Alternatives to George L cables

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 11 May 2002 9:17 am

Hey guys!
I just did an inventory of my cables. I discovered that for my loooong speaker cables I'm usinc "CSI 16/2 High Power Speaker Wire".
That should make some of you happy. For my shorter runs (both instrument and speaker), I'm using "Belden 8410 PG" and "Belden 8412"
cables. How do these measure up?
Uff-Da!

Bruce Derr · Post by **Bruce Derr** » 11 May 2002 9:32 pm

I was curious about the Canare GS-6 cable mentioned by Glenn so I went to Canare.com to get more info. It's designed for instrument use but has a heavier center conductor than most guitar cable I've seen - 18 ga - hence their recommendation for speaker connections. It looks like great cable, sturdy but very flexible. I like cable that lies flat on stage and coils easily. I am going to try some as soon as I can find a source in the US. However, despite the claim of low capacitance, it is not particularly low at 49pF/foot. I believe the small-diameter George L cable is about 20 pF/foot.

There is a cable made in Germany called La Grange, made by Klotz, that is supposed to be good. Capacitance is 70 pF/meter, roughly the same as the George L. I don't know if it is available in the US.

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 11 May 2002 11:25 pm

I am going to try some as soon as I can find a source in the US. >>>> Electronic City, 4001 W. Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA. 818-842-5275

Bruce Derr · Post by **Bruce Derr** » 12 May 2002 2:37 pm

Thanks, Chas, I'll give them a try!

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 12 May 2002 9:20 pm

If anyone wants to get really serious about their cable, there's this audiophile cable made by Vandenhul and it's touted as the lowest capacitance cable there is. I use a couple of short runs of the stuff in my studio. It's a bit ridiculous with the price and all. On my stereo in my living room I'm using George L's cable but with soldered on audiophile gold plated rca connectors. The stuff sounds as good as the $20/foot stuff. I think George L is on to something with that layer of black gooey stuff under the outer insulation. They say it's some anti-static stuff. I dont know why some cables even with the same capacitance factor sound different, but they all do. A cool test is to run a guitar with no preamp thru the longest run of cable you can round up, say 75' or 100'. That will exaggerate the sonic character of a cable. It's good to do A/B tests that way as the differences are made even more obvious.

Brad Sarno
Mullen U-12/Twin/BW

Doug Childress · Post by **Doug Childress** » 13 May 2002 9:28 am

FYI. According to the lady in the George L booth at St. Louis ISGC, there is no difference in the George L "red" or "black" cable. I was present when a customer asked for an explanation. The lady told him that they had ordered cable in different colors. To get the "red" cost a little more thus the difference in price to the customer.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 13 May 2002 10:21 am

<SMALL>According to the lady in the George L booth at St. Louis ISGC, there is no difference in the George L "red" or "black" cable.</SMALL>

Then how can they tell which is which?

Bruce Derr · Post by **Bruce Derr** » 13 May 2002 10:48 am

Erv, regarding your question about the Belden cables... Belden 8410 is good quality instrument cable but has a light-duty (25 AWG, with only 7 strands of 33 AWG wire) center conductor. Not the best choice for a speaker cable. Capacitance is 33 pF/foot. The 8412 has two conductors, both heavier gauge (20 AWG, 26 strands of 34 AWG), and has a capacitance of 30 pF/foot. This is good cable for balanced low-Z microphones. It's ok for short speaker runs but a larger gauge would be better.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 13 May 2002 11:37 am

<SMALL>Then how can they tell which is which?</SMALL>

The red cable is thicker....