NEED: inexpensive TRS cabling

[Gastric]

I've yet to purchase cabling for my new DYI kit. Just when I think I've made a purchasing decision I find yet another seemingly cheaper cable. Note that CHEAP is the key word here. I've searched this forum but haven't found any threads dealing with purchasing pre-manufactured CHEAP cabling. Once upon a time I thought I saw a post linking to cheap $3 TRS cables but apparently I'm inept at searching, it doesn't exist, or exists on a different website.

Anyway, throwing out some ideas on sources for cheap cabling. At this point the cheapest I've found is:

* $70 shipped for a lot of 15 HOSA 15' TRS cables. Straight ends on both. http://www.audio-discounters.com/css-115.html
* $87 shipped for a lot of 15 HOSA 15' TRS cables. Right angle on one end. http://www.avalive.com

My other thought was to find a cheap 8/12/16 channel TRS snake. My first search on that avenue turned up some $50 shipped 16 channel TRS snakes which is even cheaper. And they're all labeled as an added bonus. But I'm not sure if they'd support the necessary spread across all the cable ends which I figure about 4' spread from center (the bass drum). Looks like a bunch of cheap cables in a wrap so I could probably just cut the wrap back. I like the idea of a nice clean snake. http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16-Channel-1...QQcmdZViewItem

Note I have 15' cables listed here as my drum module is in a rack across the room from the actual drums. 15' gives me plenty of room to reach from the furthest drum, cleanly run the cable to the module, slack to run it up to the rack.

[BarT]

There was a discussion here a few months ago: cheap cables

But it seems you've already found what may be the cheapest source for 15' TRS right angle cables (avalive.com).


Bruce

[Gastric]

Ahhh, I'm an idiot and was only searching THIS subforum.

The HOSA cables certainly seem to be the cheapest single cable solution. This place http://www.aiconsol.com/csr-115-hosa.html has the best total price shipped for the 115R variety at $78.58 shipped for 15. Still a lotta dough for silly trigger cables.

I'm going to focus on the snake which seems likely to be the absolute cheapest way to get bulk connectivity. Just need to find one that can spread the cable ends around to all the drums successfully.

[Hellfire]

Ahhh, I'm an idiot and was only searching THIS subforum.

The HOSA cables certainly seem to be the cheapest single cable solution. This place http://www.aiconsol.com/csr-115-hosa.html has the best total price shipped for the 115R variety at $78.58 shipped for 15. Still a lotta dough for silly trigger cables.

I'm going to focus on the snake which seems likely to be the absolute cheapest way to get bulk connectivity. Just need to find one that can spread the cable ends around to all the drums successfully.

You can't get much cheaper then $5.25 per cable. Look at it this way, how much would you spend on a guitar cable? The starting price for a cheap guitar cable is about $15.00 and it goes up from there.

[Gastric]

I'm not saying it isn't comparatively cheap. But hunting for the absolutely cheapest solution is all part of my game. Heh. Seriously, that snake seems like the winner. I'm awaiting confirmation it's just 16 TRS cables in a wrap. If so that makes it the winner. You could unwrap them and have 16 cables for $3.19 delivered a cable. And color/number coordinated as a bonus.

[foofoo]

dont get hosed by hosa. NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS THROUGH THE YEARS. if your doing a big job look at getting a roll of canare wire and good connectors. pricey but worth it!

[Gastric]

Building my own cable doesn't fit into the CHEAP or INEXPENSIVE category at all. 2 connectors cost as much as a 15' HOSA. Note that even though HOSA are cheap they do come with a lifetime warranty. Though I have no idea how you exercise that warranty.

[Michael Render]

I used to get them for $3.50US apiece. But that company went bankrupt. I wonder if I am responsible?

[BarT]

Note that even though HOSA are cheap they do come with a lifetime warranty. Though I have no idea how you exercise that warranty.

Call Hosa for a Return Authorization, then send it to them in California: Hosa Warranty Policy


Bruce

[Gastric]

I would generally be suprized if they required you to return their $5 molded cable prior to replacement. But you never know.

Anyway, I'll let everyone know how the 16 channel TRS snake pans out. Looks to be about the same quality as HOSA cables though with only a 1 year warranty. I was actually going to buy 10 cables for one kit and 5 for another so the snake won't actually facilitate that. But oh well.

[Gastric]

Update on the TRS snake from Siesmic Audio on eBay.

* It's essentially a bundle of individual TRS cables wrapped in a heavy duty casing. Exactly as I thought based on the pictures.
* Cables themselves are extremely similar, but not totally identical, to HOSA cables. Very thin cabling, molded ends (which I expect to be a benefit in the short term as I've had some metal screw-ends come loose and rattle during a mere 2 days of testing), and very cheap overall. Basically like a cheap HOSA...
* But with only a ONE YEAR warranty instead of a lifetime with HOSA. Certainly something to consider.
* The cable ends are color coordinated, though not all totally unique colors.
* Cables are individually numbered, but not on the ends where you'd think. Instead it's numbered on the itty bitty cable itself and it's somewhat hard to read them. You certainly can't find #6 in a 16 end snake easily when the text is 2pt in size and on a 2mm wide cable. But it's totally usable for a plug-and-forget setup like mine and the numbering was a HUGE time saver overall. Though you can obviously write on some tape and number your own cables easy enough.
* Casing can be split down the snake as far as you need. I made a very small split with wire cutters then manually pulled the casing apart so as not to cut any cables inside. Took about 15 minutes to pull the casing apart (it's very thick) by hand to the point where the individual cables would reach my full kit.
* There's an extra non-terminated cable in the snake for backup apparently.

My conclusion is it was perfect for what I needed. $50.99 shipped to my door for a 15 ft snake to run from my kit across the room to my rack.

I was originally looking for 10 cables for kit 1 and 5 for kit 2 (which I haven't converted) so overall I'm still left short 5 cables unless I totally split the snake to pull them all loose, which I don't plan to do. I do like the nice tidy snake.

For anyone interested Siesmic sells a variety of boxless snakes here: http://stores.ebay.com/Seismic-Audio...QfsubZ15220282


PICTURES ARE YOUR FRIEND

Snake to the bass drum, individual wires to the equipment.



Closeup of my first snake install. i just twist tied it to the bass for now until I decide how to more attractively run and hide the core of the snake. I'm only using 10 of the wires, so note the rolled bundle of the extra 7 wires (6 terminated, 1 unterminated).