AC/XLR Tripe

[jstroming]

Pro Co Sound EC10 Siamese Twin AC & Audio Combo EC10-100 B&H

Somebody help me out here. I was always told that there was no commercially available triped data/video/audio with AC power because it was either illegal to put it in the same jacket or stupid due to high chance of interference (can't remember which). Is this not so?

Then again LEX (and many others) sell FOH lighting snakes with AC in it so maybe I've heard wrong...

 

[Dionysus]

1) Looks like the audio and AC are separately insulated and then an additional coating to 'bundle' them. This is sort of a grey area to a degree, but really since they are individually jacketed inside the outer jacket this will be considered OK.

If they were not individually jacketed (there must be insulation between the insulated conductors of line voltage and low voltage) it would be no good.

2) Not a bad idea for powered speakers. Would not use for anything else. Neater than separate cables.

3) 100'! In my opinion too long to run AC parallel to an audio cable, even shielded/balanced. For a short run, it isn't going to cause you any grief.

Anyone else have a supporting or contrasting comment?

 

[museav]

For one thing, keep in mind that you are looking at portable/temporary cordage and not installed cable. Put that cable in a permanent install, and especially in conduit or a raceway, and different rules may apply.

Also, look at the ProCo cable or similar offerings like Meyer's VEAM cable and in addition to it being individual cables in an overall jacket you may also note two other details. One is that it is balanced audio on high quality, shielded, twisted pair cable. The other is that the power is also twisted pair (plus ground). All of these individual factors work together to minimize the EMI radiated from the power cable while maximizing the EMI and RFI rejection of the audio cables.

 

[TimmyP1955]

We (day job) have been using such hybrid cable to connect B-3s to Leslies. No problems with noise induced from the AC, even with a 100' run. (In the original cables, there were no separate jackets and no shields on the signal pairs, yet they usually worked with no troubles.)

 

[WooferHound]

I have seen a hundred shows come through our theater where the audio snake cable has the power cord taped to it for it's entire length and they aren't talking about any problems with it. As long as the AC cord has twisted conductors then it "shouldn't" be a problem.

 

[Dillon]

I use "Siamese" cables on a daily basis in both short and long runs. Never had a problem with hums, buzzes or other things that go bump in the night.