Black series tour grade ver 3.1 UPOFC overall braid multicore

Van Damme Black series has been specifically designed to survive the rigours of the touring market and other high stress demanding environments. It has been proven in the toughest environments. For this catalogue the range has been expanded with the addition of a 4 pair variant and a 64 pair variant which provides the highest pair count of any cable of its type available in the UK.

Materials
Van Damme now use a higher purity oxygen free copper for the conductors - Ultra Pure Oxygen Free Copper. The use of this material further improves the ‘solderability’ and conductivity of the conductor resulting in faithful and transparent signal reproduction.

Polypropylene (PP) is used for the conductor insulation. This material has a higher temperature rating than most polyethylene insulation giving excellent resistance to ‘shrink back’ during soldering. Its inherent hardness makes it ideal for the thin wall insulation used by Van Damme in their analogue audio multicores. This thin wall insulation ensures that the overall diameter of these cables is kept to a minimum without compromising electrical performance. Electrically it is very similar to polyethylene with a low dielectric constant (2.25 for PP solid types) and high stability across the lower frequency ranges associated with analogue audio signals.

Pairs are twisted together with a tinned UPOFC drain wire and shielded with an aluminium/polyester foil screen. The 150% coverage method employed ensures that the pair is fully screened and that the drain wire remains in close contact with the conductive aluminium foil allowing interference to be effectively taken to ground. In the unjacketed black series range this 150% overlap also ensures that each pair is totally electrically isolated from its neighbours

These foil screened pairs are laid up together with natural textile fillers and then sheathed in a special anti static cloth biding tape. A 90% optical coverage tinned copper braid is then tightly woven over giving outstanding mechanical strength. This braid can also be used as an overall electrical screen although in most applications this is inadvisable as it can cause more earthing problems than it solves. The outer jacket is manufactured from a special abrasion resistant PVC compound with a matt finish. This combined method of construction results in extremely robust cables for demanding environments with low overall diameters – for example, the new 64 pair cable has an overall diameter of only 25.6mm.

The foil screen pairs have colour coded conductors to the IEC 189-2 standard. Individual conductors are made up of 28 x 0.10mm stands of UPOFC (19 x 0.12mm for the drain wire) to give a conductor size of 24AWG, optimised for use with crimp pins and also ensuring that a completely reliable solder joint can be made.

Van Damme black series runs from 4 to 64 channels in logical increments for pro audio applications. The 64 pair cable, when terminated with the new VDM 201 pin connector, provides PA companies with a high enough channel count for most live sound applications. Running only one audio multicore for, say a 48 send 16 return set-up is convenient, compact and very quick to rig.

Van Damme Black series’ low overall diameter combined with its robust construction, comparative flexibility and excellent sonic performance all contribute to the success that this range of cables has achieved.

Applications
• Live sound touring multicore cables and remote stagebox systems
• Installations where an overall braid is enough of an advantage to compensate for the longer preparation time compared to pre-jacketed Blue series - for example pulling cable through hazardous or deteriorated ducting.
• Presentation use where a neutral jacket colour may be required
• Any longer length multicore and multipin application