Can somebody please explain what the advantage is of using GAC-3 (which i believe has 3 conductors as well as a braided sheath) over GAC-2 (with two conductors and a braided sheath which one uses as the ground.)
Does using a dedicated conductor for the ground work better than a spiralled or braided sheath?
It's the first mic cable i've come across which has three conductors.

When using GAC 3, you tie the conductor for pin 1 and the shield to ground. This cable then has some of the best resistance to EMI and stray interference fields that there is. It's capacitance is much lower than
so-called Star Quad configurations and this is also of potential benefit.

There was an AES paper describing the design and use of GAC 3 and it was the conclusion of the paper that this cable was the most interference free available. We use this cable here with outstanding results.

Hey Plush, I've been looking into install wiring for single room home setup and based solely on good ol GS rhetoric and hearsay, I've narrowed it down to Gotham GAC-3 or Mogami 3080. Runs are just a few feet at most, and all the equipment is in close quarters obviously.

Are you still liking the GAC-3? Any favorites to recommend for TT's and guitar/effects/unbalanced in general (studio only)? For mics and monitors I'm thinking to go with the same as for the install, but if you have better ideas for those I'd be grateful.

Greetings ctw_hm,

I am still a huge fan of GAC3 and it is currently the best cable manufactured for rejecting EMI and RF interference. It is also low capacitance. It is a winner all around. In order to take advantage of it's world's best performance, one wires the third conductor and the shield twisted together to ground.

However, if making a build out today, especially if it is inside walls or conduit, I would choose Mogami digital cable variety. The Mogami 3080 is excellent.

Digital cable is useable as a universal very high quality mic cable and an AES cable.

Glad to see I was on the right track! Thanks.

The build would be essentially all inside a gator 12ux10u case, so all the equipment would be in close proximity to the wires. I've read mixed reports on whether this would make an impact on EMI interference. There is a 15A toroidal transformer power conditioner in the setup, so I'm not too worried about 60hz hum, but maybe there are other types of EMI interference that could be introduced by the patchbay cables being run in totality is such close proximity with preammps, eqs, converters, etc? It seems like the answer to this question would determine going the GAC-3 route or 3080.

You won't have a problem with either cable for that set up.

GAC-5 is good as well. The two extra conductors (3 versus 5) are used to make twisted pairs of the audio carrying wires, so like star quad, they also increase Common Mode Rejection, preventing more rf from getting in.

A little more fiddly to solder with, but more protection against the evil RF-laden outside world.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Hey
Gac-5, nowhere to be found sadly... Does it still exist ? Maybe under another name ? I'm interested if any infos come my way.
xxxx

Checking...

How about GAC-7?

https://microphone-parts.com/product...crophone-cable

Prolly not.

Using a twisted pair for audio conductors, in addition to the double Reussen layer shield on GAC3 and GAC7 is overkill and does not add to RF rejection.

For sourcing GAC 3/GAC7 in the U.S. contact Lew Frisch of Gotham Audio Sales:
[email protected]

I called him several hours ago and left a message.

He is out of business and has been cut off by GOTHAM AG, Switzerland.

This told to me by the head monster at Gotham CH
http://www.gothamaudiousa.com

He now sells at:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/lews_electronicsandmore/

Prolly, but His outgoing message saying he's still at it.

I liked the idea of a GAC-5. And Yes GAC-7 seem to overdo it (for balanced stereo signals that is). Too bad !
GAC-3 are still good, or Sommer SC-Galileo 238 Plus, maybe... I'm about to buy 500meters of cable. I better pick the right one.

Just got off the phone with Lewis. Yes, ties with Gotham abroad have been cut, but he could probably help you with GAC-4 (my error, there was no GAC-5). So double Reusen shield and 4 conductors, so you can do a pair for hot and a pair for cold.
Gothamaudiosalesco.com

From their page, "GAC-4/1 Quad cable is still available. We have limited supply of GAC #10901 NOS Mini-Quad and several rolls of #10921 which is Mini-Quad with the stiffer FRNC jacket."

Happy Trails!

Gotham is the grand daddy... i think the beatles used it....

Believe it or not, I remember having Behringer Truths 8" monitors back in the day. I initially had cheap Hosa TRS cables running from my Roland Fantom to the monitors. I ordered Gotham GAC 3 TRS cables from Redco and it was a revelation. The Behringers suddenly had this extended high end and silence that was quite shocking to say the least. I recently talked with the guy Lewis who was heavily involved with Gotham before the sale and he stated that GAC 3 wasn't made for TRS connections as it was not designed for line level but I beg to differ.

To try to help you, please know that GAC-7 is a tube mic cable with 7 conductors. Some of those carry power for the tubes--so not a traditional mic cable.

The beauty part about GAC-3 is it's supreme resistance to RF and outside interference. Indeed, in this regard, a good bit superior to quad cables like GAC-4 when the 3rd conductor ground and the shield are twisted together and soldered to pin 1.

Sommer cable Galileo also excellent.
Franz Amman told me not to pronounce GAC as "gack."
He suggests saying, "G-a-c," GAC means shid in German.

The idea for GAC-4 was that you double up 1+2 for hot and 3+4 for cold. Because they are twisted beneath the jacket, that twisting increases CMR (Common Mode Rejection) and nulls exterior interference.

Thank you, Ty, for your good posts throughout GS.

Yes, so-called QuadStar cabling is good.

However, the capacitance of Quad is higher than GAC-3. GAC-3 also measurably better at rejecting RFI and lighting fixture noise.

Some Quad cables sound brighter than 2 conductor, notably Canare Quad cable.

