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XLR cable signal ground wire question

Hi,
    I have  a question regarding balanced (XLR) interconnect cable design.
   There are 3 wires - positive, negative, and ground.
   Usually in the description of the cables, there are informations about hot and return wire (positive and negative).
   The constructors of the cables usually say that these 2 wires are copper, silver, gold etc.
   But no-one ever mentions ground wire.
   Does that mean that ground wire (as long as it is made from decent material) does not affect the sound at all?
   Should the cable sound the same if the ground wire is made from gold or silver?

   Also - does ANYONE know where to order silver-plated copper braid (for shielding)?
   I could not find any on Ebay or anywhere else.
   Thank you in advance

 
audiobb
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Blue Jeans Cables could take care of all your cabling requirements.

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
In many and I believe the majority of XLR cables the "ground wire" is the shield. But regardless of whether or not that is the case in a particular cable I would expect that any sonic effects the characteristics of the ground conductor may result in will depend on the internal grounding configuration and other aspects of the designs of the components that are being connected. Best design practices will result in no signal current flowing through the shield or other ground conductor, but my understanding is that is not the case with many designs.

For that and other reasons I would not expect the sonic effects, if any, of the shield or other ground conductor to have a great deal of predictability, or consistency from system to system. And I'm not sure that keeping its metallic composition the same as the composition of the two signal wires is likely to provide any particular advantage.

Regards,
-- Al
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