CAROL cable

[Not Serial]

i recieved 250' of 14/3 CAROL SJOW and a slew of ends last week. i havent sat down to make the cables i need yet, its in a pile.

 

(i didnt pay for it, its mine to make and use but i dont own it)

 

i couldnt talk them into SOW or SOOW (for $$$ reasons), but i managed to get 14/3 instead of 16/3. should be hefty enough gauge for what i need.

 

(these are for electrical cords, not speaker)

 

the black jacket feels very robust and lays flat easily. the internal wires are very flexible and contain a whole lot of strands.

 

does CAROL make crap or quality? from my experience with this spool so far it seems like good stuff.

 

i am making (3) 50' and (4) 25' extension cords, 3 are normal and 4 are quads. total parts cost - $215

 

these cables will replace the 16/3 "orange lawn cables" i have been supplied with at one location. i finally threw a big enough fit to get someone to listen. i absolutely HATE orange lawn cables.

[milesdf]

i use 12/3 sj for all of my power. it works fine, never any issues and is way easier to store and coil than SO. also alot easier to build cables out of becuase it will fit through places where SO will just not fit. I believe most (if not all) of our stock is carol brand.

 

i also recomend buying plastic cord glands from allied electronics for your quad boxes. they have 1/2" npt ones in black that use the standard retaining nut and have a rubber insert to grip the cable for less than a dollar a piece. they seem pretty meaty, a way better alternative to the open frame cable clamp.

[agedhorse]

Carol is excellent.

[Not Serial]

thats good to know. i will probably buy more carol cable then. it sure feels nice, looks good and lays down great - three things that orange lawn cable will never do.

 

sad thing is 250' is nowhere near what i need, so i will still have some circus colors running on stage.

 

did i mention i hate running power cables for powered speakers? gimme some amp racks instead.

[timmcallister]

 

did i mention i hate running power cables for powered speakers? gimme some amp racks instead.

 

 

+1 !!!!!!

[TimmyP]

Carol is fine, as is coleman. Although if it's for other than backline, I'd want at least 12 gauge.

 

http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/ACcables/ACcables.htm

[B. Adams]

As was said before, Carol is one of the good companies.

 

We have a bunch of quads that are made with 14/3 SJ, and they hold up fairly well. They look a little rough after abuse, but not anywhere close to as bad as one of those orange extension cords would look. It's also a lot smaller than SO, and a little lighter, which is nice for packing in a trunk.

 

I have 500' of 12/3 SO for all my stage stuff, and 14/3 SO for my FOH run for my little club rig. My cable holds up better than the SJ we have at work, but it's bigger and heavier, so it's definitely a trade off. It's more durable, but SJ would have been fine for what I'm doing.

 

I agree about running power to speakers. It's a freakin' pain. It's not so bad for stacks, since you can just run a quad over to the stack, but I absolutely hate powered monitors. I would much rather have a rack.

 

FWIW, I have the following 12/3 SO cables:

2 25' quads

2 50' quads

1 75' quad

1 25' duplex

1 50' duplex

5 10' cords

2 25' cords

2 50' cords

 

And the following 14/3 SO cords:

1 50'

1 100'

1 150'

1 200'

 

That's a total of 500' of 12/3 SO and 500' of 14/3 SO, which is plently for everything. Actually, I have the 150' piece of 14/3 attached to my snake, and I don't even bring the other ones. The 500' of 12/3 is enough stage power for any show I do. I run the duplex cords to my powered stacks so that nobody else can plug anything into them, which is the only reason they're not quads. I'll be taking 2 of the 10' cords and turning them into quads as soon as I get around to it, since I can use shorties quite a bit.

 

I also have about 200' for 6/4 SO for my distro, so if I'm at a place that I can actually tie in I use a lot less smaller cable. But all told, it's a lot of weight, probably 400# of cable, although I probably only have 250# of it in my trailer right now. I leave the 100' piece of 6/4 at home unless I need it.

 

In any case, 250' obviously isn't enough, as you said, but 500' probably is, especially if you have a dedicated FOH cable that you don't include in that number.

 

By the way, here's a pic of one of my quads from a couple years ago, just so you know what they should really look like. BTW, our quads at work look nothing like this.