Belden 1505F for IC's (1 Viewer)

[chaostoday]

What about using 1505F for digital video and analog stereo IC's? What is the opinion on that? I am already invested in the strippers and the crimp tool to do the Canare or equivalent RCA ends as well as BNC connectors. If you like for the purposes how does it compare to the quality commercially available cables on the market today? Thank you

 

[hotrodguy]

Belden and Canare cabling is used in most post houses because of its professional quality, most of the discs you watch and hear were probably mastered in a post house using this cabling. I have several bulk spools of Belden cable (1694A) from the last post house I worked at and I made my own cables for my sub amps using Belden 1800B which is 110 Ohm digital cable. I'm also using the 1694A which has a 3 gig bandwidth, I'm not sure about the 1505 but I think it's close to the same specs. Since you already have the tools and are obviously capable of doing it yourself, go for it.

As far as comparing commercial cables to Belden, commercial cables are all different and will give you differents sounds depending on who makes them and their porperties. Belden cable is professional cable and offers the least amount of resistance and the most amount of capacitance for pefect signal flow without adding colorization of the audio or video signals. Don't get me wrong, I also have boutiques interconnects like Acoustic Zen and Maple Shade and speaker cables like Monster Z series and Cello Strings II but I didn't buy them, they were either given to me as a gift or I got them for free from the last post house I worked at.

I say make them and enjoy them, if you feel something is missing in what you see or hear, you can always change them.

 

[chaostoday]

Great comments! Thank you. I'm currently using 1505A and playing around with options. I have two questions. #1 Am I doing damage to the cable when I cut off lengths with a pair of diag cutters? It seems to pinch the cable and I'm uncomfortable with that. I know this cable is sweep tested by Belden and I'm now afraid that I may hurt the integrity of the cable by cutting it with the incorrect tool. I also don't know what equipment is need to sweep test the completed cable again or how to do that. #2 When making a cable with the 1505A do you leave the foil on the dielectric insulation when using a Canare crimp RCA/ BNC connector? I have made them both ways and they pass my signal test both ways. Just not sure which is correct for best audio/ video quality. Thanks again

 

[hotrodguy]

Hey Chaos,

You're welcome, I'm glad I can hep out.

#1. You're not really doing damage to the cable as you will be stripping that part away anyway, but smooth is better, you may want to invest in a better cutter. Once stripped properly, whether you're using an RCA or BNC, the center core goes into a sleeve and will be soldered (use silver solder for an audiophile finish) so it won't matter what the cut was like at the location. A quick Google search will help you find how to sweep test a cable but remember, it's basically a 75 ohm cable but with a 3 gig bandwidth so you can't really mess up the signal flow. Since you're using Canare connectors, they are true 75 ohm and you can check that with a DMM.

#2. I assume you're referring to the shielding at the stripped location? The foil shielding is the EMI shielding but it should not extend past the outer casing, it should be cut flush with it. It won't hurt to leave it there under the barrel of your connector but it's more common to have it flush with the outer casing.

Let me know how it goes.