Topic: How far can you run a 9 volt extension for CA-14 omni?

[Cobiwan]

If you are running CA-14 omnis and have that going into a CA UBB, how far of an extension cord can you use to keep the voltage properly sent from the UBB? Mics to 1/8' mini is 5 feet. I run a 12' extension mini cable from mics 1/8" to the UBB, which goes into the recorder via 1/8" mini to split XLR male-no problem. I guess my question is, how long can you extend from the CA-14 omnis to the UBB/recorder? Is there a length where you should say 'that's too far to pass the 9v?' This may be more of a question of how far can 9v pass to properly power mics versus just a CA-14 omni question.
Thanks for any insight.

[bryonsos]

According to the interwebs, you should be OK if you keep it under a kilometer.

[Cobiwan]

That seems like a very small length.   
(Insert lack of metric conversion ability jokes here...)

[hi and lo]

You should keep the cable length in your setup as short as necessary to avoid picking up interference, but you don't have to worry about voltage drop as you've described. Practically speaking, it wouldn't matter if your cable was ten feet or a thousand feet.

[Cobiwan]

I have a snake run along a rafter that goes from on stage that goes back to the board about 100' long. I just wanted to make sure that going over "x" amount of feet wouldn't matter. I appreciate your you responses.

[hi and lo]

Running an unbalanced signal through 100' of cable across a venue is very risky. I would expect interference issues.

You really need to be running a balanced setup for that length. One option would be to immediately terminate the CA omnis to a PFA and run standard XLRs into phantom pre for the 100'.

[Cobiwan]

that's what I was looking for in the input, thank you.

[2manyrocks]

well..back to the original question--roughly speaking, about how far can you go with an unbalanced cable without interference issues?

I wanted to try 40'. Yes?  No?

[Walstib62]

No. Unbalanced mic signal 15 ft. Ish. Unbalanced line out maybe more but can be prone to noise

[2manyrocks]

thanks. That tells me I will have to change my plans. 

[Walstib62]

I think he just wanted a simple answer in terms of what he could reliably do without getting into too much detail. I once sent an unbalanced signal 150 feet but I wouldn't tell anyone they could reasonably expect to do the same.

[2manyrocks]

Since I already have the 40 foot cable, I can try it and see what actually happens. 

[Walstib62]

Very informative