#97 - How To: XLR Soldering & Audio Cable Repair

[@robertscott4631]

Open a fresh beer. Some old guy wants to tell stories again... I highly recommend that anyone who wants to take their soldering skills to a higher level take the time to watch a series of training videos from Pace, a manufacturer of the highest quality of soldering tools. The series begins here: kzbin.info/aero/PL926EC0F1F93C1837. They used to charge a lot of money to take the course that went along with the videos. The most important consideration for soldering XLR connectors is to avoid filling the contact “cup.” Large blobs of solder can hide cold joints while appearing normal on the exterior. The Pace method, which we were told was the Mil-Spec standard, is to a) tin the wire, b) tin the cup with a small amount of solder remaining, and c) solder the joint so that the outline of the wire is still visible after it cools down. When looking into the cup from the end, there should be a visible meniscus. Strength of the joint is not impaired by using less solder. The story told at Pace “school” in the old days is that by using this method for all cup-type connectors, NASA was able to save one ton of payload on the space shuttle vehicles. I can't vouch for the truth of this tale, but it is a great way to stress the importance of doing the job as well as possible. Just as a note, only the Mogami cable shown looked as if it had been done to this standard. To complete this uninvited lecture, I’ll mention the other requirements of the over-the-hill techie standard. When stripping the outer jacket from the cable, clipping even a single strand of the shield was unacceptable. This was a difficult task, especially when using cable with a braided shield. As well, after tinning the prepared shield wires, they were covered with a short length of Teflon tubing, exposing only the cup depth of length of the conductor. Then, with all three conductors dressed and tinned, leads were secured to the cable outer jacket with a Hellerman sleeve, a short, rubber-like tube. The sleeve remains flexible forever, unlike heat-shrink, which can actually damage the insulation of the + and - leads. Installation of the Hellerman sleeve required the use of Hellerine lubricant and a very long-nosed pair of pliers or a specialized Hellerman tool (which looks eerily similar to a device used by your friendly neighborhood proctologist.) Although this seems like a lot of work to build a mic cable, I believe it's worth it. Some of my cables are almost 35 years old, and work just as well as the day they were made. Sorry for being the boring old guy. Build your cables as you please and I’ll just trundle back into the old folks’ home and ship up again. Cheers!

[@DcSoundOp]

Robert Scott Robert, thanks so much for sharing... this is exactly why I make these videos, I appreciate getting to learn from your experience. I’ll add that video series to the website resources so others can find it... I’ve seen parts of it in the past, but am adding it to my rewatch list too. Stay in touch... I’m off to research Hellerman sleeves!

[@robertscott4631]

Wow. You're interested in HellermannTyton sleeves. You are obviously a gentleman and a scholar! HellermannTyton manufactures a lot of weird and wonderful products, and it's sometimes hard to find exactly what you're after. Here is a link to the type we used to use for audio cables: www.hellermanntyton.com/products/non-shrinkable-tubing/th100x100bk/600-02494. We generally used the 1” length. In Canada I’ve never been able to find a source for these. Thank goodness they're often available on eBay. www.ebay.ca/itm/100-PK-H15-Black-Hellerman-Sleeves-Wireless-microphone-lavalier-Sennheiser-Shure/370583914069?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40973%26meid%3Dd17bd44a8d824484a10dc77b36158735%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D172960991317%26itm%3D370583914069&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 If you send me an email message I can try to send you a little bit of the uber-expensive and seemingly unattainable lubricant. www.hellermanntyton.com/products/non-shrinkable-tubing/hellerine-m-284-ml/625-00001. It makes installation of the sleeves MUCH simpler. A little bit goes a very long way. My 250 ml bottle is still half full after 25 years. The ad how method is to put a ball of cotton batten in a small bottle (35mm film containers work well) and just dip the plier jaws or Hellerman tool into it it. Initially, the fluid lubricates the surface you're installing the sleeve onto, then turns into a non-permanent adhesive to keep things in place. I'm not sure if the US Customs folks will allow an unmarked fluid to pass through their system, but I suppose we can try. The military specification is theirs, after all. My bottle even has a NATO number.

[@lokinya]

Nice find! I just skipped through it and looks interesting. I'll be sure to watch it all later to brush up on my rusty soldering skills.

[@Endmass]

Great info here, almost exactly how I do it (sans the sleeve - will look into) I do like adhesive-lined heatshrink, and do all of the stripping with a coax stripper for the outer, patco heat stripper for the conductors. No nick'd copper this way. Thanks for sharing!

[@mikezaring1365]

Awesome stuff man. About to do an install at a church and you were the first channel I knew to search for an XLR video.

[@DcSoundOp]

Thanks Mike! Hope your install went great! Would love to hear about it. Happy new year.

[@roll9898]

I used your code for iron in your previous video and I have to say that iron was a game changer.

[@DcSoundOp]

roll9898 That’s awesome, glad to hear you’re enjoying it!

[@redvivid]

Thank you for this! I appreciate all of your videos. You're so helpful!

[@DcSoundOp]

Thanks for the message, it's great to hear from you!

[@beatsbyandrew]

Awesome I've been curious about how cables compare and your breakdown was quick yet thorough!

[@DcSoundOp]

Andrew Logan Thanks Andrew 👊🏼

[@emmanueldominguez2403]

Great video, I have two questions. I have a xlr cable that is soldered similar to the blue xlr cable, I want to resolder it like the mogami's method, is there any disadvantages in quality in the blue's xlr method? and which soldering wire is best for audio.. 60/40 or a silver based one, which one do you use?

[@timteoprod]

For me personally, I solder all my church cables. Since it takes so much time, I choose to use quality Materials to not worry on reliability. I use Neutrik NCMXX-BAG and NCFXX-BAG with Canare L-46ES For Instrument line cables I personally like the Neutrik NP2X-BAG and Canare GS-6. Also clear heat shrink to wrap my labels around the cable. Because my country used the metric system, I always do my cables in 1,2,3,5,10,15,20metres I like Canare because the Jacket of the cables seems easy to clean and the flex of the cable makes it great to coil.

[@lokinya]

If you solder a lot of these audio connectors, why not mount some neutrik chassis connectors on a block of wood or whatever for holding the plugs in place?

[@DcSoundOp]

I've absolutely used a block of wood before in bigger projects, you can make up a quick jig to slot the connectors into. The issue you'll face using chassis connectors though is they act as a really good heat-sink, making it far more difficult to solder.

[@dfncinc]

Nice review!

[@Motorman2112]

Some of those shield conductors are tinned all the way back, this can allow it to melt through the insulation of the other conductors causing shorts that are basically invisible. I prefer to tin it only about half way, but heatshrink over it to prevent any stray wires.

[@manuelbaez8636]

Great video

[@DcSoundOp]

Thanks Manuel!

[@tnikiforov]

Check the Cordial cables out, you see them everywhere on this side of the pond, i think they started selling them in the US a few months ago

[@DcSoundOp]

Will do... I've never heard of them before.

[@tnikiforov]

the news were from june the 14th , apparently MV Pro Audio out of CA are bringing them in. :)

[@tnikiforov]

www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/cordial-cables-hits-u-s-shores heres a link to the article

[@Motorman2112]

It's worth noting that starquad cable will have double the capacitance of normal cable. With low output impedance sources and sensible length runs it won't matter, but it's worth knowing about. You're less likely to get away with using it for a DMX run, for example.

[@Endmass]

I'd pay double for my Hakko iron - it's THAT good.