-pin fan tails? I am not sure what cable I should be looking for. I don't plan on adding anything over doghouse fan loom and its going to live in there and then the drum/backline loom I am planning on putting Techflex (aka Whirlwind Snakeskin) over top of the sheathing.

I have a good bit of Belden 8451 left over from a previous project, would this proper cable to use?
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

Belden 8451 works fine as do the many similar foil shielded twisted pair cables some of which can be had with jackets in all ten of the IEA color code. Very handy for grouping cables as Whirlwind does ( 1-8, 9-16 etc) or for individual numeric IDs as others do ( 1, 11 , 21 are brown, 2, 12, 22 are red etc ). One handy thing to do with any fan out be it a console doghouse fan, a drop snake or any bundle of cables is to shrink a large piece of tubing over the appropriate groups say 1- 8, 9-16, 17-24 on a console fan , each send and return pair on an insert whip. Use tubing that will slide along the bundle so that it stays bundled for transport and can be slid back and fanned out for patching.
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

Matt Vivlamore said:
Riley, thanks for the assurance that the excess 8451 i have will work. I wasn't sure if this was the right cable for the job.

I never thought about the color ideal, but I think the XLR rings instead.
Click to expand...
Another cable to consider is West Penn Wire's x454.

It is also available in a nice palette of colors and the Polypropylene jacket is pretty sturdy and more abrasion resistant than a lot of other "installation" cable. I like using it for these kinds of purposes.
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

Am I correct in understanding that the multipin FOH connector will be permanently attached to the doghouse? If that's the case, then the 8451 will serve you fine. Alternatively, get a short chunk of IJIS (Individually Jacketed, Individually Shielded) snake cable (not the same as the CBI snake cable you mentioned) with the right amount of conductors; these come pre-numbered and sometimes color-coded in groups of 8 (depending on the manufacturer). Many install shops will have short leftover chunks from installs that are useless for anything but this sort of purpose. Or maybe that's just me...
If the connector is NOT permanently attached to the doghouse, then I'd definitely go with the IJIS snake cable over trying to loom together a bunch of 8451. You'll never be able to properly strain relief individual 8451's in the multipin connector.
I'd also use IJIS snake cable for your shorter drum/backline looms.
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

While IJIS is good for install stuff, I wouldn't recommend it for heavy use as the numbers printed on the jackets wear off quickly.
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

David Sturzenbecher said:
While IJIS is good for install stuff, I wouldn't recommend it for heavy use as the numbers printed on the jackets wear off quickly.
Click to expand...
True. In a doghouse wouldn't be an issue. I'd still add custom shrink labels as well. No less effort than using 8451, I suppose, but IJIS cable terminates quicker than 8451, as the internal poly strain relief line doesn't exist. For the longer drum/backline custom snakes, if it's as I visualize with different length tails for each drum, I'd still go with IJIS, as at least the snake portion has a rubberized jacket. For the fanout, if you're concerned about durability, you can do as the OP mentioned and cover it wth Snakeskin, or get a clear flexible tubing to go over it. I forget which manufacturer offers this on their whips; might be Rapco Horizon, maybe it was Digiflex.
Either way, it still beats looming individual 8451's.
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

Jonathan Kok said:
If the connector is NOT permanently attached to the doghouse, then I'd definitely go with the IJIS snake cable over trying to loom together a bunch of 8451. You'll never be able to properly strain relief individual 8451's in the multipin connector.
I'd also use IJIS snake cable for your shorter drum/backline looms.
Click to expand...
Agreed on the IJIS type cable.

I say go with appropriately-engraved connectors (numbers, letters, etc.) as needed; much more durable than printing on the heat shrink.
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

Hi Folks,

For smaller patch snakes I am using small diameter microphone cables, bundled in techflex type sleeving.
This makes it easy to mix, for instance, 30", 36" and 45" cables in one bundle.
This also makes it easy to add/subtract cables, or slide a TRS~XLR-male cable in place of an XLR`XLR cable.

Gepco makes a very nice, small diameter mic cable, as does Mogami and surely many others.

Thanks and good health, Weogo
 
Re: cable for looms; ie thin flexible jacket XLR

I went ahead and bought some more Belden 8451 and TechFlex PET and regular XLRs (XX series) and planning to use clear heat shrink and paper numbers (CBI method).

Now time to figure out what lengths I need for the fan tails. The "Drum" Loom with be (typically) used for:
1) Kicks
2) Snare Top
3) Hi Hats
4) Rack Tom 1
5) Rack Tom 2
6) Floor Tom
7) Over Head (planning on short length to add XLR cable up the mic stand)
8) Sample Pad
9) Bass Guitar (short length)
10) Bass Vocals (short length)
11) spare 1 (short length)
12) spare 2 (short length)
 
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