Thin mic cable needed

C

Chris DeVoe

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Jun 6, 2013
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I shoot video, and carry a pair of 75' XLR cables with me to connect to the board. My current cables are Canare, but I would like to find thinner cables - both for taping down and for weight. You see, I carry all the equipment for a 7 camera shoot in a backpack, and everywhere I can shave a pound off matters. I don't need the ruggedness of a regular mic cable, as nobody is gonna Roger Daltry a mic with this cable, it's just running from the board to my camera.

I'd like to find the cable that Sony and Shure use for their lav mics.

Ideas?
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

I found a photo of a reel of it on ebay, and it looks like it is has a vinyl jacket and no filler. I'd really like to find something with a rubber, or synthetic rubber, jacket and filler fiber. I need 75' runs of this, and vinyl jacketed cables just don't coil up well. I need a mic cable, just smaller. I've got an old Shure SM-83A here, and the cable running from the belt pack to the XLR is close to ideal - rubber, round with fillers, very flexible and rugged and coils up nicely.
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

Chris DeVoe said:
I found a photo of a reel of it on ebay, and it looks like it is has a vinyl jacket and no filler. I'd really like to find something with a rubber, or synthetic rubber, jacket and filler fiber. I need 75' runs of this, and vinyl jacketed cables just don't coil up well. I need a mic cable, just smaller. I've got an old Shure SM-83A here, and the cable running from the belt pack to the XLR is close to ideal - rubber, round with fillers, very flexible and rugged and coils up nicely.
Click to expand...

I had some of this a while back: http://www.rapcohorizon.com/p-564-mic3.aspx

It's like regular mic cable, but thinner! Works fairly well with a neutrik connector. Be forewarned, the thinner the cable the more of a pain to wrap.
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

Tom Manchester said:
I had some of this a while back: MIC3

It's like regular mic cable, but thinner! Works fairly well with a neutrik connector. Be forewarned, the thinner the cable the more of a pain to wrap.
Click to expand...

That looks great!

I always do the over/under wrap, so it should remain fairly kink-free.

Put it this way, my monitoring video cables are RG-174, which is .48 mm OD, and those are still in good shape.
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

I'm not sure how well it would hold up long term but consider trying Gotham GAC-2/mini AES.
Gotham Kabel AG | 10620 GAC-2/mini AES Digital installation cable

3.6mm OD, it has a soft rubberish jacket and is quite flexible.

We have a bunch of short (3') XLR patch cables made from this at my church. We've also use it to a more limited degree for longer AES patch cables.

Its available from Gotham Audio LLC ~ The exclusive American and Canadian importer for Gotham Audio Cables

Hope this helps,

Philip
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

Mogami makes a number of miniature cables, unfortunately, they are too small to properly fit into a Neutrik XLR connector (which requires a minimum diameter of 3.5mm)

You might also look at using 2-pair snake cable, as you will get a reduction in the amount of total jacket material, and thus weight.
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

Rob Timmerman said:
Mogami makes a number of miniature cables, unfortunately, they are too small to properly fit into a Neutrik XLR connector (which requires a minimum diameter of 3.5mm)
Click to expand...
That's an excellent suggestion! I think the W3031 looks just about perfect for my needs, with a braided shield. I can build up the thickness at the end with heat shrink to work with the Neutrik connectors. Or even use some of the jacket rubber from regular size mic cable as a strain relief.

You might also look at using 2-pair snake cable, as you will get a reduction in the amount of total jacket material, and thus weight.
Click to expand...
I used to use that, but that uses aluminized mylar as a shield, and breaks down with repeated wrapping.
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

Gepco 6180:

Gepco® Brand -- Audio and Video Cable Products --

And you can get a Neutrik XLR to clamp down on it, although you will want to put a piece or two of shrink tube on the end to make that job easier and provide some strain relief.

Or Gepco 72401EZ:

Gepco® Brand -- Audio and Video Cable Products --

I like the X band stuff:

Gepco® Brand -- Audio and Video Cable Products --

And if those are too thin, they make the MP1022 thin mic cable:

Gepco Brand -- Audio and Video Cable Products

Best regards,

John
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

I wanted to follow up to let anyone interested to know that I ultimately chose the Mogami W2901. I wanted the W3031 with the thicker jacket, but it was hard enough to find anyone who would cut this to length, so I took what I could get. It's amazingly light and thin, and sounds perfectly fine. I used the jacket of some standard mic cable to be able to clamp down onto this tiny stuff with the Neutrik connectors.

Many thanks to Scott Simons at Performance Audio for his help in tracking this down and getting it shipped out quickly.
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

Chris DeVoe said:
I shoot video, and carry a pair of 75' XLR cables with me to connect to the board. My current cables are Canare, but I would like to find thinner cables - both for taping down and for weight. You see, I carry all the equipment for a 7 camera shoot in a backpack, and everywhere I can shave a pound off matters. I don't need the ruggedness of a regular mic cable, as nobody is gonna Roger Daltry a mic with this cable, it's just running from the board to my camera.

I'd like to find the cable that Sony and Shure use for their lav mics.

Ideas?
Click to expand...

Mogami 2697 would be good for that. You can use heatshrink to bulk it up for the XLR.
 
Re: Thin mic cable needed

Scott Helmke said:
Mogami 2697 would be good for that. You can use heatshrink to bulk it up for the XLR.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I wound up getting lengths of Mogami 2901, and used standard mic cable jacket for strain relief. I had to use water-based lube to get it over the jacket, but it worked great. I've already shot my first concert with the ones I built, and it turned out perfectly fine.
 
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