cable for headphones

[Manning]

OK, I can't believe I couldn't find an answer to this on the web.

I'm wiring my iso booth to my control room and I have a 100m roll of Canare L-2T2S.

I need 8 metres per mic (four mics). I also want 2 headphone jacks in the booth.

Can I use the XLR cable for the headphones or do I need something different?

[Wiz]

I just use that kind of cable.

I run mine back up a multicore out via mic leads into XLR to TRS adapters. Works fine and dandy.

Its just 2 core and shield Cable.

So instead of being pin 2 hot (positive) pin 3 cold (negative) and Pin 1 earth (ground)

its pins 2 and 3 function as left and right, and pin 1 is earth.


cheers

Wiz

[Manning]

Thanks Peter - that's what I thought but I've long since learnt to acknowledge the wealth of my ignorance.

[Damien]

do you use poweramps and splitter boxes for your headphones? not little headphone amp units with line ins.

we do so i ran 240v power cable for the cans..

[Manning]

Nah, this is just for my iso booth at home.

We hired people who actually knew what they were doing for the commercial studio.

[Hookemeister]

we do so i ran 240v power cable for the cans..

I love it.

Now let's see, we need about 500mW or 1/2 a watt of power to get the most headphones cranking, so lets do the math...

240v power cable is usually rated at 10 amps... Power = Volts x Amps so.... 240V x 10A = 2400 Watts!

Most headphones are rated at around 90dbSPL at 1mw.....

The cabling for the cans in your studio has probably got more headroom then all the other gear put together.

Just be careful if an electrician ever comes to do some maintenance that he doesn't mistake the headphone cabling for a power circuit!

[Damien]

we also run speaker and fold back wedges off the same " headphone" system.