Junction box thoughts?

[Lee]

If you were building a new studio what would your ultimate junction box have on it between the live room /control room. I had a thought why not use 4 db25 connectors instead of soldering heaps of xlr's. It seems too easy is there a reason why that's not so common? It would mean a smaller foot print on the wall. Is it easier to maintain individual cables possibly? What are your thoughts on this? thanks guys.

[gigpiglet]

thats how we do it live.
24ch (or 8 or 16) multipins.
on everything if its a proper setup.

but in the studio things seem to be either set (soldered) or totally flexible (XLR or patchbay)

if you imagine that you will be regularly changing a standard set up (one room patched to another) then a multipin connector is the perfect solution.
HOWEVER for something that is even semi regularly dis/ re-connected - i would not recommend a DSUB.
its a terrible/ soft/ easily damaged/ difficult to fix/ not certain connection.

if your situation justifies a multipin, then great, it will make life easy, but use a proper multipin and not a DSUB.

[Lee]

Ok Gareth thanks for your advise. What's the difference between a good multipoint and dsub? I was thinking Mogami.

[Sammas]

I would have thought that every studio with a large format console that incorporated the patchbays would have done just that. Lines from the live room straight to the back of the desk via multipin connectors.

Heavier duty multipin connectors will last a lot longer. Like ELCOs http://www.redco.com/EDAC-ELCO-Connectors/
You can remove/add pins to them and they have replaceable parts. DB25's aren't anywhere near as sturdy.

[gigpiglet]

its just the connect and reconnect thing..
"good" ones are designed to be used over and over again
DSUBs seem to be designed to use a couple of times, be plugged in very very straight, sit in a particular way, preferably be zip tied in, have no weight or pressure on them etc etc.

im sure rob could suggest an appropriate connector?

i remember at milkbar there where big 24ch looms that changed the live room inputs over from one control room to the other.. that was cool. rick - do you remember what they where?

in my experience with live recording (more strenuous than the studio) nearly every cable failure has been at a DSUB. either the cable end, or the female on a piece of gear (i have two midas pre amps with faulty DSUB inputs from the laneway recording on the weekend for example)