Thanks, Plush,

And...... so many more smart phones in the studio these days!! Depending on your rig and the specs on your smart phone, you may or may not hear the phone trying to communicate with its "mother ship." The phone sends RF bursts that are not audible in air, but are received by your mic or the less shielded XLR connector.

YMMV, but we found we didn't need to put Neutrik RF blocking XLR connectors on both ends of a cable. Just on the female end did the trick for cell phones near the mics. The early XLR models were finnicky to wire up. Not sure if they are any better, but they do block RF.

I don't know if Sescom has changed their designs, but they were not so good back in 2013. See below.-----------------------------------------

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013
Sescom Adapters Keep RF Out Of Audio - OR NOT!

Nothing hurts your location audio day more than cell phone warbles. You can tell clients and crew to turn them off, but more often than not, they don't until you hear THAT SOUND and have to tell the producer you can't use that take because someone's cell phone got polled from the mothership.

I have a client with an iPhone that used to cause interference. I wired a Neutrik EMC XLR on a cable and "Poof" RF-BE-Gone!

[Update: 8/31/2013 The RF was blocked going into a Millennia Media STT-1 and Greg Hanks BA-660. It was not blocked when going into my GML preamp. So soldered on EMC connectors help prevent RF from getting into your audio, but the front end of the preamp also needs to be designed to block RF.

Now Sescom has them as inline adapters; one with the filter on the male side, the SES-INLINE-EMCM, shown directly below. Before you buy, read on!

Two days after I got these my client came in and we tested them under the same conditions in which the XLR connectors were working. The Adapters were NOT able to block his cell phone's interference. I"m breaking away from our session right now to report this. It may be because the the shields are lifted on the adapters. I have contacted Sescom to see if they can find a solution. [Update: They seemed disinclined to take any action.]

So, RF blocking is apparently the result of soldered on EMC connectors and the design of the preamp they are plugged into.

Technique, Inc. © Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved.

https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/nc3fxcc

Late to the party but may be som help for further cable searchers as IMO this is crucial moment wire up whole studio.


I have done my "cable journey" many years ago and any Gotham cable is superior to both Sommer Galileo (Muddy), Canare (Bright), Monster and Belden (Nasty), Mogami (sterile) or Van Den Hul - Hybrid (very Middy) and many more brands i don't remember names on.


The results my differ depend on what ADDA converters do you use testing these.


After spedning lots of money testing even more expenssive cables such Van den hul - Gold (24k ) Silver and Second models on (Prism ADDA) i came to an conclution: Solid Cables.


I decieded go with Gotham as signal quality to price ratio especially for long distance mic cables that are over the mysterious 6,5 meters range. One word: Clarity.


These sounds never muddy, defined bass, clear highs without being harsh and balanced mids without jumping on you.


If money would be no issue then Evidence Audio - Lyric (David Guilmour Favo) is the one. Why?
Solid cables is tha thing IMO.


Luckily i got hands on few hundred meters of vintage solid cables from Telefunken / Klangfilm that originally came from an vintage mixer.


Wonder what did they knew back in the 50's about solid cables.


Good luck without burning to much £$€ on cables.

Our entire studio mic cable inventory is GAC 3 in vintage brown with the Neumann grounding spec as discussed here but both Klaus and Hudson. We got the stock from Lew at Gotham USA (from a recommendation originally by Klaus) and they’re the best mic cables ever. Great EMI rejection and the feel of the cables makes them lay and coil very elegantly. It’s the only mic cable we use!

Does the old Gac-3 cable sounds better than the currently sold swiss Gac-3 cable ? I'm cabling all my studio with modern GAC-3 right now. I won't change course now, but just curious if and why that might be.

I bought NOS Austrian made GAC-3 from Lewis Frisch. I believe it does sound better than modern Turkish made GAC-3 I purchased from Pro Audio LA

That being said, the Evidence Audio Forte sounded better than the Gotham cable and my special order Cardas cable sounds best of all.

Recommend termination with Neutrik NC3MXX-EMC XLR to completely eliminate RFI worries.

Evidence and Cardas cable, Neutrik termination purchased from Kevin Geist.

geistnote.com

Thanks . I've had to remake hundreds of cables, I couldn't justify the Neutrik price and went for a cheaper brand, Seetronic. 4 times cheaper, what can I say...
I almost got some vintage GAC-3 off of Reverb, but someone bought it before me. Ultimately I don't want to question myself too much on cables. "Great" is good enough for me, I do think the current GAC-3 fits the "great" category. They do the job just fine, it seems.
Thanks Trappist, see you around on the other blue website .

Contact Lew Frisch ([email protected]). He found some of the original Dörfler-made Austrian GAC3 and I tested samples. Some of it sounds phenomenal, but not all of it. Lew can identify and steer you to the good stuff.
(No benefits derived from this endorsement).

Sir, please explain the “KH Grounding Option” that is labeled on some GAC3 and the difference between the Austrian made GAC3 that is not labeled KH.

I have some of the Austrian cable not labeled KH Grounding.

Hoping for your reply posting this information.

Thank you.

“KH Grounding Option” refers to a grounding scheme whereby ground wire and shield are terminated together at pins #1 and the ground lug on BOTH XLR ends.

That scheme is identical to what the German broadcast institute has been using on all Neumann mics since the 1960s and guarantees the best RF rejection when applied to microphone connections.

GAC3 cables whose packaging does not mention "KH" should be examined for the above scheme, to make sure the connectors are terminated correctly.

Wiring explained at the bottom of the Gotham page :

https://www.gothamcable.com/en/gotha...hone/10701gac3

xxxxx