|
Wired for Sound: Steve Lampen
|
What's more important -- and overlooked -- than the wire and cable that provides the infrastructure of our broadcast facilities? Steve Lampen is Multimedia Technology Manager at Belden.
Until our new data system is fully integrated, please
click here
for articles prior to September 1, 2006.
|
| |
On the Street Where You Live
|
|
A Proposal for a Better Way to Navigate the Show Floor — and Salute Inventors Too
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 3.26.2008
|
I have a great idea. And this idea, as most great ideas, comes from frustration.
more
|
I’m the Man Who Found the Lost Cord
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 9.26.2007
|
|
Of course, it should be the lost “chord” but I wrote the lost “cord,” as we’ve been talking about power cords. We’ve talked about gage size, current draw, even the melting temperature of the jacket.
more
|
Power Cords ... With a Guitar
|
|
Let’s Talk About What You Can Do With Them
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 8.15.2007
|
|
Power cords are ubiquitous, so even if a guitar doesn’t don’t have one, a guitar amp certainly does.
more
|
Heyyyy, More Power to Ya!
|
|
Let’s Talk About Power Cords
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 7.18.2007
|
|
Of course, I won’t mention that 99.99 percent of the cable before that power cord, the stuff between your wall and the power plant, is simple solid copper wire. No, no, that last three feet makes such a difference!
more
|
Get to Know Coax Snake Cable
|
|
What? Never Heard of Coax Snake? Sure You Have!
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 3.01.2007
|
|
You say you never heard of coax snake? Yes you have. You might even be using some on a fancy computer monitor.
more
|
How to Gauge a Snake
|
|
And Other Stories From the Wire and Cable Jungle
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 2.14.2007
|
|
When selecting analog snake cable, you usually have three gauge sizes from which to choose.
more
|
Spills and Chills, On the Air
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 9.13.2006
|
|
In an earlier column on the history of wire, I mentioned ancient batteries that used the first wire to conduct electricity. Inside these batteries, the liquid that made them run probably was grape juice.
more
|
Get Wise to the Ways of Plenum
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 9.01.2006
|
|
You know about plenum cables; in many installs, they are now required. But do you know what "plenum" means? Do you know what is done to a cable design, and in cable testing, to get there? Probably not, and I don't blame you. The architect, fire marshal or director of engineering told you to use plenum cables, so you use plenum cables.
more
|
A Vacuum-Filled Brain
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 5.24.2006
|
|
In the March 29 issue we talked a bit about those high-end "home theater" stores, with their speaker cables that are $10 per foot.
more
|
Do You Need Bigger Conductors?
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 3.29.2006
|
|
Oh, I'm sorry, they're not hi-fi stores anymore. They're "Home Theater Specialists" or "Entertainment Centers." Anyway, if you've spent more than five minutes in one, you probably had an argument about speaker cable.
more
|
About Those 'Other' Cables
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 1.04.2006
|
|
Remember the old days? When you hooked up your audio with a shielded twisted pair? Some veterans will remember when it was all braid shield, and big bulky cable, before there was even foil shielded cable.
more
|
A Tribute to Norm Abrahamson
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 12.07.2005
|
|
Norman Abrahamson changed your world, or soon will.
more
|
A Star Glimmers in the Night
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 5.25.2005
|
|
We've talked about how balanced lines reject noise because the two wires are as close together as possible.
more
|
Balancing Act
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 3.16.2005
|
|
Balanced circuits require that the two wires must be the same length, the same size and as close to the same place as possible. You can see why we twist wires together: to keep them close.
more
|
A Perfect Balanced Line
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 2.02.2005
|
|
Here starts my 60th column for Radio World. I have been writing about wire and cable on and off for eight years now.
more
|
I'll Take Differential for $5, Alex
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 12.01.2004
|
|
I always like $5 terms. You can use these terms to browbeat unruly customers (or general managers) . Just use a few of them and they're sure to leave you alone and realize that you know your job!
more
|
Some Basic Wire & Cable Terminology
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 10.06.2004
|
|
In reviewing my collection of Radio World columns, it occurs to me that although I've written about a thousand things, I've not written a column of basics.
more
|
Is There an Ideal Impedance?
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 11.05.2003
|
|
We left our story about the history of wire and cable (RW, Sept. 1) with Bell Labs testing thousands of cables of different impedances.
more
|
Bell Labs and Coaxial Cable
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 9.01.2003
|
|
Gather 'round, children. I know it's way past your bedtime, but Grandpa Steve is not yet finished talking about the history of wire and cable. But count your blessings. At least we're into the 20th century.
more
|
Radio Pioneers Enter Story of Wire
|
|
|
|
by Steve Lampen, 7.02.2003
|
|
Let us continue our story of the history of wire, which we began in September and discussed recently in the May 7 issue.
more
|
