OT: Studio wiring

[EricWatkins]

Sorry for the OT but I know someone here has the answers for me. I am remodeling my home studio. When finished, I'll have three isolation booths for vocals and amp cabinets and two small live rooms. I want to hardwire the whole studio now before drywall so there arent any cords going in and out of the booths and live rooms. Every room and booth will have the appropriate wall jacks for XLR, 1/4", and headphones. So now I just need to know what wire to use??? I'm an HVAC contactor so I'm no stranger to wiring but I dont know specifically what I need here. My buddy that works at the local electrical wholesale house said he has some signal wire that is 18 gauge with 3 conductors and shielding. Is that what I need? He said churches use it all the time for hardwiring PA systems and stuff. I'm just at this stage right now and I need to know so I can keep moving forward. But I want to make sure that I get it right. I can just see running 1000' of this stuff and then enclosing it in drywall just to have a big universal "HUMMMM" going through my whole studio. I've got all of the power wiring under control with a brand new 200 amp service and a grounding rod outside. I just need to know what I need for all my signal paths. If possible, it would be nice if the same stuff would work for the headphone lines. Thanks for listening to the long-winded post.

[tmhuud]

Sorry for the OT but I know someone here has the answers for me. I am remodeling my home studio. When finished, I'll have three isolation booths for vocals and amp cabinets and two small live rooms. I want to hardwire the whole studio now before drywall so there arent any cords going in and out of the booths and live rooms. Every room and booth will have the appropriate wall jacks for XLR, 1/4", and headphones. So now I just need to know what wire to use???t.


The quality of the audio wire you use can have a big effect on the quality of your audio signals. Every kind of audio wire has its own electrical characteristics that slightly colors sound. There are expensive brands like Mogami which many professionals swear by, but I am partial to the Belden line of products. Belden 8451 is my cable of choice. It's been used in professional studios for decades, has great sound characteristics, and is relatively inexpensive. Many professional installers dislike 8451 because it's not as flexible and cannot be stripped as quickly as some more expensive cables. However, these considerations are minor if you are doing your own wiring for your studio... likely a one-time event.

Links that may be of interst toyou.

http://www.procosound.com/
http://www.whirlwindusa.com/
http://www.furmansound.com/
http://www.fostex.com/
http://www.hosatech.com/
http://www.dbxpro.com/
http://www.neutrik.com/content/home/home.aspx?portal=us&language=1

[EricWatkins]

Hey thanks for the reply. I'll be going through the links here in a few. I just cant wait to get my studio set back up and this has been a stumbling block so far. No one has had a definitive answer for me yet and all I want to do is pull the stuff so I can get on with insulation and drywall. I can enjoy the days of soldering all the ends when the rest of it's done. Thanks again.

Eric