[Harp-L] Re: cord for crystal mic

[Greg Heumann <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Geoff - the "impedance" of coaxial cable is only relevant to radio  
frequency ("RF") transmission, not audio. In general, RF cables are  
stiffer than regular mic cable and I would recommend against them.  
With audio cable, we simply want the lowest possible resistance (aka  
impedance for the sake of this discussion) and capacitance. The  
resistance or impedance of any good cable in audio applications is  
very near zero. Some people claim a difference in tone with the  
thinner cables - I haven't been able to hear this personally. <Flame  
suit on> Of course, some people swear they can hear a difference with  
Monster Cable speaker wire too, when countless scientific tests (and  
the laws of physics) contradict this.  </flame suit>   For me, a good  
microphone cable is soft and flexible, uses relatively large gauge  
wire  (to minimize signal loss) and comes from a reputable vendor like  
Belden who actually hires engineers to do the math for us. And for  
those of us who play vintage mics with screw-on connectors, the  
quality of assembly is absolutely essential to long cable life. Guys  
like Chuck Gurney, Chris Reynolds and I know what it takes.

/Greg

http://www.blowsmeaway.com
http://www.bluestateband.net


Geoff wrote:
Hi!
Getting decent quality 50ohm cable is becoming really expensive over  
here in
Africa, and I have a few hundred yards of computer coax left unused  
from the
thin Ethernet days.
It's built really well, multistrand core, with dense shielding but  
it's 70
Ohm rated.  I've tried it out on my mic as a 15 foot extension cord  
(Plus
the ten feet of 50 Ohm on my GBullet -when it had Astatic 127  
innards-) and
it seemed OK.
Any comment about why / why not to use it up? I'm gigging, not  
recording.

Best Regards  Geoff Atkins