running AC cables alongside audio cables..

[djanogil]

..should it be avoided?
I heard that it could cause hums and buzz, what's the best way to organise your cabling behind the desk?

I'm just recabling my studio here after working on the acoustics.

Thanks

Jean

[Francis Vaughan]

The rules are easy.

Keep them apart as much as possible. When they need to cross, cross them at right angles. Never let signal and mains cables share the same bundle or cable tray. Be tidy.

[djanogil]

Originally Posted by Francis Vaughan

The rules are easy.

Keep them apart as much as possible. When they need to cross, cross them at right angles. Never let signal and mains cables share the same bundle or cable tray. Be tidy.

How's that possible?
I have two 6 units cabinets on my desk, at the back the ac cords are necessarily hanging straight, as do the audio cables.?

[Francis Vaughan]

Sadly manufactures of gear never got their act together and defined that the mains power should always enter on the same side. That would have made life soooo much better.

So you need to be as neat as you can. Just having the cables hang down is never great practice unless you need to be constantly re-patching stuff. But that is why patch bays were invented.

Use lots of cable ties, good for tying the AC cords to the rack. You can feed power down one side - cross directly across a unit to its power inlet if it is on the other side. Dress all the signal cables using rack mountable cable organiser trays, keep them away from the power runs. Dress the signal cables exiting the rack on the opposite side to the power. There will be places where the power and signal cables need to cross - dress these to be at right angles wherever possible.

There is only so much you can do - but it can help.

[djanogil]

Originally Posted by Francis Vaughan

Sadly manufactures of gear never got their act together and defined that the mains power should always enter on the same side. That would have made life soooo much better.

So you need to be as neat as you can. Just having the cables hang down is never great practice unless you need to be constantly re-patching stuff. But that is why patch bays were invented.

Use lots of cable ties, good for tying the AC cords to the rack. You can feed power down one side - cross directly across a unit to its power inlet if it is on the other side. Dress all the signal cables using rack mountable cable organiser trays, keep them away from the power runs. Dress the signal cables exiting the rack on the opposite side to the power. There will be places where the power and signal cables need to cross - dress these to be at right angles wherever possible.

There is only so much you can do - but it can help.

thumbsupThanks for your help, I'll look into this but I have no power conditioner, all my mains cables go straight to mutli plugs sockets..

[nosebleedaudio]

The studios I have wired I try to have all A.C. cables come down the left side of the rack for ex. and audio on the right. It also looks nice.
What's bad is when someone tyraps ALL cables together in a nice tight bundle, bad idea.
This is where having a very high CMRR in mic pres is very helpful, when you have alot going on in the studio it's hard to keep all AC cords away from mic lines, a high CMRR helps to keep that 60hz and its harmonics to a low level.
And the transformers themself produce the strongest magnetic fields.
And as far as the A.C. cords go, the higher the current going thru the wire is the stronger the magnetic field will be.
And one more thing, speaker cables having high current and most being unsheilded can also produce crosstalk, have seen this a few times...
Again a well thought out wiring install results in a clean and quiet system...