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08-09-2019, 01:28 PM
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#1
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 421
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Recommendation - custom audio snake for new build
Hello all! Finally have the opportunity to expand my studio with another room. I've been searching this one for a while with no good leads so far. In order to only run a single cable run, I'm looking to install a 50' 16x4 audio snake that could also have both coax and ethernet connections built in on either end.
I've looked at most of the basic manufacturers of audio snakes with no luck. Would anyone have any suggestions about whether 1) if such a thing already exists in the marketplace or 2) if you've had a good experience with a custom cable/snake builder who could build one for me. I'd certainly appreciate any suggestions you might offer.
BTW, already tried the obvious audio folks at Sweetwater, MF, Full Compass, BH, etc.
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08-10-2019, 11:08 AM
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#2
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 3,204
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Just do a search on 'custom cable builders'.
But be forewarned, a snake is a fairly big job; it won't be nearly as cheap as a mass produced snake.
Most of these places will require detailed engineering drawings specifying exactly what you want, including cable specs and all connector part number and sources, enclosure mechanical drawings and dimensions. If you aren't able to provide it, expect addional costs and delays for their engineering efforts.
The engineering cost on a one-time custom build will likely leave you a price tag of roughly $2000-3000 (assuming competent engineers on their end), not including cost of parts, assembly and shipping the snake itself.
If it was me, I'd go with bundling an off-the-shelf snake with a couple CAT6 ethernet cables and whatever coaxes you want, and simply get 50' of woven nylon sleeving to shove the cable bundle through. It'd be far cheaper and faster. It would also be possible to add additional cables in the future.
Last edited by Philbo King; 08-10-2019 at 11:21 AM.
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08-10-2019, 09:24 PM
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#3
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,019
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If it's really important to have them all in one assembly then you are probably going to pay a fortune for a custom snake (or build it yourself).
Coax and ethernet are completely different cable/conductor types than audio. Prefab snakes are typically built around a multi-conductor cable of a certain type and quality. For example, a 24x8 trs snake with 24 sends and 8 returns will typically be built using off-the-shelf 32-channel cable from Belden, Mogami, or whatever, and the junction boxes or connectors at either end will be customized to or order or just built in standard configurations.
But if you want a snake that has 32 channels of 3-conductor twisted-pair audio, PLUS exactly one channel of coax, PLUS an isolated/shielded data cable with 8 conductors of twisted-pair ethernet, then you're typically going to be paying someone to assemble all those and shrink-wrap them or something, because nobody makes that as a standard cable type. Because sane people just run 32-channel audio, plus a coax cable, plus an ethernet cable.
But if you have enough money, you can find someone to put all of those into a single jacket, if it's important enough to you.
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08-11-2019, 07:20 PM
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#4
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 421
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yep
If it's really important to have them all in one assembly then you are probably going to pay a fortune for a custom snake (or build it yourself).
Coax and ethernet are completely different cable/conductor types than audio. Prefab snakes are typically built around a multi-conductor cable of a certain type and quality. For example, a 24x8 trs snake with 24 sends and 8 returns will typically be built using off-the-shelf 32-channel cable from Belden, Mogami, or whatever, and the junction boxes or connectors at either end will be customized to or order or just built in standard configurations.
But if you want a snake that has 32 channels of 3-conductor twisted-pair audio, PLUS exactly one channel of coax, PLUS an isolated/shielded data cable with 8 conductors of twisted-pair ethernet, then you're typically going to be paying someone to assemble all those and shrink-wrap them or something, because nobody makes that as a standard cable type. Because sane people just run 32-channel audio, plus a coax cable, plus an ethernet cable.
But if you have enough money, you can find someone to put all of those into a single jacket, if it's important enough to you.
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I figured this would be the case, but before I looked for a different approach, I figured I'd just make sure I wasn't missing anything. Thanks for your detail - I appreciate it.
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