L6 link and iec cable

[Cody_smith]

I'm planning pretty far ahead here (10-12 months) to buy a powercab plus. I like using cables in cable looms to make one big cable running in between things, so I want to run a l6 link cable and a long iec cable together. I know that generally it can cause interference to run data or audio cables next to power cables but has anyone tried this and have issues? Or are aes or l6 link cables pretty resistant to interference?

[spikey]

I just purchased Mogami 3080 110 Ohm AES/EBU Cable | Neutrik Gold XLR-F to XLR-M | 20 Feet 20 Ft HERE .

 

On Ebay- That's an excellent price I think, and they seem to work well. As far as using a IEC cable I don't know about the noise it would add or ohms issues, but for L6-Link Line-6 (DI) suggests using the 110 ohm AES/EBU cable. Hope this helps.

 

[zolko60]

I personally never had an issue with AES/EBU and SPDIF interfacing with regular audio cables on up to 10m long runs, but if you want to go cheap and still keep the "110 ohm standard" there are 110ohm cables sold as "DMX cables".

[litesnsirens]

I think it's less of an issue if the cables are running along side each other and not crossing.  I use a pedal snake which for years carried all my signals and power from the front of the stage to the back of the stage.  Unfortunately  there isn't a pedal snake solution for IEC type cables so now it only carries my audio and midi signals.

[CraigGT]

The whole 75/120 Ohm business baffles me, coming from a lifetime working in communications I know that it takes miles of cable for it to achieve it's "characteristic impedance" I really don't see how there can be a difference over 10 feet.

Unless you're talking coax with BNC's but that has different connectors for 50/75 Ohm and that doesn't occur with XLR's.

 

Craig

 

 

[spikey]

Quote

The whole 75/120 Ohm business baffles me, coming from a lifetime working in communications I know that it takes miles of cable for it to achieve it's "characteristic impedance" I really don't see how there can be a difference over 10 feet.

 

Depends on the type of communications, doesn't it? I mean a quarter wave dipole can be tuned to a low SWR and at max power, in a relatively short distance, depending on its frequency transmitted. It just loses its bandwidth versus a 1/2 wave or larger. But don't try running much wattage on 10 feet of wire (even though it's short) that has high reflection (standing waves) ; ). And everything does have a minimum and maximum distance signal wise, even fiber. Another example- Cat 5 max distance before going wonky is 328 feet IIRC. In this case, I'm thinking it has more to do with fewer data errors at the right impedance at proper distance. And I also think that the price above I listed at eBay is not bad for that kind of cable.

[CraigGT]

True Spikey but I suspect it has a lot more to do with the capacitance of the cable than the impedance.

At work we sent 2.4 Gig's over 100M of cheap coax, it makes me sceptical of paying £100 for and SPDIF cable for my TV sound system :-)

 

Maybe I'm too old for all of this :-)

 

Craig

 

 

[spikey]

Could be Craig, but they mention Impedance and not capacitance? Weird lol. Like Steve Martin said in "The Jerk", "its a profit deal!"... 

[CraigGT]

I'm not familiar with that movie but I'd still argue that 10 feet of cable doesn't have an impedance (other than the one on the label that determines the price :-) )  

 

Craig

[spikey]

You should watch "the Jerk" sometime, its a CLASSIC Steve Martin... Worth the time.

[zolko60]

14 hours ago, CraigGT said:

I'd still argue that 10 feet of cable doesn't have an impedance (other than the one on the label that determines the price :-) )  

Maybe capacitance matters, maybe termination, maybe the precision of receiver? I don't know. Lots of reading like that https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/does-your-studio-need-digital-master-clock and I conclude I don't know enough ;)
I remember 20 years ago I was working in Digidesign Session8 based studio. There were no avialable 75ohm SPDIF cables at all in my country. We used cheap consumer RCA for sessions to DAT backups (HDDs were expensive those times). It was quite straightforward method - digital audio files were recorded as audio - you could even monitor that. If you recreated the session, audio was put back to wav files and it was easy to check those files were bit to bit identical.
I also did several tests of simple AES/EBU to SPDIF "converter" where hot XLR signal was just connected to RCA tip. I had no idea any pad was required to meet the electrical standards. :D It just worked and was bit to bit identical. I was really surprised Helix LT AES/EBU output can not be connected this way to my SPDIF receivers and I need to make at least "resistor pad converter". This time there are three levels of compatibility: 
1. Full AES/EBU2SPDIF data conversion (this need some kind of DSP)
2. Electrical compatibility of impedances and voltage (this requires transformer and pad)
3. Electrical compatibility only in voltage terms
Unfortuatelly in case of L6 link the customer can not make any test I can imagine than listening so maybe it is wise to use 110ohm cable just to feel good you did the best to keep audio transfer quality and to avoid issues...
Or maybe "if it sounds right - it is right"? :D

[spikey]

Quote

PowerCab Plus remote support—Helix can now remotely adjust parameters in up to two L6 LINK-connected PowerCab Plus modeling speaker cabs. When one PowerCab Plus is connected via L6 LINK (110-ohm AES/EBU cable), it receives a mono signal from Helix; when two PowerCab Plus amps are daisy-chained via L6 LINK, the first cab in the chain receives the left signal and the second cab receives the right signal.

 

I'm Just going by what DI suggested to use as mentioned in the 2.8 update. Since I'm sure he has talked more to the actual Engineers involved (makers of the units) and I have not, I will capitulate. ; )