Canare L-4CFB Precision "Spec Your Own" Cable

Canare L-4CFB Precision "Spec Your Own" Cable - Custom cable in your choice of ten different cable colors, twelve different strain relief options, and six different connector types!

This Canare L-4CFB Precision "Spec Your Own" Cable offers a custom-configured, Canare precision cable, with your choice of two different cable colors 11 different strain-relief options, and three different connector options -- BNC, RCA, and "F".  With frequency response into the gigahertz, they are great for all kinds of high-bandwidth applications like RF, digital audio and video.

For example, use a single cable for SPDIF Digital audio applications, such as Dolby Digital or DTS.  Alternately, a single cable with "F" connectors makes an ideal patch cable for TV and satellite hook-ups.  Terminated with BNC connectors, they are ideal for digital video.  Use three for component video, five for RGBHV video...there are many possibilities!

You may specify your choice of flexible silicone boots, which enhance the appearance of the cable, while avoiding sharp bends at the connectors, and providing visual identification of the channels.  The cable can also be made with no boots - required for lengths less than 0.5 meter, and some customers prefer the streamlined appearance, and shorter profile.

The Cable

L-4CFB has massive high-frequency bandwidth and double shielding, resulting in extremely loss loss and high performance.  he cable is 100% sweep-tested to insure maximum performance at all frequencies. This cable is ideal for applications like long, high-bandwidth RF runs, such as satellite down-leads, where the unique connector implementation means that it often outperforms cables with better specs (on paper).

A Short Story
A while back, we were challenged to improve the performance of a DBS satellite system.  It's worked fine most of the time, but heavy rain would cause signal loss.  This is not uncommon with such systems, but it certainly is annoying.  The system was fed by RG-6 sized quad-shield coaxial cable, which is pretty much the standard of the industry. We replaced that cable with Canare L-4CFB, which is a physically smaller cable.  We recorded the signal strength shown by the receiver both before and after.  Very interestingly, L-4CFB out-performed the larger cable by five indicated units of signal strength!  It was one of the most impressive demonstrations of cable superiority that I have ever witnessed.  Granted that Canare doesn't market these cables and connectors for outdoor use, but we protected the connections with silicone grease and heat-shrink tubing, and 10-years later, at the time of this writing, the system was still working great.  And rain fade was essentially eliminated.

Canare's CFB-Series cables were designed for digital video, but as the story above graphically illustrates. they are amazing in many other applications as well.  Here are some specs on the cable:

• Outside diameter, 6.1mm (.240 in.)
• Low loss - less than .029 dB per meter at 10 MHz, and less than 4.3 dB even at 2 GHz!
• Tightly woven tinned all-copper shield with greater than 93% coverage, combined with an aluminum foil shield with 100% coverage
• Nominal capacitance, 55 pF per meter at 1 KHz
• Nominal impedance, 75 ohms
• Velocity of propagation, 79%

In our experience, this is one of the finest high-frequency cables in its class.

Canare BNC Connectors

The BNC-type connector is the best connector that is commonly available for applications of this type.  In general, it is both mechanically and electrically superior to an RCA connector.  It has a twist-lock mechanism to ensure that the connection is mechanically secure, and the electrical design of the connector does a good job of maintaining constant impedance at the connector.

Canare takes this inherent superiority to the next level.  For example, many BNC connectors have a characteristic impedance of only 50 Ohms, but Canare connectors are engineered to maintain a constant impedance of 75 Ohms.  This make a lot of sense because virtually all A/V equipment is designed to work best with 75 Ohm cables.  It follows that if you want the best performance your equipment can deliver, you will need cables and connectors that maintain this impedance.

This electrical superiority is the result of superior mechanical design, high-quality materials and precision manufacturing.  Canare's BNC connectors are almost artful in their design...and they work very well indeed.

Canare RCA Connectors

In our experience, the key to great video cables is in the connectors.  Exotic conductors and shielding are fine, but it's the connectors that really make the difference.  It is hard to imagine a finer RCA connector than Canare's.  They are precision machined to maintain a constant 75 Ohm impedance.  We install them using a Canare tool that always prepares the cable ends, just right.  The connectors are crimped in place, using heavy, precision-machined dies.  The crimps are so tight that oxygen is excluded, and thus corrosion is prevented.  It's an awesome system, and the resulting terminations are in a class of their own.

Generic RCA audio plugs and cables have been around since the 1940s, but the old solder-type plugs typically have an impedance of about 25 Ohms.  They exhibit extremely poor return loss performance, even when mated to high-quality cable.  Some of the so-called "high end" cables use exotic-sounding materials and make unsupportable claims, but still fail to solve this very real and important problem.

Canare's innovative 75 Ohm RCA crimp plugs solve these problems.  Their impedance-matched design achieves excellent digital and analog performance, with a usable bandwidth to 200 MHz!  The connector design ensures consistent and extremely reliable terminations.  VSWR is typically less than 1.1 from DC to 200 MHz.  The crimp design excludes oxygen, preventing corrosion associated with dissimilar metals, which can degrade even the best soldered connections.

The center shaft is gold plated.  If you look closely at the picture at the right, you can see the internal pressure fingers, which ensure good contact, while solving the "grip of death" problem, which has been an issue with Monster's connectors.  The "grip of death" connectors put unnecessary strain on your equipment.  Canare connectors connect up smoothly, and maintain good contact, while protecting your equipment investment.

Canare "F" Connectors

The unique Canare "F" connector design features an electromechanically stable nickel-over-brass body, with an extra-wide torque nut and machined threads.  Unlike virtually every other "F" connector, Canare's design does not unitize the center conductor of the coaxial cable as the plug's center contact pin.  Instead, the center pin is made from gold-plated brass.  This innovative approach avoids problems that are often associated with typical "F" connectors, such as corrosion, misalignment, incorrect length, and poorly shaped tip of the center contact.

The dedicated center pin design prevents equipment damage that can occur with lesser designs.  For example, the instruction manual that comes with Jensen Transformer's excellent VRD-1FF Cable TV Ground Isolator specifically warns that the warranty can be voided by damage resulting from using a center conductor that is misshapen, or too long.  This kind of damage will never happen with a Canare "F" connector because it is always exactly the correct length and shape!

The precision of the body design, combined with the dedicated center pin results in a precision connector.  This precision results in a 75 Ohm impedance-matched connector that connects up smoothly and accurately, providing a consistently reliable connection and thus a very high level of performance.

Ordering Notes

For lengths of 3 meters or less, we try for a finished tip-to-tip length that is exactly the same as the nominal length.  For example, if you order a 0.5 meter cable, we cut the cable shorter than 0.5 meter so that once the connectors have been installed, the finished cable will actually measure 0.5 meter from connector tip to connector tip.  This is typically not an issue with longer cables, but for very short cables, an inch or two can be important, so we want you to be aware.  Our method ensures the greatest consistency for shorter cables, but since some shops just cut the cables to length and then add connectors, we thought it might be worth mentioning.

Lengths under 0.3 meter (1 foot) are built as Signature Series 61, meaning that we use heat-shrink tubing in place of the normal pro-series shrink marker and silicone strain-relief boots.  This frees up some length that is normally occupied by the boots and shrink marker, while still providing strain-relief and color-coding. These super-short lengths can be found at the bottom of the drop-down list.  Please be aware of the measuring note above.

For lengths over 3 meters, we cut the cable to the nominal length and then install the connectors, which results in a finished cable that is slightly longer than the nominal length.